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Reading this felt like I was there in the making of my favorite movie of all time
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The Art of Howl's Moving Castle
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Shortly after reaping the rewards from his movie Spirited Away, a project that earned him an Academy Award in 2003, director Hayao Miyazaki set his sites on his next film, Howl's Moving Castle. Based on the novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, Howl's Moving Castle gave the internationally renown director an opportunity to bring to life a fantastical time in 19th century Europe when science and magic defined the popular zeitgeist. Veering slightly from its source material, the new Miyazaki movie nonetheless retains all the novel's principal characters. There's a foppish wizard named Howl, a vain witch from the wastelands, an anthropomorphic chimney fire and a young girl who carries a most unusual curse. And, of course, there's the moving castle… a towering, omnipresent structure that dominates the landscape. Already a smash success in Japan, Howl's Moving Castle finally comes to U.S. theatres this spring. To coincide with its Stateside release, VIZ is proud to present The Art of Howl's Moving Castle, a hardbound, prestige format book which acts as an essential companion to the film. A generous collection of concept sketches, fully rendered character and background drawings, paintings and cell images, The Art of Howl's Moving Castle brings the movie into your library. Along with the stunning visuals, the book also presents interviews and comments with the production staff, including key points directly from the director. There's more than one way to book passage on the moving castle. See the movie, but don't forget to reserve a copy of the book, as well. The Art of Howl's Moving Castle is a great way to preserve the magic of the next great anime classic from Hayao Miyazaki.
Shortly after reaping the rewards from his movie Spirited Away , a project that earned him an Academy Award in 2003, director Hayao Miyazaki set his sites on his next film, Howl's Moving Castle.
Based on the novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, Howl's Moving Castle gave the internationally renowned director an opportunity to bring to life a fantastical time in 19th century Europe when science and magic defined the popular zeitgeist.
Veering slightly from its source material, the new Miyazaki movie nonetheless retains all the novel's principal characters. There's a foppish wizard named Howl, a vain witch from the wastelands, an anthropomorphic chimney fire and a young girl who carries a most unusual curse. And, of course, there's the moving castle, a towering, omnipresent structure that dominates the landscape.
Already a smash success in Japan, Howl's Moving Castle finally comes to U.S. theatres this spring. To coincide with its Stateside release, VIZ is proud to present The Art of Howl's Moving Castle , a hardbound, prestige format book which acts as an essential companion to the film.
A generous collection of concept sketches, fully rendered character and background drawings, paintings and cell images, The Art of Howl's Moving Castle brings the movie into your library. Along with the stunning visuals, the book also presents interviews and comments with the production staff, including key points directly from the director.
There's more than one way to book passage on the moving castle. See the movie, but don't forget to reserve a copy of the book, as well. The Art of Howl's Moving Castle is a great way to preserve the magic of the next great anime classic from Hayao Miyazaki.
Shortly after reaping the rewards from his movie Spirited Away , a project that earned him an Academy Award in 2003, director Hayao Miyazaki set his sites on his next film, Howl's Moving Castle.
Based on the novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, Howl's Moving Castle gave the internationally renowned director an opportunity to bring to life a fantastical time in 19th century Europe when science and magic defined the popular zeitgeist.
Veering slightly from its source material, the new Miyazaki movie nonetheless retains all the novel's principal characters. There's a foppish wizard named Howl, a vain witch from the wastelands, an anthropomorphic chimney fire and a young girl who carries a most unusual curse. And, of course, there's the moving castle, a towering, omnipresent structure that dominates the landscape.
Already a smash success in Japan, Howl's Moving Castle finally comes to U.S. theatres this spring. To coincide with its Stateside release, VIZ is proud to present The Art of Howl's Moving Castle , a hardbound, prestige format book which acts as an essential companion to the film.
A generous collection of concept sketches, fully rendered character and background drawings, paintings and cell images, The Art of Howl's Moving Castle brings the movie into your library. Along with the stunning visuals, the book also presents interviews and comments with the production staff, including key points directly from the director.
There's more than one way to book passage on the moving castle. See the movie, but don't forget to reserve a copy of the book, as well. The Art of Howl's Moving Castle is a great way to preserve the magic of the next great anime classic from Hayao Miyazaki.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1,2004
This edition
- Format
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256 pages, Hardcover
- Published
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July 5, 2005 by VIZ Media LLC
- ISBN
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9781421500492
- ASIN
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1421500493
- Language
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English
About the author
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宮崎駿
Hayao Miyazaki was born in Tokyo on January 5, 1941. He started his career in 1963 as an animator at the studio Toei Douga, and was subsequently involved in many early classics of Japanese animation. From the beginning, he commanded attention with his incredible ability to draw, and the seemingly-endless stream of movie ideas he proposed.
In 1971, he moved to A Pro with Isao Takahata, then to Nippon Animation in 1973, where he was heavily involved in the World Masterpiece Theater TV animation series for the next five years. In 1978, he directed his first TV series, Conan, The Boy in Future, then moved to Tokyo Movie Shinsha in 1979 to direct his first movie, the classic Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro.
In 1984, he released Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, based on the manga (comic) of the same title which he had started two years before. The success of the film led to the establishment of a new animation studio, Studio Ghibli, at which Miyazaki has since written, directed, and produced many other films with Takahata. All of these films enjoyed critical and box office successes. In particular, Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke received the Japan Academy Award for Best Film and was the highest-grossing (about US$150 million) domestic film in Japan's history until it was taken over by another Miyazaki work, Spirited Away.
In addition to animation, Miyazaki also draws manga. His major work was the Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind manga, an epic tale he worked on intermittently from 1982 to 1994 while he was busy making animated films. Another manga, Hikoutei Jidai, was later evolved into his film Porco Rosso.
Hayao Miyazaki was born in Tokyo on January 5, 1941. He started his career in 1963 as an animator at the studio Toei Douga, and was subsequently involved in many early classics of Japanese animation. From the beginning, he commanded attention with his incredible ability to draw, and the seemingly-endless stream of movie ideas he proposed.
In 1971, he moved to A Pro with Isao Takahata, then to Nippon Animation in 1973, where he was heavily involved in the World Masterpiece Theater TV animation series for the next five years. In 1978, he directed his first TV series, Conan, The Boy in Future, then moved to Tokyo Movie Shinsha in 1979 to direct his first movie, the classic Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro.
In 1984, he released Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, based on the manga (comic) of the same title which he had started two years before. The success of the film led to the establishment of a new animation studio, Studio Ghibli, at which Miyazaki has since written, directed, and produced many other films with Takahata. All of these films enjoyed critical and box office successes. In particular, Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke received the Japan Academy Award for Best Film and was the highest-grossing (about US$150 million) domestic film in Japan's history until it was taken over by another Miyazaki work, Spirited Away.
In addition to animation, Miyazaki also draws manga. His major work was the Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind manga, an epic tale he worked on intermittently from 1982 to 1994 while he was busy making animated films. Another manga, Hikoutei Jidai, was later evolved into his film Porco Rosso.
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The Art of Howl's Moving Castle is a book about making full-feature animated movies from the Ghibli collection. This book covers, from Hayao Miyazaki's masterpiece, the initial sketches, the main storyboards, analysis of the key frames/sequences by the supervising animators and other key personnel, a description of the computer-generated effects (CG) by both their authors and their users, and the full script.
In few words sprinkled in-between well-selected images, we get to learn how many of the main elements were created and why, and how the glueing was guided by Hayao Miyazaki. From the technical elements:
- How'l Moving Castle won its first award at the Venice International Film, where it was also the first Japanese animation entry;
- The movie took two years to complete, from Sep 2002 to Sep 2004;
- The movie uses, for about 120 minutes of screening, almost 150,000 animation sheets (about 1,200 per minute, or 20 per second);
- The crew was inspired in their depiction of cities by their visit to Colmar, Alsace, although their visits to Heidelberg and Paris also helped (as a nice coincidence, I've visited all of them);
- The art of the city objects and buildings also draws from the work of illustrator Albert Robida (1848-1926);
- The coloring was continuously tuned towards brighter;
- The mood of the characters is also illustrated through hue, one of the first times emotion in animated movies is rendered through this approach;
- Although twice as many CG effects were used in Howl's, vs Spirited Away, the previous full-feature of the studio, very few scenes were predominantly CG; instead, CG animated peripheral elements, such as the flapping wings of the flying battleships;
- The set of used CG effects include: fitting, flag waving, path mapping, morphing, particle pathing, water undulating, and several single-object effects (jewelry, the worm hole, etc.).
On the negative side, the dense language--several of the things I was really interested in were explained too technically to make much sense; what is "harmony"?!--and the lack of a general description of the process. For the latter, I would have really appreciated more of the voice of Hayao Miyazaki.
Overall, an excellent book on the topic, with a few correctable issues. Thumbs up!
In few words sprinkled in-between well-selected images, we get to learn how many of the main elements were created and why, and how the glueing was guided by Hayao Miyazaki. From the technical elements:
- How'l Moving Castle won its first award at the Venice International Film, where it was also the first Japanese animation entry;
- The movie took two years to complete, from Sep 2002 to Sep 2004;
- The movie uses, for about 120 minutes of screening, almost 150,000 animation sheets (about 1,200 per minute, or 20 per second);
- The crew was inspired in their depiction of cities by their visit to Colmar, Alsace, although their visits to Heidelberg and Paris also helped (as a nice coincidence, I've visited all of them);
- The art of the city objects and buildings also draws from the work of illustrator Albert Robida (1848-1926);
- The coloring was continuously tuned towards brighter;
- The mood of the characters is also illustrated through hue, one of the first times emotion in animated movies is rendered through this approach;
- Although twice as many CG effects were used in Howl's, vs Spirited Away, the previous full-feature of the studio, very few scenes were predominantly CG; instead, CG animated peripheral elements, such as the flapping wings of the flying battleships;
- The set of used CG effects include: fitting, flag waving, path mapping, morphing, particle pathing, water undulating, and several single-object effects (jewelry, the worm hole, etc.).
On the negative side, the dense language--several of the things I was really interested in were explained too technically to make much sense; what is "harmony"?!--and the lack of a general description of the process. For the latter, I would have really appreciated more of the voice of Hayao Miyazaki.
Overall, an excellent book on the topic, with a few correctable issues. Thumbs up!
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The Studio Ghibli Library books are so good. The quality of the images, the quality of the paper, and plenty of interesting sections on the process. Maybe still a little heavy on the movie stills and describing the scene when more space could be given to concept art, breakdowns and interviews, but it's hard to grumble too much when each shot looks this good.
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It was incredible to see the sketches and drafts for each of the scenes from the anime, especially after recently completing the novel by Diana Wynne Jones. I will be rewatching the film some time in the near future, for sure!
Reading about the processes that went into making such a beautiful film was incredible! None of this animation was done by half, there was so much thought into even the smallest details that I never even thought about when watching the final product.
The number of people collaborating to make one masterpiece was incredible me and the fact that it was completed cohesively without too much strife, is just amazing to read about. Studio Ghibli seems like a brilliant workplace for animators and artists.
One of my complaints would be that reading this became quite tedious. Although the majority of the pages were filled with images from the film and drafted sketches, the reading involved was quite lengthy. Being that the writing was only about the creation of the work, and the artistic differences on set, it was easy to become a little bored of the text and distracted by the exquisite art of the images. This could probably be prevented if reading another book at the same time and reading this one bit by bit rather than solely focusing on reading this one like I did.
My only other complaint is that this book accentuates the drastic differences from the novel. The film is much lighter, happier and family based. As I have only just read the novel for the first time recently, I probably wouldn't have had any complaints if I had have read this book before reading the original text which is not afraid to become dark while maintaining the excitement of the magic involved in the plot.
Nonetheless, I did really love looking at the gradual progression and development of the animation - the art is so beautiful, and I am a massive fan of the brilliant, hard work put into this film.
Reading about the processes that went into making such a beautiful film was incredible! None of this animation was done by half, there was so much thought into even the smallest details that I never even thought about when watching the final product.
The number of people collaborating to make one masterpiece was incredible me and the fact that it was completed cohesively without too much strife, is just amazing to read about. Studio Ghibli seems like a brilliant workplace for animators and artists.
One of my complaints would be that reading this became quite tedious. Although the majority of the pages were filled with images from the film and drafted sketches, the reading involved was quite lengthy. Being that the writing was only about the creation of the work, and the artistic differences on set, it was easy to become a little bored of the text and distracted by the exquisite art of the images. This could probably be prevented if reading another book at the same time and reading this one bit by bit rather than solely focusing on reading this one like I did.
My only other complaint is that this book accentuates the drastic differences from the novel. The film is much lighter, happier and family based. As I have only just read the novel for the first time recently, I probably wouldn't have had any complaints if I had have read this book before reading the original text which is not afraid to become dark while maintaining the excitement of the magic involved in the plot.
Nonetheless, I did really love looking at the gradual progression and development of the animation - the art is so beautiful, and I am a massive fan of the brilliant, hard work put into this film.
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If you have been mesmerized by Miyazaki's film and wish to know more about how it was made, this is the book for you.
Lavishly illustrated with countless images from the finished film, color comps, sketches and concept designs, this book will appeal to animators, designers, and anime fans. However, don't look for detailed explanations of the technicalities - the texts are scant, and provide little insight into the production details.
The book includes the original script, and it's a wonderful coffee table for anyone interested in anime, animation or illustration.
Lavishly illustrated with countless images from the finished film, color comps, sketches and concept designs, this book will appeal to animators, designers, and anime fans. However, don't look for detailed explanations of the technicalities - the texts are scant, and provide little insight into the production details.
The book includes the original script, and it's a wonderful coffee table for anyone interested in anime, animation or illustration.
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Amé esta película; entre las cosas que más me gustaron estaban el diseño de los personajes, los paisajes, los colores, y el aspecto del castillo ambulante; por lo que ver cómo se creó la estética de esta obra maestra es algo maravilloso.
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*4.5 The visuals from the movie are breathtaking! It was great getting behind the scenes from the making of Howl’s Moving Castle. Reading the script at the end almost felt as if I was watching the film. So glad I bought this one.
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I LOVE howls moving castle its so cool! Turnip head is so funny!!!
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