Born Renji Murata, he began his video game career in 1993 by being in charge of character illustrations for the Atlus beat-em-up Power Instinct. Since 1994 he has provided cover illustrations to "Comic Rakuten" and "Ultra Jump" magazines in Japan. During that time period he was also responsible for the character illustrations for Power Instinct 2 and Groove on Fight.
In 1996 he left the game industry and began work as a freelance illustrator. That same year his first art book "LIKE A BALANCE LIFE" was published by Wani Magazines. In 1999, he published a collection of full-color illustrations and comics from various upcoming artists entitled "FLAT" which was awarded the Japan Book Publishers Association Chairman Award in the comics category. Later in 2003, his second art book "futurhythm" would also win that award.
Murata has also been responsible for the character designs in the anime OVA 'Blue Submarine #6', the 'Last Exile' TV series, and the Sammy video game Spy Fiction for the PlayStation 2.
He is currently the editor of the magazine "Robot" which, like FLAT before it, strives to promote fantasy artists to a mainstream audience.
Log in to comment