One of Studio Ghibli’s most loved animators and colourists, Michiyo Yasuda, has died this month at the age of 77.

According to reports in Mainichi, Yasuda passed away on October 5. The colour designer had worked with the famed film studio for nearly 30 years, helping to create classics like My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away, Kiki’s Delivery Service and Princess Mononoke.

Yasuda began her career at another animation studio, Toei Doga, in the 1970s, where she went on to meet Studio Ghibli founders Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki. She worked on the company’s first ever film, Castle In The Sky, in 1986, and also contributed to Miyazaki’s final release The Wind Rises in 2014.

“What I like best is when I am building up the colours in my head, thinking of how to get the tone worked out,” Yasuda revealed to the Los Angeles Times in 2009. “Colour has a meaning, and it makes the film more easily understood. Colours and pictures can enhance what the situation is on screen.”