Artist Research: Ikumi Nakamaru

 Ikumi Nakamaru

Ikumi Nakamaru is a game art director for multiple successful games such as the evil within and Ghostwire Tokyo. She is 37 years old and has good environmental work. From a young age, she had her mind set on working with Capcom as she was impressed with the work they had been producing and instantly knew once she saw the game titled “Resident Evil” that that was her dream job (Hester, 2021). She quickly grew a name for herself as she started working at Capcom. She has worked on many beloved games from early as 2008 such as Super Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs. Capcom 3. (Mallory, 2019)

Image 1, Street Fighter IV, Ikumi Nakamaru, 2008

Image 2, Marvel vs Capcom 3, Ikumi Nakamaru, 2011

Image 3, City Ruins, Ikumi Nakamaru (2014)

Image 1 is a good representation of ruins and a destroyed city, there are broken wires and destroyed windows. Furthermore the dark gloomy vibe is created by the lighting, the clouds also add to this showing the darkness filling the story and the ruins. The character observing the city that’s broken ahead conveys the sorrow and hardship that he must endure. Additionally the stance that the character is in shows that despite the disaster he must continue his journey. This form of splash art is great for marketing of a video game as it shows there is a story that is yet to come for the player to experience. Nakamura also uses a great field of depth to create distance between the shits using shading and light, this also creates great drama.

Image 4, Fishing Village Harbor, Ikumi Nakamru (2014)

Image 4 is a very dark representation of a fishing river, it has a very dark theme with rot and ruin being a big recurrence throughout. The attention to detail present here by Nakamura is very specific. There is a great sense of loss and loneliness in this piece, the darkness also portrays the evil which is a great reference back to the game’s name “the evil within” It is clear Nakamaru is very talented with her environmental work. She states “ respecting others is the first step to a healthy environment”, it is clear that even in the real world environments hold an important place in her heart, this is clearly reflected in her games too. The green dead plants are a good representation of aging and also shows that this village has been abandoned for a long time, this conveys a message without any words.

Both image 3 and 4 come from the same game and therefore have a similar theme. They both create depth and sense of motion, as well as horror and loneliness. However image 3 has more life to it, whereas image 4 is more dark and depressing. Additionally image 3 is meant to be more splash art for marketing the game covers such as on billboards, but image 4 is an in game environment. There is also more light in image 3 compared to image 4, this could perhaps be done to represent more hope. The light also represents positivity so this could be done on purpose to engage the gamer whereas image 4 could be done darker to scare the purpose or to stir up emotions.

Reference List:

Glennon, J. (2022) Ikumi Nakamura won E3. now she wants to fix the games industry, Inverse. Inverse. Available at: https://www.inverse.com/gaming/ikumi-nakamura-luminaries-2022 (Accessed: May 3, 2023).

Hester, B. (2021) The life and career of Ikumi Nakamura, Game Informer. Available at: https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/09/29/the-life-and-career-of-ikumi-nakamura (Accessed: May 3, 2023).

Mallory, J. (2019) 3 fun facts about Ikumi Nakamura, E3 2019's brightest star, Fanbyte. Available at: https://www.fanbyte.com/games/lists/3-fun-facts-about-ikumi-nakamura-e3-2019s-brightest-star/ (Accessed: May 3, 2023). 

Image References:

Image 1: Nakamaru I(2008), Street Fighter 4, available at

https://store.steampowered.com/app/21660/Street_Fighter_IV/ (accessed: 25th April 2023) 

Image 2: Nakamaru I(2011), Ultimate Marvel vs capcom 3, available at 

https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/product/EP0102-CUSA04543_00-UMVC3FULLGAME000 (accessed: 25th April 2023)

Image 3: Nakamaru I(2014), City Ruins, available at https://www.creativeuncut.com/art_the-evil-within_b.html (accessed: 25th April 2023) 

Image 4: Nakamaru I(2014), Fishing Village Harbor, available at https://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-29/tew-fishing-village-harbour.html (accessed: 25th April 2023)

Bibliography:

(no date) Trojan horse was a Unicorn. Available at: https://www.trojan-unicorn.com/main-event/thu-2022/speaker/ikumi-nakamura (Accessed: May 3, 2023). 

Plunkett, L. (2022) Legendary Bayonetta artist Ikumi Nakamura just got even cooler, Kotaku. Kotaku. Available at: https://kotaku.com/ikumi-nakamura-e3-2019-book-urban-explorer-photo-1849794040 (Accessed: May 3, 2023)