Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Book Review

Posted By yonghow on March 14th, 2012

Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book

If you’ve ever marveled at the gorgeous background art work in Ghibli’s many anime films like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle, credit must go to Kazuo Oga, one of the most prolific background artists from the studio. This book is the 2nd volume from his massive portfolio and focuses mostly on the work in Princess Mononoke. ( about 1/2 the book’s content. )

Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book
Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book
Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book

I was very fortunate to see the original pieces of these astounding background art back in 2007, when Oga-san held his solo exhibition at the MOT in Tokyo. Its an experience I can never forget. I highly recommend the blu-ray/dvd from the exhibition.

Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book
Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book
Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book
Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book

(above) The book also delves into fairly technical explanations of how his work is created / creative approaches he uses, but these will be hard to understand unless you can read Japanese.

Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book
Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book
Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book
Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book

(above and below) The 2nd half of the book lists select pieces from other films he worked on including Pompoko, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and more.

Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book
Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book
Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book
Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book

Its no exaggeration at all to say that Kazuo Oga’s background art help define the unique look of many a Ghibli masterpiece – poring through these beautiful pieces make me want to watch them all over again. Highly recommended.

ps – Also check out Oga-san’s personal art book – Akita, Asobi No Fukei. 

“Kazuo Oga Animation Artworks” art book details :

– Dimensions – 10.6 x 9.1 x 0.7 inches
– Softcover, 141 pages
– Full color, in Japanese language

Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Ghibli Book Amazon Japan Buy Link 男鹿和雄画集II
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9 Responses to “Kazuo Oga Background Art Volume II Book Review”

Christian

Thank you so much for showing this book!! I really appreciate it!!!

petitorenji

Urgh. When will these be translated into English? Loving the diagram of the process, btw.

SouzouRyoku

I just bought poster colors the other day, and knowing that some as him use it just makes me happy and fires me up to future use!

Jose Gómez

Hello everyone.
I bought the two books by Kazuo Oga and are amazing.
If you are thinking in buy one of this book, please, don’t thinking much, just do it.

Regards from Colombia.

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