This is a most splendid and comprehensive collection of Miyazaki Hayao’s watercolor illustrations for his manga/anime “Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind”. Little else needs to be said; the book is filled with gorgeous art work from cover to cover.

Its hard to talk about Nausicaa without mentioning the French artist Moebius, because the influence / inspiration he had on the visual style of Miyazaki’s work  ( esp Nausicaa ) is significant.

I guess the only complaint I have are these landscape style images (above) that have been split at the spline; I would have preferred if they printed it along the length of the book to preserve the integrity of the entire artwork, nevermind that I’ll have to rotate the book 90 degrees to view it.

These illustrations cover about the first half of the book, the 2nd half contains watercolor conceptual artwork for the animated version of the film, with some overlapping material from “The Art of Nausicaa” art book. I’ll review that book sometime in the near future.

“Nausicaa Watercolor Collection″ Art book details :

- Dimensions –11.9 x 9.1 x 0.9 inches
- Softcover, 207 pages
- Full color / b & w

*Note : The book I have reviewed above is the original Japanese version. There is also an english version available that I believe should have similar, if not identical content. ( artwork wise ) You can purchase it from Amazon here. ( or follow the link below on the left. )

You might also be interested in these items :

Related Posts:

1. Miyazaki Hayao’s My Neighbour Totoro Picture Book
2. Miyazaki Hayao’s The Journey of Shuna
3. “Hayao Miyazaki’s Daydream Note” Artbook
4. Blade of the Immortal Illustration collection
5. Genga – Otomo Katsuhiro Original Pictures Art Book Review