if you have ever seen any of Studio Ghibli's films then I can guarantee you that at one point you have seen Oga Kazuo's work. Oga Kazuo is an art director and probably more famously a background artist for many movies that Studio Ghibli puts out. The backgrounds he creates are painstakingly poured over as he puts in every single detail in the frame. Many people praise studio Ghibli for their amazing backgrounds and Oga Kazuo is a huge part of that.
He isnt as famous as many of the directors he often aids, but he is a true artist. He usually will spend most of his time doing the water color backgrounds and then the characters are animated on top of them. This makes it so backgrounds can be reused and also save time instead of animating the background for every frame. Some objects will move, but the base layer will usually stay the same.
The art book I own was shipped from Japan and purchased from Mandarake, a Japanese store filled with almost any collectors item you could think of. This is only the first collection and there is a second one I plan to order soon. Kazuo is much more well known in Japan, but many times people dont see him on his own. However, much of the look that you see from a Ghibli movie is from his imagination.
I really think that Kazuo is completely underrated and if you are interested look into his works more. He doesnt direct films, but without him, many of the films he has worked on would be far less spectacular. He turns them into a work of art.
-Calaber24p
