Book Sources:

Miyazaki

(2014)

The Art of Princess Mononoke

To extend my research on Miyazaki for my essay, I have chosen another book that is about one of his films. This book focuses on the film called ' Princess Mononoke'. This film is set in the 14th Century. A demon attacks a village in northeast Japan. The Prince of  the Emishi Tribe, Ashitaka, kills the demon. Ashitaka gets infected by an animal attack and tries to find a cure from a "deer-like-God" called Shishigam. Along the way, people try and bring down the wolf God Mono and his companion Princess Mononoke. 

This book contains: concept sketches, concept art,backgrounds, notes and cel art.

The background art within this book has a mixture of simple and detailed designs. For example, pages 18-19 reveal simple pieces of line work that works well together as they add tone and texture to the sketch. To create these pieces, Miyazaki has used watercolor. He has used the watercolor effectively to form different hues that show further uses of tone. Miyazaki has added notes to his sketch which reveals how he analyses his art.

More successful pieces can be seen on pages 20-21. These Illustrations have more detail within them. There are a variety of marks that have been made to add texture to elements such as the grass. I like the image on page 21 because the pathway gets shorter to imply that the path gradually seems further away. I believe that this is successful as it evidences the technique of Foreshortening. Furthermore, I believe that this piece of work is successful because it looks like Miyazaki has used a mixture of traditional and digital techniques. Traditional techniques have been added by using watercolor. The clouds and the trees look like they have been done digitally. This evidences that Miyazaki is open to experimentation. This is evidenced even further in this book as it states "Princess Mononoke marks the first time that the studio has implemented and used digital technology down to the smallest detail."

Cel art has been added within this book to show the final outcomes that have been added to the film. Looking at final outcomes was probably useful to Miyazaki so he could get a visual idea of what could happen next. There is an example of cel art that I like on pages 24-25. The demon spirit attacks the village. This can be seen as the sketch shows how the "demon breaks through a stone wall." I like these designs because there is a lot of detail within both the characters and landscapes. 

Within this book, I have looked at a variety of character designs. The sketches that I have mainly looked at are of Ashitaka and Yakul. Originally, Ashitaka was drawn with thicker eyebrows and Yakul's horns had a lot more ridges on them. This is makes them successful because you can clearly see the uses of character development. I believe that the character designs effectively communicate the characters' facial expressions and movements. I like these pieces because Miyazaki has continued to use watercolor and pencil.  

On pages 90-91, there are some sketches that I particularly like based on how Miyazaki has focused on character designs and the background. Before creating his final cel art, he started his design with a concept sketch. I think this is a good method when designing because it allows you to extend and develop your ideas. On page 90, this has been shown by Miyazaki's sketches of the background scene. He has mainly focused on the environment such as drawing plants, trees etc. Page 91 reveals how this idea has been extended even further as it has a lot more detail. The design has been changed also by how he has added in some character designs. I believe that by adding in these characters, Miyazaki has added a narrative to the scene.

To an conclusion, I believe that using this book for research has helped me to extend my understanding of Miyazaki's uses within his methods, techniques and detail. It has also revealed to me how he develops his ideas throughout and how they gradually shape his films.