Masahiro Ito is the legendary artist who worked on the original Silent Hill 1, 2, and 3 as art director—designing monsters in some of the most visually striking horror games of all time. But success comes at a price.
During a little Q&A, Ito discussed his busy schedule back in the day, when he was majoring in graphic design, studying oil painting on the side, and learning 3D modeling and animation alongside developing the first Silent Hill. “However, I could [model]/build all of the creatures and all of the animations of them from Silent Hill 2,” Ito says. “I also thought of all of the plans of Pyramid Head’s cutscenes and built them by myself. Practice makes perfect.”
While all of this work has clearly paid off—Ito has no shortage of fans—there are some drawbacks. “As a side note, all the time I was attending my art university or was developing Silent Hill 1, 2, 3, and a cancelled title, I never had any girlfriends,” Ito says. “Coz I had no time for it. I never thought I was a genius, but I was terribly competitive. The only way to beat geniuses is to give yourself up entirely to what you wanna accomplish.”
Replying to one player who celebrated Ito’s “rags to riches story,” Ito also points out that “I’m not rich. Also, I’m not the copyright holder of Pyramid Head or Bubble Head Nurse.” Then, when someone else tries to console him by saying how proud his family probably is of him, Ito again replies with, “I have no family, but thanks so much!”
It seems like a rather tough story but one that Ito clearly doesn’t regret. Yes, it does seem like Ito had to make some substantial sacrifices. But to do so for the sake of defining early-generation horror games is pretty legendary and something that I, for one, am very thankful for.
