Tetsuya Nomura began his career at a vocational school, creating art for magazine advertisements. It was not until the 1990s that he was recruited by Squaresoft to contribute to Final Fantasy IV's battle graphics, and then to work as graphic director and minor character designer under Yoshitaka Amano for Final Fantasy VI.
Nomura got his big break in 1995, when he was employed as the lead character designer for Final Fantasy VII. In 1998, he worked on Parasite Eve, Brave Fencer Musashi, and Final Fantasy VIII. More recently, acted as director, concept artist, character designer, and zipper purveyor for Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts II.
