Growing up you may have seen “My Neighbor Totoro”, “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, or “Spirited Away”. Magical animations such as these  will soon come too and end due to the fact the creator and director from Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, has announced his retirement . A career that has spanned through six decades has come to an end.

Building a career on bewitching animation, Miyazaki, has kept alive the 2D animation process. Unlike most animators, his creations are completely hand drawn.  After drawing the story bored he follows it through the animation process where he is known to completely redo the scene if necessary.

Miyazaki sits through a twelve hour day , 9 am-9 pm, at his desk in the company he co-founded, Studio Ghbili. With his pen in hand and his nose and inch from the paper he writes and rewrites scenes. Through thoughtful precision and skill he has taken the animation world by storm. His magic is brought to life by devotion to his craft, ironically this lead his to retirement.

Several animators from Pixar and The Simpsons have paid tribute to Miyazaki by featuring his characters in their animations. Pixar put his character, Totoro, in “Toy Story 3″. This was the first time he saw one of his creations in 3D.

It wasn’t until after his last movie was already in theaters that Miyazaki has decided to retire. ” The Wind Rises” came out in theaters February 21, 2014 and is one of the studios more historical films. This is his very last feature film but he will continue to make shorts and assist Studio Ghibli. He will be dearly missed by the animation industry.