Rating 4-4.5

The Art of Howl's Moving Castle is an absolute treasure trove for fans of the beloved animated film. This book features over 400 pages of stunning artwork, sketches, storyboards, and commentary from director Hayao Miyazaki himself. From concept art to finished animation frames, every page is filled with gorgeous details that bring the film's world to life in a way that only Miyazaki's masterful touch can achieve.

As someone who has always been fascinated by the artistry and imagination behind Miyazaki's films, I found this book to be an absolute delight. The attention to detail is simply breathtaking, and it's clear that every aspect of the film's design was carefully considered and crafted with care. I loved being able to see the evolution of the film's characters and settings, from the initial sketches to the final product. The commentary from Miyazaki adds another layer of depth to the book, giving readers insights into his thought process and creative vision.

But what truly sets The Art of Howl's Moving Castle apart is its ability to transport readers into the film's world. As I turned the pages, I felt like I was being transported to the magical kingdom of Ingary, with all of its quirks, beauty, and dangers. The colors and textures in the artwork are so rich and vivid that they practically jump off the page. It's a truly immersive experience that will leave you marveling at the sheer creativity and artistry of Miyazaki's work.

Overall, The Art of Howl's Moving Castle is a must-have for anyone who loves Miyazaki's films or animation in general. It's a gorgeous and immersive journey into the world of Howl's Moving Castle, and it's a testament to the power of imagination and creativity in storytelling. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. 5 stars.

This extensive and magnificent artbook is a part of the Studio Ghibli Library, and features anything and everything related to Hayao Miyazaki’s animated feature Howl’s Moving Castle (2004). As is to be expected from a Studio Ghibli Library book, it contains many beautiful colour pages filled with concept art, stills from the film, character designs, posters, and more. It definitely serves as a very inspiring and captivating coffee table book.

Scattered among the many illustrations and art pieces are brief explanations of scenes, and provides the staff (mostly the supervising animators) the reader with details on techniques used (CGI, specifically), difficulties encountered, personal opinions on components of the film, and details on both the animating and the production process. It’s quite interesting to read about the motivations of the animators behind certain visible choices in the film, and makes one realize just how much goes into making an animated feature of the scope and size of Howl’s Moving Castle.

The book consists of three parts, namely: (1) Miyazaki’s own concept sketches of the film, including storyboards; (2) concept/background art, character designs and concept sketches of the film; (3) the final screenplay of the English dub. All are extensive and detailed, giving the reader a wonderful compilation of art, interviews, and fun facts.

The second part goes through the film chronologically, covering character designs as soon as characters are introduced, and covering practically every single detail in every single scene. Some scenes, however, only include stills from the final film – though I understand that there aren’t always concept sketches available (and that it would perhaps greatly lengthen the book), this is the only point of critique I could find.

Definitely recommended if you enjoyed the film, and especially if you like artbooks to boot. It’s a gorgeous book with high-quality art, and covers some great background facts on the film as well.

I finally watched this movie recently and really loved it. I am fascinated by the process of creating an animated film and Studio Ghibli has a really special quality I've never seen anywhere else. The art is of course stunning and I enjoyed reading about the research that went into the character designs.

The sketches and the interviews while also the detailed narration of the creative works behind the making of howl's moving castle were everything I could ever ask from this book, but it failed to deliver its true potential due to it's lacking of all those things in the second part of the book.

This was amazing to read. I loved seeing the sketches <3

I'm in love with the art of the film and always have been. This was an inspirational read for me as well as an eye opener as I had no clue that the film was based on a book!

got it for my birthday from my roommates last year. its my comfort movie so this was an amazing thing to read

I love studio Ghibli and I loved Howl’s Moving Castle. This book was absolutely amazing and I will use it as a reference when in the need of creative motivation.
The reason I have only given it 4 stars is because I would have liked to of seen a few more of the ‘behind the scenes’ images. The more unpolished, raw pieces of art.
Though I am not complaining about nothing, ‘cuz this book is a work of art. Literally.

Merece tanto la pena saber las intenciones de cada escena, cada color y personaje, y cómo trabajaron los que han creado esta maravilla de película, que retomaré este libro de vez en cuando para resistir a verme la película otra vez

howl’s moving castle isn’t one of my favourite studio ghibli films but i definitely have a soft spot for it in my heart. loved getting to see more of the production side of things and how studio ghibli makes their magic come to life in this book: there’s a good array of concept art, film stills and commentary from ghibli’s production team. would have more liked more commentary though – that part felt half-finished, too heavy on the technical side rather than the conceptual. all in all, a nice coffee table book to spend a lazy afternoon with.

Kind of wish there was just a little bit more information about development/adaptation/concept stuff, but still really cool!!