See Into The Trees

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio whose name has become synonymous with the enchanting anime style that they have perfected over the years. Studio Ghibli has made dozens of movies, 3 of which are in the top ten highest grossing Japanese movies of all time! The sheer amount of movies, books, clothing, home decor, toys, games, & all other official Ghibli merchandise is mind-boggling. They have a museum. They even have a theme park! The volume of officially-licensed Ghibli things are, however, nothing compared to the overwhelming number of loving tributes that generations of fans have created. Ghibli fans are a worldwide, multigenerational, force of nature. Just researching Ghibli for this post has been difficult as the enormous volume of fanart, fanfic, & other Ghibli-inspired works threaten to bury the original work in each & every search response.

No-Face Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

So much has already been written about Studio Ghibli. I could talk all day about co-founder Hayao Miyazaki, who directed most of the studio’s biggest hits. I would give a TED talk on Ghibli’s extensive use of Yokai. I will, someday, probably write an article about the various movies' amazing casts of characters. However, I feel there is one major aspect of every Ghibli movie that always distracts me the most.

Yu-Bird & Boh These 2, clearly, are not distracting at all

The backgrounds in Ghibli movies are practically an extra character in each scene. The landscapes, in particular, are so good! Some of the landscapes & backgrounds are almost as popular as their characters are. An image search of “Ghibli-style landscape” will bring you practically infinite responses.

Watercolor Ghibli landscape I’ve painted Howl’s flower field several times, & I’m not the only one!

These iconic backgrounds are largely the work of Kazuo Oga. He travels to collect reference photos for his work, as well as drawing on inspiration from his childhood. You might think such an accomplished & talented artist is using top-of-the-line materials to make backgrounds for award-winning movies. Nope! He paints them using relatively inexpensive Nicker Poster Colors, which work like gouache. This gives him bold, opaque, yet still water-soluble paint colors to play with.

Digital Ghibli landscape I only have 2 colors of gouache & no poster paint, so I made this one digitally

Kazuo Oga is an inspiration & a reminder that we don’t need to splash out on every expensive artistic accessory being marketed to us- the basics can be enough if you have the skill & dedication. I sit here, side-eyeing my dollar store watercolors, & breathe a sigh of relief! That is a nice reminder, especially as the WGA is forced to continue striking & so we are forced to continue scrimping…

Oh wait, I haven’t even had time to talk about the books! Many Ghibli movies, such as Howl’s Moving Castle & Earwig & the Witch started as books by Diana Wynne Jones, a British novelist. Most of her books are speculative fiction for children. They are also a lot of fun! When I was little I read every one of her books my library had. One that didn’t end up as a Ghibli movie is called Fire & Hemlock, which I liked a lot. I recommend it both for being a fun story & also for name-dropping like 100 other really good books over the course of the narrative.

Oh, & the music! The soundtracks to Ghibli movies are amazing. Joe Hisaishi is a prolific musician who has, among other things, scored many Ghibli movies. I encourage you to look him up wherever you get your music! While you’re there, check out the overwhelming amount of fan-made musical Ghibli tributes. Most of my favorite covers can be found on Cat Trumpet’s album Relaxing Piano: Studio Ghibli Complete Collection.

Teto & Ohm Teto prefers ‘Tori no Hito’, but the Ohm likes ‘Inochi no Namae’ more

It has been one heck of a Ghibli month. I only have 1 day left in the challenge– “Iconic Detail” on the 30th. What iconic detail from Ghibli movies do you like best? Let me know in my Ko-Fi or Mastodon, linked below. See you next week!

Get my art on mugs & vinyl stickers in my Shop!

Join us for #KWPrompts, a biweekly art challenge!

Find me on Linktree