We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Marika Tamura. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Marika below.

Marika, appreciate you joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My parents have always been very encouraging and supportive on what I wanted to try. From an early age, I liked crafting and drawing with my mom who also likes arts and crafts. I also liked going outside with my active dad and enjoyed playing baseball, learning karate, skiing, and hiking together. I think that my parents helped me develop the courage and curiosity to jump into new things through these experiences.

While being supportive, at the same time, they taught me not to give up partway easily once I started something new. When I started skiing, I almost wanted to quit because I just wasn’t getting it right. However, my dad didn’t let me quit right away; he was there with me patiently teaching me how to ski. At the end of my first ski trip, I improved to the point that I could enjoy skiing and wanted to come back next year. I really appreciate them teaching me this lesson because reaching where I am today as an artist came with a lot of challenges, such as the language barrier, the difficult workload during my college years, and the complex visa process. However, I have never considered giving up or regretted my decision to pursue a career in animation; deep down I have almost enjoyed these challenges because they made my experience more rewarding when I achieved the goals I set for myself. This is all thanks to my parents who taught me how rewarding it can be to overcome challenges.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Marika Tamura, I am a visual development artist in the animation industry. As a visual development artist, I design environments, sets, and props for animated films, shows, games, etc.

I was born and raised in Japan and had never considered leaving my home country…until I watched a documentary about American animation production when I was in middle school. Because I wanted to work in a team and art has always been my hobby, I was attracted by the creative and collaborative environment of the animation industry in the US. Eventually, after graduating from my middle school, I started studying abroad in Canada to prepare myself for art college applications (before then, I wasn’t able to speak English at all). It wasn’t an easy decision to leave my family and home country on my own when I was only 16 but I was really grateful for my family who supported me on this journey.

After that, I was able to attend Ringling College of Art & Design in the Computer Animation major. Although it was tough to keep up with their program, I gained skills I needed to enter the professional world and met a lot of amazing friends, mentors, and professors.

After graduation, I started working at LAIKA as an intern; and later on, I got promoted to Jr. Prop Designer, then a visual development artist. I got to work on their next animated feature film, “Wildwood”. Since LAIKA is a stop-motion animation studio, I had a chance to see so many talented artists building practical puppets and sets. It was such a rewarding experience seeing props and sets I designed being translated to an actual model that I can touch. I recently left LAIKA in order to focus on my personal work for a while and seek out new opportunities to challenge me! I always want to keep learning and improve my skills as an artist.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, one of the most rewarding aspects of creating animation is to see people’s reaction towards the films you’ve worked on. At Ringling College, I had the amazing experience of creating and directing my thesis animated short film, “Final Deathtination”. While this film is a dark comedy, it explores the serious topic of suicide. I created this film to share the message that “as long as you are alive, you can find a new joy and purpose to live”. As I released it on YouTube, I was a little nervous because the film carries a very serious topic and I was worried about how people will receive it. However, following its release the film has received a lot of positive comments on YouTube; it was really touching to see comments like, “whenever I feel low and empty, I just come here and see this video. It’s so heartwarming and feels like a hug,” and “this video does make me want to live more.” I’m glad that this film in whatever capacity has been able to touch many people and encourage them to seek a life worth living. It is my goal to keep being a part of the films and shows that is inspiring and comforting.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

It is amazing to see that recently more and more films that tell unique and diverse stories are being made. As a visual development artist, I will keep making my best effort to authentically depict these worlds where unique stories take place in. I believe that my strength is my curiosity in stories and different cultures around the world; I enjoy collecting reference materials from movies, books, photographs, and traveling. While this process doesn’t involve drawing or painting, research is also an important step in visual development.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.marikart.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marikart_t/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marika-tamura-a51841150/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/marikart_t
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@marikatamura1443