The Image Boards of Hayao Miyazaki (animationobsessive.substack.com)

The article explains how Hayao Miyazaki uses “image boards”—loose concept sketches rather than storyboards—to explore visual ideas and set the tone for projects. Tracing his practice from early Toei days through major works like Totoro, it argues that many iconic scenes and motifs emerged from these drawings, which he repeatedly revisited, refined, and recombined over decades.