source: INSIDER #95

EXCERPTS:
Dave Filoni: The first thing I edited of this show was just in 2-D drawings as animatics. George liked it, but he said "It's not fun." And I thought, "Well, gee, George I don't know what that means." So he's been teaching me. The fact that George is involved, more than any other reason, is why it comes out feeling like Star Wars.
Dave Filoni: There is an anime influence. The vehicles look relatively the same, we didn't mess with their proportions. Anakin looks pretty realistic, in this universe. Yoda was a puppet in the movies, so he's more cartoony in ours. [Japanese animation director] Myazaki always did that kind of thing: he'd have very cartoony characters mixed with very real characters. It's that same dynamic going on. We've kept all the style choices within the Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston overall look.