Hayao Miyazaki
Creation process and influences

Miyazaki forgoes traditional screenplays in his productions, instead developing the narrative as he designs the storyboards, stating "We never know where the story will go but we just keep working on the film as it develops". Miyazaki has employed traditional animation methods in all of his films, drawing each frame by hand; computer-generated imagery has been employed in several of his later films, beginning with Princess Mononoke, to "enrich the visual look", though he ensures each film can "retain the right ratio between working by hand and computer... and still be able to call my films 2D". He oversees every frame of his films. For character designs, Miyazaki draws original drafts used by animation directors to create reference sheets, which are then corrected by Miyazaki in his style.

Miyazaki has cited several Japanese artists as his influences, including Sanpei Shirato, Osamu Tezuka, Soji Yamakawa, and Isao Takahata, and Western artists and animators like Frédéric Back, Jean Giraud, Paul Grimault, Yuri Norstein, and animation studio Aardman Animations (specifically the works of Nick Park). A number of authors have also influenced his works, including Lewis Carroll, Roald Dahl, Ursula K. Le Guin, Philippa Pearce, Rosemary Sutcliff, and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Specific works that have influenced Miyazaki include Animal Farm (1945), The Snow Queen (1957), and The King and the Mockingbird (1980); The Snow Queen is said to be the true catalyst for Miyazaki's filmography, influencing his training and work. When animating young children, Miyazaki often takes inspiration from his friends' children and memories of his own childhood.
length_constraints:number_paragraphs[2]