Fingers in the Pie
Like any animator, Hayao Miyazaki plays a key role in each of his films, always being involved with every aspect of the film despite the workload that it puts on him. He used to review every frame until health problems complicated him doing so, forcing him to disperse the responsibility to other people. Even still, the amount of work that he puts in is astronomical, working day in and day out on his ideas; sketching, drafting, storyboarding, drawing, painting and completing other tasks to make his vision come to life. He’s often been referred to as a workaholic.
Order of Execution
Compared to American animation, Miyazaki prefers to stick with a more estranged work method. Choosing to create the script and storyboards at the same time and also beginning the animation process before the story or storyboards are even finished.
Digital Vs. Hand-Drawn
He also maintains the standard of creating his movies through traditional, hand-drawn animation compared to the modernly used digital animation. He believes that it is important to keep the relationship between the paper and the artist to have a more personal and passionate experience. The only exception to occur was with his film Princess Mononoke because release deadlines needed to be kept.