Search a film or person :

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto is a Characters and Character Designer Japonais born on 29 january 1962 at Shūnan (Japon)

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto

Infos
Photos
Best films
Family
Characters
Awards

If you like this person, let us know!

Do you like this person ?

I like

I don't like

Nationality Japon
Birth 29 january 1962 (62 years) at Shūnan (Japon)
Creator of Gainax

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (貞本義行, Sadamoto Yoshiyuki, born January 29, 1962, in Tokuyama (now Shunan), Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese character designer, manga artist, and one of the founding members of the Gainax anime studio. Before the studio was founded under the official name (it was originally called Daicon Film), he served as animator on the second animated project, the Daicon IV opening animation. His first assignment as character designer in Gainax was for Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise, released in 1987. He also worked as animator on Gunbuster and Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, and he came back to this specialty for the first episode of Diebuster (also known as Gunbuster 2 or Top wo Nerae! 2). He is also the character designer of the best known Gainax anime series, Neon Genesis Evangelion, as well as the author of its manga adaptation (which is also Sadamoto's first full-length manga work).

In addition to his work on Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sadamoto did character designs for Nadia, FLCL, .hack//Sign, Diebuster, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Summer Wars. His first artbook is entitled Alpha, and presents a collection of illustrations by Sadamoto that were made before Evangelion (including Nadia and The Wings of Honneamise).

In 2003, Viz published a collection of his works, entitled Der Mond (German for "The Moon"). Other artbooks that include some of Sadamoto's works are Die Sterne (German for "The Stars") and Groundwork of FLCL.

Sadamoto is also the author of a short manga named Route 20 that was derived from an aborted anime project. He was also author of two manga one-shots, Dirty Work and System of Romance. He is currently serving as co-creator and character designer for the .hack game franchise.

Sadamoto also worked as an artist for the cover of Eric Clapton's album Pilgrim.

According to Yasuo Otsuka, who guided Sadamoto as a newcomer, there are only three people whom he regarded as more skillful than himself that he has met during his career. One of them is Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. The other two are Sadao Tsukioka who became a visual creator, and award-winning director Hayao Miyazaki.

When Otsuka met the three men, he seems to have felt that he was taking off his hat to them at once. However, he thinks that only Miyazaki completely mastered a genuinely superior animation technique at present. He guesses, "A too excellent person might despair in the group work".

In recent years, Sadamoto has concentrated primarily on comics and on illustration work. Since the early 1990s, his animation work has consisted primarily of character design and supervision, although this may be changing with his involvement in 2007 as key animator on episode 27 of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and animation director and key animator on Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone.

A 2013 interview with Japanese Entertainment website Nihongogo revealed Sadamoto is a stickler for details and wouldn't feel comfortable illustrating anything too unfamiliar with him. "In general, I don’t want to draw something that I have to study further in order to draw. For example, I could not draw a medical manga because it’s impossible for me to make a lie about medicine. Also things like Soccer and Baseball. I am unfamiliar with these worlds so it would be too difficult to show the actual plays." When asked about dream collaborations he revealed an interest in working with Robert Westall and Philip K. Dick but apologized "These are all deceased people, sorry.

Biography

Yoshiyuki Sadamoto est né le 29 janvier 1962 à Tokushima (actuellement Shūnan) dans la préfecture de Yamaguchi, au sud du Japon. Il s'intéresse dès le collège à l'art et travaille afin d'intégrer une université d'art. Après avoir passé sa scolarité à Tokushima, il part à Tokyo intégrer l’université Zōkei de Tōykō où il fait des études de design industriel. Il souhaite alors retourner dans sa ville natale à la fin de ses études pour devenir professeur d'arts plastiques.

Durant ses études, il fait quelques mangas afin de pouvoir se payer une moto. Ses mangas lui permettent de gagner le prix du meilleur mangaka débutant organisé par le magazine Weekly Shōnen Champion. Il travaille également à mi-temps pour les studios d'animation avec d'autres membres du "club manga" de l'université comme Mahiro Maeda. Alors qu'il travaille comme animateur clé sur la série The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, il fait la rencontre de Hideaki Anno et de Hiroyuki Yamaga, alors étudiants à l'Université d'Art d'Osaka. Avec ces-derniers et d'autres, Maeda et Sadamato participent au festival de Science-Fiction à Osaka en 1983, DAICON IV et réalise le court métrage d'ouverture de la convention qui est particulièrement remarqué.

En 1984, il obtient son diplôme et intègre le studio d'animation Telecom Animation Film. Il est formé par le vétéran Yasuo Ōtsuka. Il travaille comme animateur-clé sur plusieurs projets mais quitte finalement Telecom pour le studio Gainax, fondé par Hideaki Anno à l'occasion du film Les Ailes d'Honnéamise. Il occupe alors pour la première fois le poste de character-designer, poste qu'il assumera pendant longtemps sur la plupart des films et des séries produits par le studio. Il élabore notamment le chara-design de la série Neon Genesis Evangelion qui lui permet de faire connaître son travail hors des frontières du Japon.

À partir de 1991, il recommence à travailler en tant que mangaka dans les magazines Newtype et Monthly Shōnen Ace où il pré-publie l'adaptation manga d'Evangelion. Il travaille également en tant qu'illustrateur. Il sort Alpha, son premier artbook, et dessine plusieurs pochettes d'album (le cd best-of Anthology 1976-1996 du groupe rock japonais Moonriders mais également la pochette de l'album Pilgrim du célèbre guitariste anglais Eric Clapton).

Dans les années 2000, il participe à plusieurs projets extérieurs au studio Gainax : il est le chara-designer de la prolifique franchise .hack et travaille également en tant que chara-designer sur les films du réalisateur Mamoru Hosoda.

Il réside actuellement à Takahama dans la préfecture d'Aichi. Il s'est marié avec la mangaka Mako Takaha.