Released on the same day as the Nausicaa Imageboards ( read my review here ), this large format art book for Studio Ghibli’s 1986 Castle In The Sky (天空の城ラピュタ) animated film is a sumptuous collection of Hayao Miyazaki’s beautiful watercolor concept art illustrations; referred to as ‘imageboards/イメージボード’ in the anime industry.

Part of the new series by publisher Iwanami Shoten, the “Hayao Miyazaki Imageboard Series” of art books aim to showcase the director’s original watercolor concept art in high quality, large format prints. The reproductions are presented close to their pristine look just as Miyazaki painted them, with no overt color correction/saturation or levels applied to make the images “pop”, something I noticed in some of Ghibli’s earlier Art Of books.

Running at 136 pages, this book is even bigger than the Nausicaa art book (108 pages) and is a real feast for the eyes, especially for anyone who is a fan ( seriously, who isn’t ? ) of Hayao Miyazaki’s resplendent watercolor art.

Publisher book synopsis – Hayao Miyazaki creates hand-drawn illustrations to conceive his ideas for his films and to communicate the concepts to his staff. These are called “image boards”. Hayao Miyazaki Image Board Series is a complete collection of Miyazaki’s “image board” artwork held at Studio Ghibli including unpublished works. In this large book with a trim size of 35.0 x 27.7 cm (12.8 x 10.1 in), portrait, the illustrations are reproduced at or close to their original size, in its true colors and texture of the original drawings realized by high-quality printing. Discover how the fascinating world of Miyazaki’s creation begins.

A spectacular flying battleship from Castle In The Sky, one of the many amazing sights I saw during the Ghibli Expo held at Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, 2016 – https://t.co/0uW11je2Ot#anime #animation #Ghibli #???????? #??? #???????? pic.twitter.com/r3Y6zqam5A

— blauereiter (@blauereiter) May 23, 2021

(above & below) Print size comparisons between the Nausicaa Imageboards art book and The Art Of The Boy And The Heron, the latter been a considerably sized volume itself. This ( Castle In The Sky ) book has the same length and width as the Nausicaa book, but is thicker because of the bigger page count.

In my humble opinion, this is a must have art book for any fans of Castle In The Sky and/or Ghibli animated films. The increased print size shows of Hayao Miyazaki’s splendid watercolor illustrations marvelously, and this book is the best way to enjoy them. Highly recommended, together with the Nausicaa art book.

“Castle In The Sky Imageboards Art Book 天空の城ラピュタ 宮﨑駿イメージボード全集 2” details :

Dimensions – 1.9 x 25.7 x 36.4 cm
Softcover, 136 pages
Full color, In Japanese language

  
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