Howl's Moving Castle / Digital Preview of August's Riso Print (Patreon)

“Sorry, I’ve had enough of running away, Sophie. Now I’ve got something I want to protect. It’s you.”

The Riso digital Riso color mock-up is finished for the Howl's Moving Castle print! This print is for Patrons who paid on August 1st, and I'm very behind but I really appreciate your patience as I make this print as perfect as I can. 

I'm not quite finished with the Riso print yet (still a bit of tweaking to get it close to the digital mock up) but I'm planning to print all this week to hopefully get these prints out to you and in the mail by the end of this week. 

In the meantime, here are some close ups of this print!! I've really come to love this movie, and it's absolutely gorgeous soundtrack, over the course of making this print. I'm so glad I could spend some extra time with it and really indulge in some of the details.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, then you should!! But I want to let you know I've written some little spoilers below, so if you'd like to watch it soon and be surprised then leave this section to read for a later date! Or scroll quickly to the bottom for a sneak peek of September's print!

At first, Sophie and Howl were just drawn as their characters in the beginning of the movie, but I wanted to allude to their changed forms as well, so I added a transition to Sophie's grey hair and made Howl's hair and cloak becoming his demon forms. 

I wanted to add some of the war-ships because their designs were so interesting and horrible...it took me a long time being able to figure out how to simplify them for this print! I also think the backdrop of the war is so haunting, and Miyazaki's view of war is so perfectly critical in how illogical and brutal it is, I didn't want it to be forgotten among the sweetness of the characters. 

Speaking of sweetness of the characters!!! I love Turnip Head so much, even if he does love someone with eyes for another <33 I loved drawing him as if he's hopping high among the waste.

I also really enjoyed simplifying The Witch of the Waste, who turns into a sort of circle near the end of the movie. I had to add her holding Howl's little heart!

And finally, I'm so pleased with the gradients and soft greens in the bottom of the scene. I'm working on the Riso print now to make sure they keep their soft tones, but I hope I can keep it as close to this digital mock-up to really ground the piece in some of the more pleasant views from the movie's setting. 

More soon! Again, these will be sent out to patrons who paid on August 1st. September's print is also almost finished! Just a few more color tweaks and I'll be ready to share it. I also still need to make a little patreon card for September, so it'll be ready to ship later in the month, probably early October. 

Here's a sneak peek of that:

Thanks for reading and excited to share more soon!

xxoo Natalie