How to Make Ghibli-Style Art: Simple Tips & Technique

If you’ve ever felt your heart flutter while watching the peaceful countryside in My Neighbor Totoro or lost yourself in the dreamy streets of Spirited Away, you’ve already tasted the enchanting world of Ghibli-Style Art. Studio Ghibli, co-founded by legendary directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, has transformed Japanese animation with its painterly aesthetics, immersive scenery, and soulful storytelling.

But here’s the best part:

You don’t need to be a professional artist to bring the essence of Ghibli into your own illustrations. With dedication, observation, and creativity, anyone can create Ghibli-inspired artworks that radiate warmth, wonder, and nostalgia.

Let’s dive deeply into the artistic techniques, mindset, and practical tools that will help you master Ghibli-Style Art.

1. Embrace Soft, Dreamy Color Palettes

One of the defining signatures of Ghibli art lies in its unique color schemes. Instead of harsh or highly saturated colors, Ghibli films use soothing, pastel-inspired tones that evoke calmness, hope, and subtle mystery.

Tips for Ghibli Color Choices:

• Nature-Inspired Tones: Observe real-life greens of mossy forests, gentle browns of tree trunks, warm yellows of sunlight, and the pale blues of sky reflections. For example, Totoro’s forest uses desaturated greens layered with earthy browns, creating a peaceful, grounded feeling.

• Gradient Backgrounds: Ghibli skies are famous for their seamless color blends. Sunset scenes softly merge warm oranges and pinks into deeper purples and blues, creating a dreamy, almost meditative effect.

• Subtle Highlights: Rather than stark bright spots, use gentle white or yellow highlights on leaves, grass tips, water ripples, and fabric edges to create the illusion of sunlight filtering through nature.

Pro Tip: Digital artists can use watercolor brushes in programs like Procreate, Clip Studio Paint, or Photoshop to achieve this painted softness. Adjusting brush opacity and layer blending modes further enhances the authentic look.

2. Create Whimsical, Lush Landscapes

In Ghibli-Style Art, landscapes are never mere backgrounds – they’re characters themselves, brimming with life, history, and magic.

Key Techniques for Landscapes:

• Details Matter: Tiny flowers scattered in grass, stone steps covered in moss, insects flying near tree trunks, or rice fields with different shades of green make scenes immersive.

• Layering for Depth: Ghibli uses atmospheric perspective – objects in the distance have lighter, cooler colors, while closer objects have richer tones. This layering creates depth and invites viewers into the scene.

• Movement in Nature: Foliage, grass, and flowers often curve or sway gently. Even still images imply breeze and motion, adding to their living quality.

Pro Tip: Spend time observing real scenery. Take photos, sketch outdoors, and study Ghibli’s portrayal of landscapes frame by frame to understand their approach to texture and depth.

3. Draw Quirky, Expressive Characters

Characters in Ghibli films are memorable because of their expressiveness and gentle simplicity. They often appear both ordinary and fantastical at the same time.

Tips for Drawing Ghibli Characters:

• Soft, Round Features: Use round faces, large eyes, and small noses. For children or young characters, keep eyes wide and eyebrows gently arched for innocence.

• Flowing Hair & Clothing: Avoid stiff lines. Instead, use soft, curved strokes to depict hair and garments moving with the breeze or action.

• Subtle Facial Expressions: Instead of exaggerated anime expressions, Ghibli characters often show emotions with small gestures – a tiny smile, wide-eyed wonder, or a thoughtful sideways glance.

 Pro Tip: Use thin, delicate linework for facial features, then employ slightly thicker, textured lines for hair and clothing to create visual contrast and depth.

4. Master Light and Shadow for Atmosphere

Studio Ghibli is renowned for its masterful lighting techniques, which create mood, time of day, and emotional tone in each scene.

Lighting Tips:

• Golden Hour Glow: Recreate sunsets using warm orange-pink tones paired with soft purples for shadows. This instantly adds a nostalgic, calming effect to your scene.

• Ambient Light: Ghibli often uses subtle rim lighting – a thin glow outlining characters or objects, giving them dimension and an ethereal feel.

• Moonlit and Night Scenes: Cool blues, muted purples, and hints of turquoise build dreamy night scenes. Stars are painted as tiny, uneven dots rather than uniform sparkles, adding realism.

Pro Tip: Overlay subtle light textures or watercolor textures on lighting layers to enhance the traditional painted look.

5. Add Playful, Fantastical Details

The whimsical worldbuilding of Studio Ghibli sets it apart. Their art is filled with tiny surprises that spark curiosity and imagination.

How to Add Ghibli Whimsy:

• Unexpected Elements: Place small forest spirits peeking from behind trees or have floating islands in the sky to introduce fantasy.

• Hidden Creatures: Draw small animals hiding under bushes or sleeping on rooftops – details that may go unnoticed at first glance but create layers of storytelling.

• Charming Architecture: Buildings in Ghibli films often have rounded, organic shapes with uneven roofs, small windows, and natural textures, making them look fairy-tale-like.

Pro Tip: Experiment with unusual color blends, dreamlike lighting, and playful architectural designs to create your own signature Ghibli-inspired settings.

6. Use Painterly Brushes & Textures

To recreate the hand-painted aesthetic of Ghibli films:

Best Brushes for Digital Ghibli Art:

• Watercolor & Gouache Brushes: Achieve soft, blended color transitions perfect for skies, characters, and foliage.

• Chalk & Oil Brushes: Add rough, painterly textures for rocks, tree trunks, or textured clouds.

• Cloud & Grass Brushes: Speed up your workflow while retaining natural shapes and randomness.

Pro Tip: Reduce brush opacity and build up strokes gradually for a layered, natural effect. Combine multiple textured brushes in different layers to replicate traditional media’s complexity.

7. Stay Immersed in Studio Ghibli’s World

Finally, to truly master the Ghibli aesthetic, keep yourself surrounded by its inspiration.

Great Films for Study:

• Spirited Away: Learn creature design and glowing night scenes.

• My Neighbor Totoro: Understand lush rural scenery and peaceful environments.

• Howl’s Moving Castle: Explore dreamy skies, magical architecture, and subtle lighting.

Pro Tip: Take screenshots of your favorite frames and build a reference library. Use these for color palettes, composition ideas, and texture studies in your personal projects.

Final Thoughts

Creating Ghibli-Style Art is more than just drawing characters with big eyes or painting soft forests. It’s about capturing emotions, simplicity, and magic in every brushstroke. Focus on natural beauty, expressive humanity, and whimsical imagination to develop art that evokes wonder and peace – just like Studio Ghibli’s timeless works.

Summary:

This detailed guide explored the secrets of creating Ghibli-Style Art by embracing soft color palettes, lush landscapes, expressive characters, atmospheric lighting, playful details, and painterly textures. With practice and inspiration from Ghibli films, any artist can bring their illustrations to life with warmth, nostalgia, and fantasy.

Disclaimer:

The content provided in this article is for informational and creative learning purposes only. DXB News Network does not claim any official affiliation with or endorsement from Studio Ghibli or its creators. All techniques and references are inspired by Ghibli-style art purely for educational and artistic exploration. Studio Ghibli’s trademarks and artistic works remain the property of their respective owners.

Photo: Instagram/@realtoghibli