Nausicaä Manga | Hayao Miyazaki Master Study

From a pen and ink learning perspective, three things stand out about Hayao Miyazaki’s (studio ghibli) style; a Nausicaä manga master study.

// RESOURCES and TOOLS ↓↓↓

//DISCLOSURE: I earn a small commission when you use my affiliate links to make a purchase.

\\ ⏰ TIMING
00:18 – Character Design
01:32 – Stroke Finesse
02:06 – Energetic Textures

[blobymcblobface]

I love your videos for a lot of reasons but one big one is that you're always studying something outside my comfort zone.

[EasterlyArt]

I actually did a blueline study of that first page and a few other pages to better understand his hatching approach. Blueline for those unfamiliar is a technique where the under-drawing that would be inked on top of is made with blue materials so that the inked work can be more easily separated from the under-drawing. There are blueline pencils that are commonly used, but the same effect can be achieved by converting a black and white drawing or image in an image editing program to be just Cyan (referring to CMYK for print), changing the opacity, and printing it out onto whatever paper you plan to use.

I found that with Miyazaki and Moebius, there are certain cross hatching techniques that are difficult to figure out because of their curves and specific uses. Rocky textures will have a different feel from more organic textures, and even more variety in that itself. The mastery of conveying form within that chaos of hatching is absolutely superb level brilliance. I'm still trying my best to get a good beat on their approaches to hatching.


Just to make note, when you mention "sepia", I think you mean to say "tones" as in screen tones that are common in manga. It was suggested that Miyazaki himself let someone else handle the tones for Nausicaä. Side note to this is that this is probably the single longer project Miyazaki worked on that wasn't animation or watercolor in nature.

Out of curiosity, where did you hear that Miyazaki penciled most of Nausicaä and only inked a little bit? I may need to double check my books on this, but I was under the impression that the use of pencils was a temporary fix to help keep the manga coming out at a faster pace as to not get too much in the way of Miyazaki's animation work. Want to be sure I got that factoid correct for what I'm working on.

[popesuavecitoxii]

I love your videos because I always learn so much. All these years, I never knew Miyazaki used pencil instead of pen! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[legendarybanditmb]

Great analysis! I have this manga boxset in English and I love reading it over and over again but it always takes me so long because I get lost in all the wonderful textures he creates on every page

[jean-marclariviere]

You are so so talented. I do understand all the hard work behind it but still, so talented. Thank you for sharing.

[erasercut]

Nice analysis, there is absolutely something 'alive' in his textures!

[bigblue]

Thanks for the video, Chloe. Short but enjoyable and informative.

I've long been a fan of Hayao Miyazaki and I own several of his anami videos including Nausicaä as well as Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and several others. So it's nice to know I'm in good company.

[temperedskinflint]

Your videos have been very insightful and unique, Chloe! So much fun to watch your observation skills at work. I'd love to see you tackle the pen work of either James Harren or Daniel Warren Johnson at some point!

[ScottAlberts]

Thanks for letting us know about the book download. Amazing stuff!

[nemomarc]

In the report on The Boy and the Heron on NETFLIX, a report on the 7-year production of the film. At the end of the report HAYAO MIYAZAKI says: " if we do not create there is Nothing " we see him drawing ✏️ NAUSICAA for a possible sequel.

[neggit]

Hi Chloe, great video. I'm a big fan on Nauiscaa. Would be great to get a video on Arthur Rackam's inking technique!

[yngvarsskald]

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and knowledge

[Laymans-terms]

Ah, so that's why I'm so drawn to both artists. Cool rendition, I've been meaning to do a Howl's moving castle(the castle) study.
I've been waiting for book 1 of Nausicaä, it's been on reserve for a few months at O.R.L. (Library), 6 copies, but a bit of a waitlist since one checkout is up to a month. :(

[Cederlof_Ink]

I need to get this manga now. Im currently doing a study on the Blame! Manga, as the architecture and backgrounds are what I'm trying to do in my own comic, but miyazakis hatching is really the look I want. I'm definitely gonna get this manga!

[DerekOfRivia]

I recently discovered screen tones for even shading. What are you thoughts and have you done a video discussing them before?

Ive mentioned Kingdom before. That is where I learned of that process.

[AlanMoonspear]

Hayao Miyazaki is a great master. His works are captivating and inspiring.
I had no idea he collaborated with Moebius.
Thanks for the video and for sharing.

[ElricBrasil]

Your vids are always fantastic! Pls, do one study for Paolo Serpieri, he has a nice hatching technique!

[mikurusumi]

Thank you for this video, Miyazaki is a fascinating artist and his inking is great in its simplicity. It's a really nice refresher after still being stuck fanatically studying Toppi, which has the tendency to bring into question most of my practices and habits.
As Ive built up a habit of recommending artists from time to time, today I recommend: Panpanya. They're a fairly new indie artist, and they draw pen and ink stories with incredible amounts of detail. I would compare them to Tsutomu Nihei the author of Blame! but I think the comparison would fall a bit short as they are very unique in their approach. Personally, I recommend guyabano holiday, as I think their style truly shines in that manga.

[turbo.panther]

I would love to see a video on The Art of Posuka Demizu (name of her book). She also does wonderful manga on The Promised Neverland but it is not as varied as the first one because it is from a story, whereas the first book has lots of diversity of subject.

[luisfaria]

I suggest you get to know the style of the spanish comics artist, Luis Garcia Mozos. Also interesting is the work of Carlos Giménez (Spanish), the filipino masters Alex Niño and Rudy Nebres, the Italian Franco Caprioli. Ioana Pioaru's work also deserves to be known.