Ponyo Storyboards

 

This is one of those filler posts where I gloat about an artbook I recently bought and you laugh at how much more I paid than somebody who got it in a store in Japan. Well, actually I just wanted an excuse to make a Ponyo post because I absolutely love this movie.

The cool thing about the Ponyo storyboard book is that it’s in color which as far as I know is pretty rare. The watercolors here look really beautiful. Click on the pictures to see them in a larger resolution.

This page shows the very whimsical opening which is so very Ghibli.

One of my favorite scenes – the hectic drive through a violent storm.

At the end there’s some pages that talk about the animation process and camera techniques which would all be very interesting if my Japanese was better. Well, at least I can follow the diagrams. Notice Clarisse from The Castle of Cagliostro in the bottom page.

If you want a copy I recommend beNippon which was the cheapest place I could find it and a lot better than what it was going for on ebay. Be warned that unless you pay extra to insure it they won’t do anything if it gets lost in the mail and since it ships from Japan that’s a bit of a risk for most of us. However I’ve twice bought uninsured books from them and never had a problem.