Tetsuya Nomura

Tetsuya Nomura is a video game director and character designer at Square Enix. He joined the company, then known as Square Co. Ltd., in the early 1990s, and gained prominence when he was selected as the main character designer for Final Fantasy VII (1997). Before that, he was also the creator of some of the iconic Final Fantasy monsters, such as Cactuar, Tonberry, Gilgamesh, and Carbuncle.Tetsuya Nomura Reveals The Conception of Final Fantasy V's Gilgamesh (IGN)
==Profile==
Nomura's first job with Square was as a debugger for Final Fantasy IV, back in 1990. He then went on to be the monster designer for Final Fantasy V. In the next game in the series, Final Fantasy VI, Nomura was the graphic director in charge of the monster designs; he also designed the characters Shadow and Setzer Gabbiani, and was in charge of storyboarding some of the cutscenes. Nomura's biggest success was his work on Final Fantasy VII, which rose to become one of the most well-known RPGs of all time and a defining game for the series as a whole. Nomura ended up contributing a large amount to the characters' stories (such as Red XIII's name), although the majority of the storyline was not written by him.
With his talent acknowledged, Nomura worked on other projects, such as Parasite Eve. Another huge success for Nomura was the release of Final Fantasy VIII, as the lead character designer and battle visuals director. Other games with characters designed by Nomura include Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIII. Other than Final Fantasy, Nomura also directed the Square Enix/Disney series Kingdom Hearts, as well as the CGI sequel to Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. He was also character designer for The World Ends with You together with Gen Kobayashi. He spent most of the last decade helming production on Final Fantasy XV, having come up with the original concept and base story. He was set to direct the project until recently, with his role as director replaced by Hajime Tabata. Nomura has worked on several Square Enix projects, such as Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy VII Remake.
In March 2014 Nomura judged a Lightning fanart contest for deviantART and chose three favorites among the submissions.Best Lightning Fan Art As Chosen By Tetsuya Nomura
==Style==
Nomura's style has been defined by the vibrant colors and amalgamation of eastern and western influences. Compared to other character designers, Tetsuya Nomura's Final Fantasy games tend to be more "modern" and "sci-fi" than the first installments set in a medieval worlds. Nomura's games in particular also tend to have storylines that are darker in tone. His character names tend to draw inspiration from physical science and weather, in particular, the sky, land, and sea; the central character almost always has the sky-based name. He was thinking of dropping that tradition for Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII, but the other creative figures behind the character chose a sky-based name. Nomura also creates character names inspired by their personalities.http://flaregamer.com/b2article.php?p=81&more=1
Tetsuya Nomura's style is similar to the traditional anime style of drawing, but he also draws upon western influences. In Final Fantasy VII, Nomura used a traditional anime-like style seen by the large anime-esque eyes and Cloud Strife's gravity-defying hair. In Final Fantasy VIII, the character designs are more realistic to fit the tone, Final Fantasy VIII being the first 3D Final Fantasy to use anatomically proportioned characters. In Final Fantasy X Nomura's designs became more and more realistic, although the coloring of the characters allowed his style to retain anime-like qualities. Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- and Dissidia Final Fantasy feature more mature looking designs and are defined by a detailed shading. Many of Nomura's character designs prominently feature belts and zippers, originally because of his own aesthetic preferences, and then because other people teased him about his previous character designs.
==Influences==
In July 2012, Tetsuya Nomura said that four people are his biggest influences: Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yoshinori Kitase, Hiroyuki Ito, and Tetsuya Takahashi.http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-Asks/Iwata-Asks-Nintendo-3DS-Third-Party-Game-Developers/Vol-11-KINGDOM-HEARTS-3D-Dream-Drop-Distance-/3-Square-s-Intentions/3-Square-s-Intentions-839620.html In another interview published in March 2014, Nomura stated that Ito was the one that taught him about game design.http://www.siliconera.com/2014/03/13/final-fantasy-v-turning-point-tetsuya-nomuras-career/
Nomura has stated his character wardrobes and accessory designs in later Final Fantasy installments and Square works are based on real life fashion and trends. Tattoos are a design element frequently featured in his character designs.
==Works within the series==
Game 	Release	Work
Final Fantasy IV 	1991 	Debugger (uncredited)
Final Fantasy V 	1992 	Battle Graphics Design, Monster Design
Final Fantasy VI 	1994 	Graphic Director, Monster Design, Character Design (Setzer, Shadow and SD design)
Final Fantasy VII 	1997 	Character Design, Monster Design, Scenario Concept, Battle Visual Director
Final Fantasy VIII 	1999 	Character Design, Monster Design, Battle Visual Director
Final Fantasy X 	2001 	Character Design
Final Fantasy XI 	2002 	Hume, Elvaan, and NPC Character Design
Final Fantasy X-2 	2003 	Main Character Designer
Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- 	2004 	Concept, Character Design
Last Order -Final Fantasy VII- 	2005 	Supervisor
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children 	2005 	Director, Character Design, Base Story
Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- 	2006 	Character Design
Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode -Final Fantasy VII-	2006 	Character Design
Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- 	2007 	Creative Producer & Character Designer
Dissidia Final Fantasy 	2008 	Creative Producer, Character Design
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete 	2009 	Director, Character Design, Base Story
Final Fantasy XIII 	2009 	Main Character Design
Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy 	2011 	Creative Producer, Character Design
Final Fantasy Type-0 	2011 	Creative Producer, Character Design
Final Fantasy XIII-2 	2011 	Main Character Design
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy 	2012 	Creative Producer
Final Fantasy All the Bravest 	2012 	Creative Producer, Original Concept
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII 	2013 	Main Character Design
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call 	2014 	Creative Producer
Final Fantasy Record Keeper 	2014 	Creative Producer, Character Design
Final Fantasy VII G-Bike 	2014 	Creative Producer, Character Design
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD 	2015 	Character Design
Dissidia Final Fantasy (2015) 	2015 	Creative Producer, Character Design
Final Fantasy XV 	2016 	Original Concept, Character Design, Lyrics ("Somnus") and ("Omnis Lacrima")
World of Final Fantasy 	2016 	Creative Producer & Character Designer
Final Fantasy Dimensions II 	2017 	Special Thanks
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers 	2019 	Guest Creator (Gaia and Eden's Promise Character Designs)https://twitter.com/FF_XIV_EN/status/1109284324271161344https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/429770-Letter-from-the-Producer-LIVE-Part-LXI-Digest-%2812-06-2020%29
Final Fantasy VII Remake 	2020 	Director & Concept Designhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1OvupaRYCM
War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius 	2020 	Special Thanks
Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier 	2021 	Creative Director
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin 	2022 	Concept & Creative Producer & Character Design
Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion 	2022 	Creative Director & Character Designer
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line 	2023 	Creative Director
Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis 	2023 	Creative Director
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth 	2024 	Creative Director
==In-game appearances==
===Final Fantasy Type-0===
Tetsuya Nomura appears as a Support Personnel of Akademeia. He shares the character model with King.
==Gallery==
Nomura FFV Cast Artwork.jpg|Sketch of the cast of Final Fantasy V.
Nomura FFVI Cast Artwork.jpg|Sketch of the cast of Final Fantasy VI.
Nomura-terra-design-sketches.jpg|Character design of Terra Branford from Final Fantasy VI.
Cloud-FFVIIArt.png|Character design of Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII.
FFCCVII-PromoArt.jpg|Artwork of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- main characters.
FFVIII-SquallRinoa artwork.jpg|Artwork of Squall Leonhart and Rinoa Heartilly from Final Fantasy VIII.
Cactuar FFVIII Color Art.jpg|Artwork of Cactuar from Final Fantasy VIII.
FFX Lulu Art.png|Character design of Lulu from Final Fantasy X.
FFX-2 Artwork Nooj.png|Character design of Nooj from Final Fantasy X-2.
Dissidia Cecil.png|Character design of Cecil Harvey from Dissidia Final Fantasy.
Genesis-Artwork.jpg|Concept artwork of Genesis Rhapsodos.
DFF2015 Materia.png|Character design of Goddess Materia from Dissidia Final Fantasy NT.
Famitsu-issue-1000-Nomura.jpg|Nomura's artwork for the 1000th issue of Famitsu.
500th Dengeki cover.jpg|Nomura's artwork for the Dengeki PlayStation 500th issue.
Lightning Art by Nomura.JPG|Lightning artwork.
Tetsuya Nomura.png|Nomura's personalized sprite from Final Fantasy All the Bravest.
FFRK Tetsuya Nomura.png|Nomura's sprite from Final Fantasy Record Keeper.
Super Smash Bros. Tetsuya Nomura.jpg|Artwork of Super Smash Bros..
Tetsuya Nomura illustration for the Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary.jpg|Artwork for 30th Anniversary.
Jack vs wol.jpg|Artwork of Jack Garland and Warrior of Light from Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin.
==Citations==
==External links==
*Wikipedia article
de:Tetsuya Nomura
ja:野村哲也
ru:Тэцуя Номура
Category:Artists
Category:Personnel