Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director and manga artist. He is also the co-founder of Studio Ghibli. The talented artist is one of the most accomplished filmmakers in the history of animation. His work is both beautiful to look at but is entertaining to watch and strikingly animated. He joined Toei Animation in 1963 and worked as an in between artist for a number of years. Miyazaki then later collaborated with the director Isao Takahata and contributed to a selection of films like Gulliver’s Travels Beyond the Moon. He also worked on a number of TV shows before founding studio Ghibli in 1985. I believe his previous work prior to Studio Ghibli exposed him to a number of processes and allowed him to develop his style and work before finally starting the franchise. He both directed and animated a range of the Studio Ghibli films like My Neighbour Totoro and Castle in the Sky. Each film was met with critical and commercial success. The films are both loved in Japan and around the world, admired for both its animation and delicate storytelling.

His works are characterised by themes of humanity’s relationship with nature and technology. It focuses on the importance of art and the difficulty if being a pacifist in such a violent wold, as well as natural and traditional way of doing things. The films comprise of a selection of diverse characters, all different from the next. The films often feature a mystical creature of some kind whether it be an animal or a ghost. But the main character more often than not is a strong young woman. The representation of women in his work is important as a lot of his work is focussed on younger children and adults.

In each film Miyazaki employed both traditional styles of animation and modern computerised versions on animation. In earlier movies he drew and painted each frame of film by hand, but as he and his films rose to fame the process became more tedious and time consuming. This is way in later films he used computer generated imagery to enhance the visual look of his work. But has combined both traditional and modern ways of animating and has come up with his on hand to computer method. Maiyazaki says he has been greatly influenced by Walt Disney and his films and animations. I really love Maiyazki and Studio Ghibli’s films as I find the animation mesmerising and beautiful to watch.