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book of spirits - photo by claudia serra

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book of spirits

editorial design

this book acts as a hand manual to support the movies from creator hayao miyazaki and his studio (studio ghibli). this book includes over ten different spirits that appear in some of his most influential and relevant movies such as “my neighbor totoro”, “princess mononoke” and “spirited away”.

 

most of the time miyazaki invents new spirits but is inspired by the already existing ones from the shinto religion (kamis). this book will further expand the origin and purpose of these spirits along with representations of them.

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the intent of this project is to create a manual for all those who appreciate and adore the ghibli universe as much as i do or even to get to know this particular universe in much more depth. book of spirits should act as a resource to have near when watching a miyazaki movie to find out who the spirit that appears on screen actually is and what their purpose/story is.

 

book of spirits is also a different take on the imagery of studio ghibli. the book is influenced by all kinds of japanese art and culture. it represents traditional eastern media with the black ink, it represents japanese classic minimalism by only using one thread to create a character and it also reflects the muted tones of their characteristic aesthetic. all in all this project reflects my personal take on japanese culture and the reinterpretation of the characters from the ghibli movies. combining the two of them we can say classic japanese movies can stay up to date aesthetically since this minimalist style is very much on trend right now. art, tradition and personal point of view make this project unique and very much relevant in many aspects.

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my main references for this project have been miyazaki himself and many of his movies but also japanese paper catalogs where i discovered the most insane variety and types of paper. the visual research for this project has all been around minimalism and how to express a lot with not much.

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