The Art of Princess Mononoke

This is one of a series of books related to the films of Hayao Miyazaki, put out by his Studio Ghibli, each of which presents a combination of finished cel art, storyboard drawings, background art, and concept-art sketches from one Miyazaki movie. In this volume, the art is arranged in a way that takes viewers through the story step by step, which is useful because the book doesn’t contain a copy of the script, as some of the other books in the series do. It does, however, contain an afterword about the studio’s then-new use of computer graphics and digital compositing. As with all Miyazaki films, the visuals in Princess Mononoke are gorgeous, and the book is well worth having for that fact alone. I found it especially useful, though, because (to my mind, anyway) the story in Princess Mononoke is more complex and confusing than that in most other Miyazaki movies, and the text of the book helped me understand the relationship among the characters and mythic elements better than I had when watching the movie. I recommend this book, and the others in the series, to all lovers of Miyazaki films, anime, and fantasy art.

If you love Miyazaki's fine film, you will love this book. It was the one I was unable to find a copy of for a long time and was thrilled when it was reprinted. I highly recommend all of the art books that represent Miyazaki's films, including the ones accompanying the works he wrote screenplays for but did not direct ("The Secret World of Arrietty", "From Up On Poppy Hill"). The books are all well done and feature a large amount of material relating to how the films were made, drawings, sketches and beautiful art from the films plus a full copy of the script. I am pleased to own art books for "Spirited Away", "Howl's Moving Castle", "My Neighbor Totoro" and "The Wind Rises" as well as most of the other art books in this series. The film's never disappoint and neither do these books. If you love Miyazaki's films they way I do, you owe it to yourself to eventually buy them all. Each one is a revelation into the process of the fine animation only Studio Ghibli creates. In another note, Joe Hisashi's scores for these films are also wonderful and well worth having. His music for "Princess Mononoke" is gorgeous.

This hardcover came in great condition and was packaged pretty securely - one thing I was concerned about since other reviews showed damage to the covers. I purchased this art book because 1) Princess Mononke is one of my FAVORITE Ghibli movies 2) Studio Ghibli is one of my biggest inspirations as an artist and I've been searching for more art books to study and see more of their original concept art. I've looked at tons of reviews particularly searching for mentions of concept art to see which Ghibli art book would give me more of that. This one had a ton of mentions of the original concept art and character sketches so I choose it hoping to see even a few pages of that. Now I was blown away once I finally received this book. It reached my expectations and more so! Tons of original concept art and background sketches. Tons of different character designs they drew out when trying to find the best design for the characters we know and love. So many thought out details and ideas for everything - story themes, towns and lifestyle, their cultures and more. Even going into detail and showing step by step how this movie came to fruition from the paper sketches, coloring to CG animation. I will forever cherish and use this as a reference for further art/ideas.

It is beautiful, I bought it as a gift and the person was fascinated, I hug the book with all my strength, I feel so good for it. It comes in a hard cover, which is great. I loved this book, now I need one for myself. Without a doubt, it is a very good buy.

Bought it for a grandson who is a great fan of Miyazaki and loves all his films. J is also an amateur artist himself so likes reference material as well as art.

Beautiful book and very high quality.

Beautiful and large book. Lots of art in it and would be great for fans.

If you live ghibli, this book is for you, from concept art to final frames. Beautiful