Yoshitaka Amano NYAF 08 Guest of Honor

I have a fairly short list of top favorite artists of all time and it includes Range Murata, Yoshitoshi Abe, Yoji Shinkawa, and of course, the mesmerizing work of Yoshitaka Amano. So I've been stuck in a whirlwind of jubilation ever since I first heard that Yoshitaka himself would be coming to the New York Anime Festival this September. If you remember, Vampire Hunter D novelist Hideyuki Kikuchi and the novel's translator Kevin Leahy have already been confirmed as guests at NYAF. With Amano to complete to great duet/trio, NYAF is shaping up to be an anime convention to be remembered. Check out the press release below:

NYAF today announced Yoshitaka Amano — an acclaimed artist whose credits include Final Fantasy, Sandman, and Vampire Hunter D — will appear at the 2008 New York Anime Festival as a Guest of Honor. The New York Anime Festival, an anime, manga, and Japanese pop culture convention from the creators of New York Comic Con, takes place September 26th through the 28th at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. Yoshitaka Amano joins fellow Vampire Hunter D talents Hideyuki Kikuchi (the author behind the Vampire Hunter D novel series) and Kevin Leahy (the translator of the Vampire Hunter D novel series) at NYAF. All are Co-Sponsored by Dark Horse Comics.

"The New York Anime Festival is tremendously honored to have Yoshitaka Amano join us," NYAF Show Manager Lance Fensterman said. "Mr. Amano is known around the world for his otherworldly fantasy illustrations, and we are excited to bring the man behind such beauty to New York City to meet all of his American fans."

Yoshitaka Amano began his career at Tatsunoko Productions where he served as a character designer for animated series including Gatchaman and Casshern. After 15 years with the studio, he chose to leave the comfort of a steady job to pursue his career as an artist. As a freelance illustrator, Amano contributed covers and illustrations to novels including Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D, Kaoru Kurimoto's Guin Saga, and Yoshiki Tanaka's The Heroic Legend of Arslan, teamed with Mamoru Oshii to create the film Angel's Egg, collaborated with Neil Gaiman to make the award-winning graphic novel Sandman: The Dream Hunters, and partnered with video game studio Squaresoft to create the look and feel for the company's flagship Final Fantasy series.

Mr. Amano has worked with media including pencils, ink, paint, ceramic, stained glass, and fabric, and exhibitions of his work have taken place in cities including Tokyo, London, Paris, Berlin, and New York City.

Tickets to the 2008 New York Anime Festival are now on sale at nyanimefestival.com. You can bet I've got my tickets safely stored away. There was some delay on my part in posting this information, only because I was frantically searching for suitable amenities -- transportation and housing. After a scare of perhaps having to cut short my trip and go only to part of NYAF or even not at all, one of my cousins comes to the rescue saving me at least 1,000 bucks. So with that fright out of the way, I can relax.