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We've had this discussion before and since then my opinion hasn't changed, but as before, I think something needs to be clarified.

Tetsuya Nomura is an illustrator.

Yoshitaka Amano is an artist.

There's a much larger difference in those titles than I think people realize. Nomura is clearly an illustrator. The static poses of his character art along with his complete lack of backgrounds shows that his work is to help define what the character will look like in the game. It is focused on a very specific and technical task and he does so apparently very well since they keep hiring him. I mean this in the nicest possible way, but quite literally, Nomura is a tool. His art isn't meant to provoke any thought or feeling. That's the job of an artist.

Amano, on the other hand, is an accomplished and recognized artist whose had exhibits in New York and I believe LA. Very little of what he creates is meant to be taken literally. He promotes concepts and through his work, inspires the artistic direction the game will take. It's far more vague and subtle approach to the same job and I personally think it pays off better with characters that feel far more whimsical and show a better visual flair.

This post has been edited by Narratorway on 28th March 2009 08:42

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Arts

Farts

Twarts

Quote (Narratorway @ 8th October 2007 03:31)

We've discussion before and since then my opinion hasn't changed, but as before, I think something needs to be clarified.

Tetsuya Nomura is an illustrator.

Yoshitaka Amano is an artist.

There's a much larger difference in those titles than I think people realize. Nomura is clearly an illustrator. The static poses of his character art along with his complete lack of backgrounds shows that his work is help define what the character will look like in the game. It is focused on a very specific and technical task and he does so apparently very well since they keep hiring him. I mean this in the nicest possible way, but quite litterally, Nomura's art is a tool. It's not meant to provoke any thought or feeling. That's the job of an artist.

Amano's an accomplished and recognized artist whose had exhibits in New York and I believe LA. Very little of what he creates is meant to be taken litterally. He promotes concepts and through his work, inspires the artistic direction the game will take. It's far more vague and subtle approach to the same job and I personally think it pays off better with characters that feel far more whimsical and show a better visual flair.

Excellent. Thank you for putting it so perfectly.

In response to some of what has been said:

Garnet *was* designed by Amano, as were all the characters in IX, they just Nomura'd them up for the actual game.

Lenna/Celes/Terra-Maybe, I haven't looked at the art for awhile.

Rydia/Yuna- Nomura isn't touching them. He's stated that he doesn't want to really mess with any of Amano's designs, hence why there were no Amano characters in KH1, and only 2 in KH2 (Vivi and Setzer), which he totally redesigned and made Setzer into a Kuja clone.

I think the whole thing is a point of view. They're both good artists and they both do good work. Amano does breathtaking artwork that is very conceptual and not for everybody. Nomura does Anime-style character designs that have gotten to be pretty outlandish. My personal favorite is Lulu, whose skirt is a bunch of belts.

Personally, I would rather that Amano designed characters, because I like them better, but I see no real problem with Nomura's designs, either.

Here's a sort of comparison chart:

NOMURA VS. AMANO
Tidus > Zidane
Yuna < Garnet
Aeris > Terra
Aeris < Celes
Cait Sith = Mog
Cid (7) < Edgar
Etc, etc.

Quote (yelanates @ 8th October 2007 19:31)

Rydia/Yuna- Nomura isn't touching them. He's stated that he doesn't want to really mess with any of Amano's designs, hence why there were no Amano characters in KH1, and only 2 in KH2 (Vivi and Setzer), which he totally redesigned and made Setzer into a Kuja clone.

Actually, Setzer is Nomura's, along with one or two other FFVI chars that I can't recall right now.
As to Vivi I'm not sure.

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Good old CoN

Quote (SilverMaduin @ 8th October 2007 15:03)

Quote (yelanates @ 8th October 2007 19:31)

Rydia/Yuna- Nomura isn't touching them. He's stated that he doesn't want to really mess with any of Amano's designs, hence why there were no Amano characters in KH1, and only 2 in KH2 (Vivi and Setzer), which he totally redesigned and made Setzer into a Kuja clone.

Actually, Setzer is Nomura's, along with one or two other FFVI chars that I can't recall right now.
As to Vivi I'm not sure.

I believe Shadow is his, too. I think that's it, though. I'm pretty sure Amano did Vivi.

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FFIVDS looks awesome, right? Especially the character scans. I mean, look at that CGI scan of Yang. You see it and you just think...badass. And then you look at his polka-dot pants, likely stolen from a Dr. Seuss book. And then you just...shiver.

Quote

Garnet *was* designed by Amano, as were all the characters in IX, they just Nomura'd them up for the actual game.

Actually in response to this, Nomura didn't have a hand in the character design for FF9 at all. The original (concept) character art is all credited to Amano, and the actual character design and art direction went to Hideo Minaba and Shukou Murase.

Nomura's really only touched FF9 characters recently with Vivi in KH2, and Zidane and Kuja in Dissidia. Personally I love it when Nomura takes Amano's designs and makes them really sexy and spiffy.

Null vote. Why?

Like someone said a ways back, we look at the sprites and base what we think the characters based on them, then look at Amano's work and hate it. That's pretty much how it wents when I played my first FF game. (FFVI FTW)

Thus, I accepted Testuya Nomura's drawings (I admit, the designs are awful) because it's in a more anime J-poppy style. But then I look back at Anamo's sketches and think, Damn, this guy has TALENT. But I just can't really make myself accept it as my own vision of the characters.

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"So imagine Kefka swearing and yelling that he'll take revenge, but doing so in a way that's... somehow... polite and feminine."

Quote (Kurohime @ 8th October 2007 19:47)

Personally I love it when Nomura takes Amano's designs and makes them really sexy and spiffy.

Funny, because I love when Amano takes Nomura's designs and makes them all dreamlike and strange.



Additionally, signed as hard as possible to Narratorway's post.

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Some ghost of me might greet my son
the day he is delivered.


Eternal Sleep, Track 1-1: The Blue Planet

Dream like > half naked girls. Always. More mature.

Amano for the win.

This post has been edited by KujaxZidane on 11th October 2007 15:24

OK, my views have somewhat changed. Seeing a lot of Amano's designs in 3D, they're just awesome. So yeah, now I do think that his designs have potential- even if he does make them look like emos wearing polka dots in a Dr. Seuss book when he draws them.

*Braces himself for flames*

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FFIVDS looks awesome, right? Especially the character scans. I mean, look at that CGI scan of Yang. You see it and you just think...badass. And then you look at his polka-dot pants, likely stolen from a Dr. Seuss book. And then you just...shiver.

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So it's a tie. Make Amano come up with the characters and let Nomura draw 'em, says I!

I still mostly stand by this, but I've decided to modify it.

Narratorway was right when he said:

Quote

Tetsuya Nomura is an illustrator.

Yoshitaka Amano is an artist.

And I was harsh about it. I still think Nomura should be making the characters, but L. Cully brings up a good point when she said,

Quote

Funny, because I love when Amano takes Nomura's designs and makes them all dreamlike and strange.

I really like the Amano stuff based off Nomura's works. They're not videogame worthy by any means, but they are awesome as hell in an artwork sense.

Let Amano come up with characters, then let Nomura map out a videogame-able character, and then let amano modify Nomura's designs. Sell the Nomura game separate from the Amano Paintings, and they could make twice the money

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Nomura pwns all <3<3

He IS an artist and is always underrated. Amano is good too, but he's somehow doesn't have the same awesomeness as Nomura...

It wasn't Amano which made me make a crazy decision to do Art from GCSE anyways, so...

Amano, hands down. Amano is creating art, Nomura is just creating designs. Nomura's stuff may pass for "cool," and I do like some of his designs (esp. back in FFVII before they'd been recycled so much). But Amano's art work has so much more feeling behind it. There's more in the way of expressive characteristics.

I'm going to go with Amano, despite the fact I can't look at his designs for long without being confused (Terra's chicken pox legs for example.). Unforunately most of his designs were for the old sprite games, and as much as I enjoy the old school games, the medium can't really show off Amano's fanciful designs.

Nomura's not bad really, sometimes he has his moments. FF7 had some decent designs, Aeris, Cid and Barrett were pretty cool, but mainly because it was pretty simple, not overly complex. Granted, he IS responsible for the overly sexualized Tifa and Lulu (her 'belts' were a cool idea though.)

The guy who did FFXI's designs annoys me. Fran's way too skimpy metal 'thing' and Ashe's red skirt that draws too much attention. Balthier's almost foppish attire and Vaan's lack of a shirt annoy me as well.

So yeah, Amano all the way I guess.

Edit

Told by Del S that Nomura didn't do FFXII. Altered my statement on it.

This post has been edited by Kylerocks on 18th October 2007 10:18

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So if you're done reading this, you know I have nothing to say and you've wasted your time. Thank you come again.

FF12 was a different chap entirely doing the designs. Akihiko Yoshida . Somewhat an in-between IMO, acceptable designs but a little over-the-top sometimes.

This post has been edited by Del S on 18th October 2007 18:02

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Quote (Del S @ 18th October 2007 02:33)

FF12 was a different chap entirely doing the designs. Akihiko_Yoshida . Somewhat an in-between IMO, acceptable designs but a little over-the-top sometimes.

See, Yoshida is another one who started out well (Final Fantasy Tactics) and then just seemed to go insane with power, or something. The designs for FFTA 2 are just crazy.

Like, Nomura's work in FF7 and Parasite Eve (PE especially) were perfectly acceptable. FF8 was all right, too, but then it's like he had a brain aneurysm and said to himself, "MUST MAKE A SKIRT ENTIRELY OUT OF BELTS" for FFX and he's never been the same since.

(By the by, Del, your link redirects to a suspicious cluster of advertisements; one too many http's, I think)

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Some ghost of me might greet my son
the day he is delivered.


Eternal Sleep, Track 1-1: The Blue Planet

I vote for Yoshitaka Amano.




What, you expected an explanation? What more can be said?

Fully Amano. i love his stuff, and i also like that with his you can look at his pictures and see a totally different side to a character. his drawings are really beautiful, even tho some of them look the same

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*Sigh*....Times are tough