This film, which allows viewers to enjoy the growth of Riley, the series’ main character, and her emotions, and empathize with the “storm of emotions” that unfolds as new feelings come over her as she reaches her adolescence, has become Pixar’s biggest hit ever.
Animate Times interviewed Yoshiko Murayama, the character art director for this film and a highly active creator at Pixar!
After graduating from high school in Japan, Murayama studied abroad in the United States and transferred to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.
After working as a character designer for various companies and building his career in the United States, he joined Pixar in 2022 and was in charge of character design for “Sometimes Red Pandas.”
His achievements were recognized, and just two years after joining the company, he was appointed character art director for this project, making him a genius creator who leads the team!
In this interview, we were able to hear valuable stories from Murayama, including the work he was in charge of, the story behind the creation of characters, and what it takes to be successful as an animator.
After the interview, we asked Murayama to draw a special illustration of the new character Iina (voiced by Hanazawa Kana), who he designed!
–Thank you for joining us today. Mr. Murayama, you usually live in America, right?
Yoshiko Murayama (hereinafter, Murayama): Yes, that’s right. I’ve been working in the US for about 20 years now.
–I heard that you watch a lot of Japanese anime even in America.
Murayama: I often use Crunchyroll, Netflix, Prime Video, etc. and watch a lot (laughs).
-Do you usually talk about Japanese anime with Pixar employees?
Murayama: Yes! Everyone here loves anime and manga, so much so that we even have an anime club within our company communication tools.
Recently, there was a lot of excitement over the news that “The Atelier of Witch Hat” was being made into an anime (laughs). In general, employees share information with each other and check out Japanese content.
–That sounds like a lot of fun. I think you’ve had a great career in America, and this film, “Inside Out 2,” is Pixar’s biggest hit.
Murayama: I’m very surprised, but I’m also very happy because it means that so many people are enjoying the work that everyone worked so hard on.
–Mr. Murayama, you were the character art director for this game, but what exactly did you do?
Murayama: First of all, as a character designer, I was in charge of Iiner, Hazukashi, Riley, and Rance. As an art director, I was the leader of the character design team, and I collected all the necessary information, and I also managed things like “Please submit this by this date.”
After the design is completed, the next process is modeling, and if they needed any advice when converting the design from 2D to 3D, I was there to help them.
–What kind of advice did you receive for this work?
Murayama: After the design is decided, we start modeling, but in fact, it’s the easiest-looking character, like Iina, that’s the most difficult. First of all, with 2D design, the face is treated as a flat surface, so no matter how big the eyes are, they don’t look out of place. However, that’s not the case with 3D models.
Because the face goes from a circle to a sphere, the eyes also have depth. Also, Iiner’s nose sticks out a little, but because her eyes are large, it gives the impression that her eyes and nose are too concentrated in the center. When I correct that, another problem arises in another place, and I have to correct that… and the process is repeated.
We discussed the model with the staff almost every day and came up with the current shape.
–When designing a character, do you also take into consideration the fine-tuning process that goes into modeling?
Murayama: I am the type of person who creates with that in mind. When I was appointed character art director, I went to speak with Al Lozano, who was in charge of the previous game.
At that time, I was advised to “invite (accept) other people’s processes into your own design process.”
これから、二人三脚でファイナルプロダクトを作り上げていくにあたって、自分の意見も相手の意見も、作業に取り掛かる前に理解していたほうが効率が良いですし、互いに気持ちよくできます。紙に描いている時点で修正するほうがよっぽど早いです。なので、私はそういうマインドで仕事をしています。
ーーなるほど。キャラクター名や、キャラクターの雰囲気などが与えられた上で、村山さんの作業が始まるのですか？
村山：キャラクターの名前と、性格、そして1番重要なストーリーの中でどういう役割を持っているかを監督からいただいてデザインしています。続編で難しいのは、1作目のルールとかスタイルに沿わなきゃいけないことです。
なので、新しいキャラクターをデザインする時は必ず、ヨロコビ達を並べて描いています。ニュアンスのレベルになってくるんですけどね。
ーー当たり前ですが、似ていたり被っていると駄目ですもんね。
村山：被ってしまうことはあまりないですが、なんせ本作のキャラクターは自由度が高いので（笑）頭の中に登場するから何でもありじゃないですか。
『インサイド・ヘッド』っていう世界の中から飛び出さないように意識していましたね。
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