History Main / ReclusiveArtist

* Information regarding 237, the Japanese developer behind the infamous [[InterplayOfSexAndViolence ero-guro]] game ''Demonophobia'' is extremely scarce -- to the point that the most prevalent theory on what happened to him is that he outright died in the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. He allegedly resurfaced in 2020 for an [=YouTube=] interview, then dropped off the face of the Earth again afterwards -- even after finally officially breaking his silence the following year with a CreatorDrivenSuccessor to ''Demonophobia'' titled ''Dysthanasia'', his social media is averse towards anything not pertaining to his games.

* Shouzou Kaga, often credited as the brains behind ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'', helmed the first 5 installments of the series (from 1990 to 1999), and then abruptly left Creator/{{Nintendo}} not too long after ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776 Thracia 776]]'''s release. He then established his own studio, Tirnanog, and in 2001 made ''VideoGame/TearRingSaga'' for the [=PS1=], which is so literally "''Fire Emblem'' [[JustForFun.RecycledInSpace on the PlayStation]]" that Nintendo sued him over it. Kaga seemed to escape the lawsuit relatively unscathed, made ''Berwick Saga'' (a semi-sequel to ''[=TearRing=]'') in 2005. Then, for a good decade, Shouzou Kaga remained mostly silent, mostly blogging and working on projects that fell through prior to gaining any real ground (a Tear Ring Saga remake among them) Finally, in May of 2015, Shouzou Kaga broke his silence and announced a new SRPG, ''VideoGame/VestariaSaga'', that was released in 2019.

* After spending over two decades in the spotlight as the second most famous pro wrestler in the world, "Macho Man" Wrestling/RandySavage mostly stayed out of the public eye from about 2005 until his death in 2011, as he had retired from wrestling for good, reunited with his {{High School Sweetheart|s}} (whom he would marry only a year before he died), focused on doing charity work in his community and took care of his elderly parents. He did occasionally do some voice acting gigs and appeared in a teaser for the ''Videogame/WWEAllStars'' video game shortly before his death, but he didn't do any major public appearances or interviews during this time period.

* It is common for some pro wrestlers to become this once they retire, especially if they never made it big. Wrestling/{{Aksana}} and Wrestling/{{Layla}} have both mostly stopped using social media upon retiring and staying out of the public eye (Layla did eventually do an interview for [=YouTube=] channel ''Ring The Belle'' in 2021, which was her first interview since her retirement in 2015). Wrestling/TerriPoch (aka. Tori of the Wrestling/AttitudeEra) doesn't even have a Twitter account and rarely attends conventions. But one of the most prominent examples of this is Wrestling/MuhammadHassan. Despite lasting only seven months on WWE's main roster, he is one of the most talked-about wrestlers in the fandom even today. Ever since retiring in 2005 amid the massive controversy surrounding him, he has mostly kept to himself and returned back to college to get a degree in education and was discovered in 2018 to be the principal of a middle school in New York. He did, however, attend a wrestling convention in 2010 and he worked with Shad Gaspard (formerly of Cryme Tyme) on a graphic novel and as of 2018, he has returned to wrestling, albeit in the indies.

* Hitoshi Akamatsu, who created ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' and worked on the original NES trilogy, has vanished off the face of the Earth. Even his name was unknown to fandom for many years, and many people who worked at Creator/{{Konami}} at the same time claimed to have never met him. (This seems to have been the case with many of the members of the original ''Castlevania'' team, however the rest of them have other credits and didn't just fade out of sight as Akamatasu did.) His only known interview was from a [[https://thearkhound.tumblr.com/post/180748437468/the-making-of-goonies-2 1987 magazine interview]] on the making of ''[[VideoGame/TheGoonies The Goonies II]]'', which is the only time Konami has ever directly acknowledged Akamatsu's hand in the creation of the original ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaI''.

* Creator/SpikeJonze, music video (Music/FatboySlim's "Weapon of Choice", Music/BeastieBoys' "Sabotage") and film (''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich'') director, who is known for turning the ShrugOfGod into an art form. He doesn't do traditional DVD commentaries, only directed three films in twelve years (it took about four for ''Film/WhereTheWildThingsAre'' to be released), and rarely grants interviews. Even when he does, he tends to treat them as a prank (see the video in which he terminates an interview by stepping out of the car to vomit). His last feature film was 2013’s ''Film/{{Her}}'' (which won him a Best Original Screenplay Oscar) and since then he’s vanished besides directing a Beastie Boys documentary and producing ''Film/{{Jackass Forever}}''.

* Despite his millions of views and his 3.1 million subscribers, nearly nothing is known about WebVideo/GradeAUnderA except that he's British and used to be a math tutor. To date, [[https://youtu.be/W1ZHLcBYS3o?t=3m52s he has done a face reveal for his 2 million subscriber milestone]]; [[https://youtu.be/Ko4leGFOGx8?t=8m4s another video]] revealed his real name to be Ram although this is entirely unintentional on his part.

* Paru Itagaki, creator of ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'', is a very private person and has never shown her face in public, always opting to wear a [[VideoGame/HotlineMiami Jacket]]-like chicken mask whenever she appears at events (as seen in the page image above, when she got married she even [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2023-09-26/beastars-manga-creator-paru-itagaki-gets-married/.202814 released a picture of herself wearing it in her wedding dress]]). One thing that ''is'' known about her is that she's the daughter of Keisuke Itagaki, creator of ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler'', and part of the reason for her reclusiveness was not wanting to be [[{{Nepotism}} seen as riding on his coattails]]. [[ZigzaggedTrope On the other hand]], she's also launched an autobiography manga (''Paruno Graffiti''), indicating that she is at least willing to talk about her life in manga format.

* Paru Itagaki, creator of ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'', is a very private person and has never shown her face in public, always opting to wear a [[VideoGame/HotlineMiami Jacket]]-like chicken mask whenever she appears at events (as seen in the page image above). One thing that ''is'' known about her is that she's the daughter of Keisuke Itagaki, creator of ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler'', and part of the reason for her reclusiveness was not wanting to be [[{{Nepotism}} seen as riding on his coattails]]. [[ZigzaggedTrope On the other hand]], she's also launched an autobiography manga (''Paruno Graffiti''), indicating that she is at least willing to talk about her life in manga format.

# Being a shy or private person, or just wishing to not be in the public eye.

# An issue in their private life.
# Shyness.
# A personal decision.
# Being a very private person overall.
# Falling into disgrace [[OvershadowedByControversy due to some serious scandal]] that has made them unwelcome among their peers or in public. Especially involving sexual misconduct, crimes against children, or being revealed as having non-progressive attitudes such as racism or anti-LGBT.
# A [[MisanthropeSupreme hatred of people]] or a mental disorder.[[note]]though it could be as minor as being fearful of large crowds to the point of it causing panic attacks[[/note]]

* Creator/SpikeJonze, music video (Music/FatboySlim's "Weapon of Choice", Music/BeastieBoys' "Sabotage") and film (''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich'') director, who is known for turning the ShrugOfGod into an art form. He doesn't do traditional DVD commentaries, only directed three films in twelve years (it took about four for ''Film/WhereTheWildThingsAre'' to be released), and rarely grants interviews. Even when he does, he tends to treat them as a prank (see the video in which he terminates an interview by stepping out of the car to vomit). His last feature film was 2011’s ''Film/{{Her}}'' (which won him a Best Original Screenplay Oscar) and since then he’s vanished besides directing a Beastie Boys documentary and producing ''Film/{{Jackass Forever}}''

** Not quite. A few more photos of her [[https://thisistucson.com/tucsonlife/lisa-frank-is-hidden-in-viral-video-but-we-have-some-archive-photos-if-youre/article_fe81afd8-206b-11e7-a2b8-87f8596f82ee.html do exist]] but she has become more camera shy as time went on. Not helping matters are the numerous allegations of workplace abuse against her and her husband, which culminated in a bitter legal battle that massively shrank her business.

* Creator/SpikeJonze, music video (Music/FatboySlim's "Weapon of Choice", Music/BeastieBoys' "Sabotage") and film (''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich'') director, who is known for turning the ShrugOfGod into an art form. He doesn't do traditional DVD commentaries, has only directed three films in twelve years (it took about four for ''Film/WhereTheWildThingsAre'' to be released), and rarely grants interviews. Even when he does, he tends to treat them as a prank (see the video in which he terminates an interview by stepping out of the car to vomit).

** Elise Deauxnim, the victim in the final case of ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations Trials And Tribulations]]'', is stated to be a very popular picture book author, but was so reclusive and mysterious that even the police struggle to get info on her. [[spoiler: Turns out she's Misty Fey, Maya and Mia Fey's Missing mom.]]

* Drew Misham, and his daughter Vela, from ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney''. This actually turns out to be a deconstruction; because he insisted on being an artist, his wife left him and his daughter to fend for themselves. He becomes this after an incident where his daughter was kidnapped, and her distrust of the outside world forces him to lock his door, only communicating with a two-way mailbox. His own income as an artist [[StarvingArtist was only barely enough for them to get by]], [[spoiler:and was forced to turn to forgery in order to pay the bills]].

* Information regarding 237, the Japanese developer behind the infamous [[InterplayOfSexAndViolence ero-guro]] game ''Demonophobia'' is extremely scarce -- to the point that the most prevalent theory on what happened to him is that he outright died in the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. He allegedly resurfaced in 2020 for an [=YouTube=] interview, then dropped off the face of the Earth again afterwards.

* Paru Itagaki, creator of ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'', is a very private person and has never shown her face in public, always opting to wear a chicken mask whenever she appears at events (as seen in the page image above). One thing that ''is'' known about her is that she's the daughter of Keisuke Itagaki, creator of ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler'', and part of the reason for her reclusiveness was not wanting to be [[{{Nepotism}} seen as riding on his coattails]]. [[ZigzaggedTrope On the other hand]], she's also launched an autobiography manga (''Paruno Graffiti''), indicating that she is at least willing to talk about her life in manga format.

* Despite creating one of the biggest cartoons of all-time with ''[[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants SpongeBob SquarePants]]'', Stephen Hillenburg himself was a very private, quiet person. He initially stepped down from the series after ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobSquarepantsMovie'', feeling that three seasons and a movie was enough...but the series kept on going and growing, though he would return to work on the series years later in the second half of season 9 following the completion of ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'' in 2015. (It was rumored he had an existential crisis when he casually saw a Sponge Bob-themed gumball machine, that freaked out by how big a phenomenon his series had become.) When the late cartoonist was diagnosed with ALS in 2017, he requested for privacy during this time; the fandom did just that. He continued to work on Sponge Bob up until his death in 2018.

* Despite creating one of the biggest cartoons of all-time with ''[[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants SpongeBob SquarePants]]'', Stephen Hillenburg himself was a very private, quiet person. He initially stepped down from the series after ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobSquarepantsMovie'', feeling that three season and a movie was enough...but the series kept on going and growing, though he would return to work on the series years later in the second half of season 9 following the completion of ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'' in 2015. (It was rumored he had an existential crisis when he casually saw a Sponge Bob-themed gumball machine, that freaked out by how big a phenomenon his series had become.) When the late cartoonist was diagnosed with ALS in 2017, he requested for privacy during this time; the fandom did just that. He continued to work on Sponge Bob up until his death in 2018.

* WebVideo/Defunctland host/creator "Kevin Perjurer" is a very quiet man about himself. His given name in his videos is a pseudonym and he keeps much of his personal information private. The only identifiable things he has disclosed about himself are that he grew up in UsefulNotes/KansasCity and currently lives in UsefulNotes/{{Florida}}.

* Yasuyuki Hasebe who was the battle planner of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', the battle designer of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' and most notably the director, writer, [[RuleOfThree and designer]] of the CultClassic ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'' hasn't been seen since. He seems to have retired from video games and was an executive employee at Soliton Systems, an IT Security/Data Streaming company, until at least 2018.

* Creator/TatsuyamaSayuri, the creator behind ''Manga/HappyHappyClover'' and ''Pukupuku Tennen Kairanban'' has a very brief section at the end of each volume that gives a short history behind her manga career. While it does mention, one of her older mangas from the late '90s called ''Pukupuku Natural Circular Notice'' won the Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga in 2002. When the ''Happy Happy Clover'' manga started getting popular around 2005 as well as getting an animated series in 2007 along with tons of merchandise in Japan. The author made a post on the Shogakukan official website about some information for the upcoming volume for the mangas at the time. A year after the manga was finished, she later went on to make a one-shot manga based on Creator/{{Sanrio}}'s ''Toys/{{Jewelpet}}'' franchise in 2009. As of 2015, not that much information is known about the creator and hasn't made a new manga since 2009. However, she recently created a [[https://twitter.com/SayuriTatsuyama Twitter account]] where she posts [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CgYYnZPUkAAhKQ_.jpg sketches]] [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIVGYDRVoAA9A_Q?format=jpg and illustrations]] of her characters and gives some updates about her manga career and life. When it comes to drawing herself, she is depicted [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sayuri_tatsuyama.jpg wearing a monkey costume.]]

* Wrestling/BrockLesnar is a notoriously private person in real life. He does not like to be approached by fans in public and rarely does public appearances or interviews. He has a Twitter account, but he hasn't used it since April 2020, and his activity mostly consisted of him retweeting Wrestling/PaulHeyman's tweets about him.

* Prior to his retirement in 2020, Wrestling/TheUndertaker rarely did any interviews or public appearances and avoided social media for the most part, likely to preserve the mystique of his character. He became much more open after retiring.