Art style discussion

[TheGreatness25]

'89-'92 are my definite favorites.

[tx3]

'89-'92 are my definite favorites.

his ears ..whats up with thoes??

[voltlunok]

I'll go with between 89 and 92. I think that's really when Toriyama hit his stride.

[Attitudefan]

I'll go with between 89 and 92. I think that's really when Toriyama hit his stride.

I'd say he hit his stride a year earlier with the Piccolo arc. Some of that art was so detailed compared to his Buu art work.

[The Time Traveller]

It's cool seeing how mangaka's styles change. Toriyama's change in style is nothing compared to Araki's.

Compare the original JoJo's Bizarre Adventure volume 1 (drawn in 1986) JoJo with the JoJonium volume 1 (2013) depiction of Jonathan Joestar!


I definitely like '87 the best for Dragon Ball, nice thick lines and well defined characters.

[Sora Saiyan]

Between 02 and 04 when Toriyama did the illustrations for the kanzenban. Nothing in DB has topped that yet IMO.

[Hugo Boss]

Future Trunks' debut was probably the best moment in terms of artstyle. Then, I go with 91.

[Vegitofaxx]

Which era do you think Toriyama put the most effort in?

[Lord Beerus]

Which era do you think Toriyama put the most effort in?

From the beginning of King Piccolo arc to the end of the Cell arc was where Toriyama put the most effort in his art, in my opinion.

But if I have to be more specific, I'd his art in 89' era was the most refined and consistent in quality.

[tx3]

Which era do you think Toriyama put the most effort in?

The very first years

[Vegitofaxx]

Which era do you think Toriyama put the most effort in?

The very first years

You're probably right. The backgrounds are very detailed and there's a lot more shading than there would ever come after that.

[Doctor.]

Which era do you think Toriyama put the most effort in?

The first arc.

Effort decreases but remains consistent up to the start of the Android arc and then it gets sloppy.

[Cetra]

https://www.google.de/search?q=chrono+t ... CAYQ_AUoAQ

[Attitudefan]

Which era do you think Toriyama put the most effort in?

King Piccolo arc until the end of the Saiyan arc. His style remained consistent throughout these arcs, where his style didn't shift much, if it changed at all.

The story, too, also had a lot of thought going into it along with his designs, and settings. He really thought of cool new places with neat designs and his art depicting fight scenes peaked here. Before this, he was still learning how to draw good fights, and it peaked during this period because he was experimenting with auras and ki designs but still had very detailed hand to hand combat, which started to disappear after this period, relying on ki only since less panels had to be drawn depicting a fight.

His characters here are well proportioned with more of a realistic approach in his depiction of muscle, but still had cartoon like features and expressions. A lot of his characters stopped having such a variety of expressions, and instead, all his characters after this period would just have a constant scowl.

Also, look how he drew Piccolo, especially from the side, and compare that to later Piccolo or his other characters. He gave Piccolo JR a very distinct face and nose in this period. Later, most the characters would have Vegeta or Goku face design. Less variety.

The detail in characters can really be seen in Piccolo though. I mean, Piccolo looked so unique with his piercing eyes, sharp jaw, and pointy teeth. These characteristics were lost later on.




See how he used to draw angry expressions? Their eyes pop, their mouths exaggerated, their pupils shrink.

Afterwards, their angry expressions didn't have the eyes popping, their mouths didn't open and exaggerate as much. See how Vegeta clenches his teeth here, how his mouth is wide and twisted, expressing pain and anger.

Instead, later, he just drew them smaller and like a square without exaggerating their emotions.



Look at angry 17 verses angry Vegeta.

Also note how the motion lines in the background in the 88-89 era is detailed and goes from one side of the panel to the other. His later motion lines are unfinished as we can see in the Piccolo vs 17 Image.

[bleed0range]

It's disappointing how little effort he put into the golden Freeza art. Everything pointed out in the post above really shows what he can do when he wants to. Obviously he can still draw that good he just doesn't want to. I think drawing or inking/painting digitally also makes his new stuff look uglier.

If he drew one panel as good as Piccolo vs. Goku above now, it could still look epic.

[Singh is King]

88, 91, 93 for me.

[HG-Project]

the 23rd Budokai style was the highlight of DB for me, but Toriyama's style is enjoyable in general all around till we get closer to the Android/Cell arc. While he did some cool things with it, ugh, it was a disaster overall, at least for me. The style he uses at the end of the series is more pleasing aesthetic-wise, sure. But the most expressive and fun ones were definitely the arcs closer to the 23rd Budokai.
I actually like his recent style--it's clear that he is trying something, either learning something new or trying to remember something from before. Either case, I don't think he's done with whatever he is trying to achieve, so I'm pretty lenient on "sloppiness" or "laziness." It's really interesting to see a master struggle to do something else at this age because most seasoned artists tend to sort of stick with what they know. It's like watching another potential growth spurt, and it's pretty awesome. Hope he doesn't stop drawing.

[Attitudefan]

the 23rd Budokai style was the highlight of DB for me, but Toriyama's style is enjoyable in general all around till we get closer to the Android/Cell arc. While he did some cool things with it, ugh, it was a disaster overall, at least for me. The style he uses at the end of the series is more pleasing aesthetic-wise, sure. But the most expressive and fun ones were definitely the arcs closer to the 23rd Budokai.

That's the problem with the late Namek arc through to the end of the manga is that it is not fun, nor as expressive as what he was doing previously. It might have "more detail" it loses the expressiveness of the characters in their body movements and faces (which could be argued that expressiveness is detail, which is now lost in the newer styles).

[DragonBalllKaiHD]

Attitudefan, every author is going to occasionally have one page dedicated to details. If you're going to put up comparison, you need to do it right. If you want to compare one page big panel vs one page big panel to show off the difference, I'm all for it, but when you clash it with a page full of panel dedicated to fights, you are being very biased about it.

I'm going to put up one full page comparison against your Piccolo v. Gokû.



Toriyama still got his details when drawing that panel. His speed lines are all fully drawn. The panel was beautifully drawn to showcase Gohan's power dominance. About the facial expression, notice how he drew Gohan's face. His mouth isn't fully square and his eyes were drawn in a way that shows his full blown rage. And that was way after Piccolo fought No. 17. His art in that arc is perfectly fine. The artist is going to have a bad art week, regardless of the skills they possess. The only consistent bad art he had was when he drew the Boo arc. Other than that, his art is consistently good.

[HG-Project]

Attitudefan, every author is going to occasionally have one page dedicated to details. If you're going to put up comparison, you need to do it right. If you want to compare one page big panel vs one page big panel to show off the difference, I'm all for it, but when you clash it with a page full of panel dedicated to fights, you are being very biased about it.

I'm going to put up one full page comparison against your Piccolo v. Gokû.



Toriyama still got his details when drawing that panel. His speed lines are all fully drawn. The panel was beautifully drawn to showcase Gohan's power dominance. About the facial expression, notice how he drew Gohan's face. His mouth isn't fully square and his eyes were drawn in a way that shows his full blown rage. And that was way after Piccolo fought No. 17. His art in that arc is perfectly fine. The artist is going to have a bad art week, regardless of the skills they possess. The only consistent bad art he had was when he drew the Boo arc. Other than that, his art is consistently good.

If you don't mind, just for reference, could you pull up some other examples of drawings from this era that you liked? Because this is personally my least favorite art style of Toriyama sensei's and I'm interested in how people who like the style are looking at it.