#Kazuo Oga

[nnaalluuaarxv]

Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) illustration

Cel drawing: Hayao Miyazaki Background: Kazuo Oga

[filmy420]

The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)

[nevver]

Anime backgrounds, Kazuo Oga

[nine-frames]

"Give us back our hills! Give us back our fields! Give us back our home."

平成狸合戦ぽんぽこ (Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko / Pom Poko), 1994.

Dir. & Writ. Isao Takahata | DOP Atsushi Okui | Art Dir. Kazuo Oga

[bleachedsnow]

Took me forever but I finished cleaning up this assignment from Clar Sim's Warrior Art Camp workshop! I was studying Kazuo Oga's line art style.

[cabramso]

Was drawing my home and trying to give it some Oga Kazuo romanticism....then just fully leaned into it and added a little Catbus paying me a visit

[pgabachelorarfa2024clarepolster]

#27

Yoichi Nishikawa and Kazuo Oga Background Painting Studies

While making these studies, I tried to keep in mind the different textures of each material I was painting and how they interacted with light; I also tried to keep in mind that a environment should receive a character not overwhelm their presence in a scene.

December 2023

[dillonbrannick]

I've been looking at Kazuo Oga's work (it's too good) the last day or two so I broke out the gouaches to paint this little scene of the river dodder.

[quotesoutofseason]

What can Japan be proud of? Until recently, parents and kids have been able to easily answer, "nature and the seasonal beauty," but no one can say that anymore. Those of us who live in Japan-and who are indeed Japanese-shun [the reality of] our country, where animation is a form of escapism. Is this country that awful, so devoid of hope now?

Even in this global age, it's the most local things that can have a worldwide effect. Yet why doesn't anyone make a delightful and wonderful film set in Japan?

We need a new method and sense of discovery to be up to the task. Rather than be sentimental, the film must be a joyful.

entertaining film.

The forgotten.

The ignored.

Those that are considered lost.

Yet I made My Neighbor Totoro with the firm belief that these things still exist

What is Totoro?

It is the name that our protagonist, the four-year-old Mei, gives these creatures. No one knows what their real name is.

They dwelled in the forests here a long, long time ago, when the country was nearly uninhabited. Apparently they live over a thousand years. The large Totoro is over two meters tall. Big and furry, not unlike a big owl, beast, or bear, this animal might be considered a monster, but it never attacks people. These serene, carefree creatures have dwelled in forest caves or old tree holes, away from humans, but somehow the sisters Satsuki and Mei manage to find them.

The Totoros don't want any commotion, and although this is their first contact with humans, they've opened up to Satsuki and Mei.

Initial Concept Sketches

The film My Neighbor Totoro was based on a children's book Miyazaki conceptualized while working on the TV series 3000 Miles in Search of Mother (1976). Some of these initial concept sketches for the children's book ended up in the film, while others were left out. These images provide us a glimpse of the "other" My Neighbor Totoro Miyazaki had envisioned.



The Art of Animated Films

This is a collection of concept sketches, storyboards, concept art, cel art, and film images that tell the story of My Neighbor Totoro, an animated film conceived, scripted, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. All concept sketches and storyboards are by Hayao Miyazaki. Concept art is by the art direction supervisor, Kazuo Oga. The commentary has been excerpted from interviews conducted with Hayao Miyazaki and Kazuo Oga published in Romance Album and Storyboard Collection.

Note: Unprocessed cel art may deviate from corresponding animation shots.

"It's supposed to be 1955, but we weren't terribly thorough in our research. What we had in mind was 'a recent past' that everyone can relate to." (Miyazaki)

"We first imagined what an ideal house would look like.

The staff came up with the idea, and then everyone looked at the rushes. Instead of being impressed by Satsuki and Mei's movements, they all said, 'I want to live there.' Without wanting to lower their standard of living, they wanted to live in that kind of house." (Miyazaki)

"It would be pointless to explain how the 'soot sprites are born or where they reside. We present them just as soot sprites. They just suddenly van-ish, and that's enough. It's pointless to elaborate any further than that." (Miyazaki)



"Many Japanese homes used to have Western-style additions.

Actually, this house is only half built.

The yard was supposed to be well kept, but the house was

abandoned. The previous occupant was ill and died there. It was a villa built as a retreat for a tuberculosis patient. The house languished after the patient died. That's the story behind the house." (Miyazaki)







"I wanted Totoro to be massive. It wouldn't work if he had a long neck, so we made him pudgy. He's not a spirit; he's only an animal. I believe he lives on acorns. He's supposedly the forest keeper, but that's only a half-baked idea, a rough approximation. It would be more accurate to consider him a creature that modern Japanese had to make up out of desperation." (Miyazaki)

"The Cat Bus is always grinning. As long as it's running. it's happy [laughs]. The Cat Bus once assumed the shape of a rickshaw carrier, but the sight of a bus rumbling by excited it so much it turned itself into one." (Miyazaki)

"At first, we were thinking of a dug-out hollow with a wooden grain, but it just didn't look right. What Miyazaki had in mind was a clean cave, like an arts and crafts room. When wood looks smooth in a drawing, the grain has to be clear, so it ends up looking like new building material. So we ended up abandoning that idea. Instead, we decided to add moss. But you know how moist moss is. The Totoros probably wouldn't find that very enticing, so we illuminated the interior to get rid of the musky feel, adding pretty flowers in bloom, and created a different world. That's how that scene evolved." (Oga)

"When Totoro stays behind as Satsuki rides the Cat Bus toward the end, some people said, 'That's harsh. But it wouldn't have worked if it rode with them, consoled her, and joined them in looking through the hospital window. Totoro can't be too touchy-feely with them. It can't be too giving. The rest is up to the Cat Bus." (Miyazaki)

[filmy420]

The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)

[annakarinahumphreys]

Environment Design - Studio Ghibli

A company that I think of when I remember amazing backgrounds is Studio Ghibli. Throughout almost all of their films the environments have a very distinct style. Ghibli's environments are beautiful, full realistic scenes that never leave the screen empty while never feeling cluttered.

There are two main leaders for the brilliance of Ghibli's environments are director Hayao Miyazaki and background supervisor Kazuo Oga. Kazuo Oga worked on many of Studio Ghibli's backgrounds. Outside of the general studio style, what Oga says defines his style is that he plays with his pieces. His work contains little pieces of detail that doesn't necessarily need to be there but adds great depth and character to each environment he creates.

Hayao Miyazaki as the cofounder of Ghibli also steered the environments of many of their projects. Through his influence, settings of many Ghibli films are inspired or based off of real places he had visited throughout his life. This means a lot of Ghibli films are designed around beautiful places in Japan, with films like Princess Mononoke and Ponyo being inspired by Yakushima Forest and Tomonoura respectively. Many other films where inspired by travels in Europe.

I think the style of these backgrounds alongside the inspiration drawn from real places is what makes Ghibli's environments so iconic. The strong base for their environments allows for the thoughtful details of the background artists that give Ghibli's environments their charm.

[adirtnap]

clockgame moodboard for robin! - two of my illustrations for the game - egon schiele, kazuo oga, howl's moving castle concept art - tunnelinu for The Quiet Year, theo prins - also theo prins

[alien-commonplacebook]

Artists I Like

acjohnson_photo

alec johnson

abelardo morell

mandy barker

saul leiter

jacob collins

kim McCarty

edward burtynsky

vija celmins (big sea)

Kazuo Oga

[pletnet]

'Mi Vecino Totoro' Detrás de Escena con Kazuo Oga

Descubre el arte detrás de Totoro y su mágica naturaleza. ¡Sumérgete en la historia de Kazuo Oga! #Totoro #Animacion #StudioGhibli

Totoro: ¡Descubre el Arte de Kazuo Oga que Encierra Magia! Índice:La invitación de Miyazaki: Un nuevo comienzoLa conexión con la naturalezaLa importancia de los fondos en la animaciónReflexiones sobre la creaciónUn cambio de perspectivaLa atmósfera en GhibliAl concluir la producción¿Y a ti también te gusta Totoro? Totoro. Esta palabra evoca recuerdos entrañables y la calidez de la infancia. La…

[retro-system]

kazuo oga i owe you my life