Looking Back at Toriyama's Artwork as Presented in Daizenshuu 1

[Jinzoningen MULE]

I was looking through Daizenshuu 1, or "Dragon Ball: The Complete Illustrations" as released by Viz, and I was surprised that I'd forgotten how talented an artist Toriyama really is. I especially enjoy those drawings that don't fit into the main continuity, so to speak. For example, the drawings of Bulma or Goku, or anyone really, riding in strange vehicles. Or interesting character drawings, such as Goku, Bulma, and Kuririn in the cartoonish pirate outfits (page 36), or the classic Cowgirl Bulma (page 22), or the Christmas drawing from 1991 (pages 114-115). I'm also awed every time I look at some of the insanely detailed drawings from the Boo Era. The first one that comes to mind is the one with Gotenks, Gohan in his Kaioshin outfit, and the half dozen Fat Boo's across the page (pages 152-153). Another amazing one that everyone is familiar with is the one with SS3 Goku, SS3 Gotenks, and Gohan all raising their arms against various versions of Boo, all three of which have some of the best expressions in his entire career (page 163). Funny, everyone says Toriyama's art declined during this period, but as far as the promotional artwork, aside from one Cell with a massive lower jaw (page 157), he was at the top of his game.

Anyway, I'm curious about what some of you think looking back after all this time. Do you think most of these drawings hold up? If so, what are your favorites? Least favorites?

[sintzu]

I was never a fan of those, I wish we got serious drawings that refelcted what was going on in the main story.

[Boo Machine]

I never really thought his art declined very much if at all. Maybe changed a little over time. I love anything machine related Toriyama does and it's probably some of my favorite stuff he has drawn. Cars, robots, or whatever thingamajig he can think of. A lot of which have a fairly unique design to them that I don't really see anywhere else. I think those hold up really well and are always fun to look back on. There is always a surprising amount of detail in them.

[Gog]

Out of all of them my top absolute favorites would have to be:

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[spoiler][/spoiler]

These three pictures are absolutely gorgeous, vibrant shading and colors.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

I also have a soft spot for this picture.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

I always wished machines had a greater use in Dragon Ball as a whole.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Both of these pictures are so much fun.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

I'm not sure if Toriyama did this picture...

If I were to choose his worst:

[spoiler][/spoiler]

This would be it, Android 18 looks off here.

I was never a fan of those, I wish we got serious drawings that refelcted what was going on in the main story.

The non serious drawings are some of his best.

[Jinzoningen MULE]

[spoiler][/spoiler]

That's the one I was referring to here:

Another amazing one that everyone is familiar with is the one with SS3 Goku, SS3 Gotenks, and Gohan all raising their arms against various versions of Boo, all three of which have some of the best expressions in his entire career (page 163)

I wanted to post the drawings themselves, but I'm a pleb who doesn't own a camera or scanner, and I don't know where to find the drawings online. (Did I mention I also suck at Google?)

[spoiler][/spoiler]

I'm not sure if Toriyama did this picture...

That's our Toriyama.

[Cipher]

Toriyama is an amazing illustrator. That Boo spread is also one of my favorites, and it really isn't done justice outside of a printed page.

I'm not sure what the protocol would be on linking them here, but if you run a search for "Akira Toriyama Tumblr," you should find a few thorough curated pages of his ancillary art, and it all holds up quite well. His skills as a designer--both of characters and fantastic machinery--are on full display, and he manages to get remarkable weight and depth even out of still images in his various cartoonish styles.

[Jinzoningen MULE]

Toriyama is an amazing illustrator. That Boo spread is also one of my favorites, and it really isn't done justice outside of a printed page.

Seconded. A screen doesn't properly convey the texture or shading that were poured in, it really is something special.

[dbgtFO]

I wanted to post the drawings themselves, but I'm a pleb who doesn't own a camera or scanner, and I don't know where to find the drawings online.

"kamisama db explorer flickr" google that.
Or just go to the chinese db site.

[KorgDTR2000]

Toriyama is just a straight-up amazing artist, in comics and in illustration. His storytelling is top notch, and his illustration is clean and tight with an almost ligne claire quality. There are no wasted lines, it's all about the clean contour drawing.

The thing that really blows me away is he colored all of those pieces with frickin Luma dyes and a skinny little brush... do you have any idea how difficult it is to color with that stuff? If you just look at them the wrong way they're splotch or bleed and ruined whatever it is you're working on. There's a reason manga artists have given them up in favor of Copic markers. The alcohol-based ink in markers is easy to control, blend, layer and correct. Water-based dyes have to be laid down perfectly. If you miss a spot you can't just go in and touch it up, because when it dries you'll get a big splotchy dot. And if you try to work a shadow in over a basecoat and the base coat hasn't dried 100% it'll reactivate and kill your edge. His ability to do that precise rendering, so perfectly demonstrated by that epic Boo piece, is one of the skills that impresses me most.

[DragonBallFoodie]

Awesome artwork from Mr Toriyama.

[Super Saiyan Swagger]

[spoiler][/spoiler]
I absolutely adore this illustration. It's my favourite work from Toriyama and I wish I owned a poster of it to hang somewhere. It's gorgeous.

It's even inspired some other Dragon Ball work such as the Japanese Budokai 2 cover art:
[spoiler][/spoiler]
This also looks wonderful.

[Lord Beerus]

Toriyama art is very much like fine wine: it just gets better with age. He still truly is a fantastic illustrator and the images that Gog provided really demonstrates that.

This is my personal favorite:
[spoiler][/spoiler]
I also adore his illustration for the GT anime:
[spoiler][/spoiler]

[floofychan333]

Oh, they absolutely hold up. I think Toriyama's later art was far more detailed and had more effort put into it, but his earlier work is an amazing fusion of sci-fi, old Asian art prints, and 80s cartoons. In short, it's what drew me into DB in the first place and I'll always prefer it, though I like the new style's detail and respect the effort put into it.

[Doctor.]

No idea if it's present in Daizenshuu 1 but my absolute favorite Toriyama illustration is this one, which was later made into a pretty cool figure.