Watercolors
Miyazaki brings a unique aspect to his films, rather than having solely animation paints.
First sketching out his ideas, he creates a solid image of what he wishes to animate before moving onto the environment that surrounds the animated portion of the shot. He then uses watercolors to illustrate the highly detailed lands, buildings, and flora in his movies. Then overlaying the cells that contain the animated images of the movie. By providing such a detailed environment it allows the viewer to not only visually see what the character in the story does but believe that the place is actually real. Granted the action shots require a good deal of animation to give it the ‘moving’ effect but a balance is created by putting ‘still’, ‘relaxed’, or scenery scenes throughout the film, further enforcing the realism of this world.
The Poeple Are So Simple
In contrast, the way that Miyazaki draws his human characters requires a completely opposite technique. There is not nearly as much detail as in his backgrounds; the hair, facial features and hands are simplified, also contrasting the style of other modern day animations. Sometimes the clothes are even more detailed than the character themselves! There are rare occasions where the eyes have colored irises but for the most part, all characters in his films have black eyes. This is done to amplify the movements of the character by not limiting the viewers’ imagination to what is going on or how to interpret the characters expression.
Why So Big?
Tears are found to be abnormally large in his movies. Emotions (including ones that involve tears) are commonly dramatized in both American and Japanese animations, as to why Miyazaki singles out crying could be that tears are one of the only external actions that display the physical signs of a person’s mood. The characters that cry are almost always the protagonists of the story. In regards to that, those scenes are used to show the utter strife and moment of weakness of the character despite the strength that they try to uphold throughout their difficulties.
Food is also found to be extremely emphasized by size, but the reason as to this is unknown.
Music
Music is another key aspect in his films. Choosing to select instrumental pieces to illustrate his scenes, Miyazaki turns to Joe Hisaishi for nearly all of his musical needs. The only times where lyrics are found to songs in his movies are the beginning, ending and, on rare occasions, when the characters themselves sing songs in the story; such as in Proco Rosso where Gina sings for the people at her bar.