Studio Ghibli's former president Toshio Suzuki teaches you how to draw Totoro
If you grew up watching and loving anime, you're probably familiar with Japan's Studio Ghibli and all their lovable, fun characters.
One of their most iconic creations is Totoro, a creature who is a mixture of a cat, an owl, and a raccoon, from their popular film “My Neighbor Totoro.” The beloved 1998 anime tells the story of two sisters who move to a country house with their father as they wait for their ailing mother to recover at a hospital. That's where they came across Totoro and developed a friendship with it.
Today, a producer form Studio Ghibli is offering an online tutorial for drawing the adorable creature.
Meet your “sensei,” Toshio Suzuki, former president of the famed Tokyo-based studio who contributed a video to a website to support children stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He tells the viewer in Japanese, “Hello, I will teach you how to draw Totoro.”
With a calligraphy brush in hand and paper on the other, he started painting the outline of the famous character and advises that the most important element is to draw its rounded eyes far apart.
“This is something you can do at home. Everyone, please draw pictures,” he concludes.
Founded in 1985, Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation film studio based in Tokyo, Japan, and is best known for its animated feature films. In the 1990s, the Walt Disney Company signed a deal with Studio Ghibli to introduce its movies to the Western audience.
Toshio Suzuki is a long time colleague of co-founder and mangaka Hayao Miyazaki. He is renowned as one of Japan's most successful producers and has created Studio Ghibli's famous flicks like “Porco Rosso,” “Spirited Away,” “How;'s Moving Castle,” and the upcoming 2020 anime film “How Do You Live.”