You probably don’t know who Akihiko Yoshida is, but you likely know his work. Akihiko Yoshida is a character designer for Square Enix that did work on Bravely Default, Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy XII, The Four Heroes of Light, the Final Fantasy III remake, and many other games. His was that style that seemed halfway between an anime and a painting, and it was beautiful.
Unfortunately, you won’t be seeing his work in Square Enix games any longer as he has recently decided to leave the company. Though he espects to continue his relationship with Square Enix, at least, with the Bravely Default series (his name is actually attached to the recently announced Bravely Second , a sequel to the original Bravely Default ) Yoshida himelf will not be officially affiliated with Square Enix anymore. Yoshida’s future plans are uncertain, but we can only hope that he remains in the gaming idustry. Maybe do some work for other well known RPG and strategy game developers? Nippon Ichi or Atlus would probaly love to have Yoshida’s talent on their side.
Source: Tinycartridge