With Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki
(My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle) celebrating his 79th birthday this weekend, I thought this would be the perfect time to post about a livery I've worked on based on the manga and animated film that lead to the studio's formation.
Can't remember exactly what inspired me to do a third
Nausicaä livery (the other two being based on the Hyundai N 2025 and Gr.3 Citroën respectively), but watching the film again last November and wanting to make a new scheme for my Toyota TS050 a few weeks later might have played a part in my decision. Theming a racing livery around a post-apocalyptic eco-fantasy sounds odd, perhaps sacrilegious, but I've always felt that this and
Nausicaä's depiction of technologically-advanced aircraft would work well for something like an LMP1 hybrid or the fuel cell-powered N 2025. Indeed, the excuse I made for the Citroën one was that the original concept was an electric vehicle, but I digress...
While the first two attempts largely did away with sponsors, I wanted to make this attempt look as close to a realistic WEC livery as possible. Hence, while the car is transformed into something loosely resembling Nausicaä's glider, the usual class stickers and Toyota sponsors still feature where necessary.
Speed lines on the engine covers and main bodywork were developed from earlier 'Team Toyota GB' designs for the TS030 and TS050.
Also took the opportunity to try out gradient effects, which I think made the base colour ten times more gorgeous:
A wild fox squirrel appears (for those unfamiliar with the manga/film, that's the yellow striped thing on the headlight):
Something you might have noticed in these screenshots is that I appeared at one point to use both versions of the horizontal Michelin tyre sticker on the bodywork and rear wing. This was a mistake that was fixed in a second version uploaded moments before entering the race at Spa.
If you've seen the FIA threads, you'd probably already know how well that turned out
:
Since the initial uploads, a couple more minor changes have been made. The Japanese
Nausicaä logos on the shark fin and rear wing have been replaced with the full version, while the extra shapes placed under the 'thumbs-up' decal have been altered to better match the gunship's cockpit window frame. Won't pretend that this is a perfect recreation, but I was happy with putting in the extra hours to get it as accurate to that particular scene as possible.
Link (Version 1.2).
) I wanted to add decals of Nausicaa on my cars as well but didn't find any good source pictures to convert. 
Wishing you all a Happy New Year! 
