The evolution of Toriyama's art style

[Doctor.]

I cane across an interesting image while googling some stuff, showing the evolution of Goku's design and Toriyama's art style. As I noticed several times before, Toriyama's style changed quite a bit while time went on, but I never stopped to compare and spot the differences. My question for you is, which style do you prefer? His Dr. Slump/earlier Dragon Ball style? His more rounded end of part 1 style, his more stiff part 2 style, or his new and current style?

[ABED]

I cane across an interesting image while googling some stuff, showing the evolution of Goku's design and Toriyama's art style. As I noticed several times before, Toriyama's style changed quite a bit while time went on, but I never stopped to compare and spot the differences. My question for you is, which style do you prefer? His Dr. Slump/earlier Dragon Ball style? His more rounded end of part 1 style, his more stiff part 2 style, or his new and current style?

I prefer the style from the beginning of DB until around the end of the Vegeta arc. Once it starts to get grotesquely muscular, I'm not as big a fan. DB looks its best around the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai.

[shinmaru]

I like all except the last 3 from 2004, 2005, 2013,
and the best are from 91 till 95 for me.

[Attitudefan]

I've flipped through the manga multiple times to compare, and this image shows the same conclusion I came to. From about '85 through to '89, the art style stayed quite consistent. The way the face, ears, muscles, eyes share the same design and style with little change in how the characters are drawn. However, as you can see here, 1990 everything got an overhaul. But the change didn't stop there. Since 1990 the designs have been changing. For example, the way he drew the cheesy in 1990 was defined by the collar bone and a line down the middle to define the pecs.


However, by the end of Z, the cheesy was drawn without collar bones, instead, Toriyama drew to round bubble looking things. That style started to appear around the Cell games era. Take a look for yourselves.

Ever since 1990, his art hasn't stayed consistent unlike before.

[linkdude20002001]

I like it up till 1989. Gokuh just looks weird from that point onwards, with the exception being 2004. I feel like 2004's art style is a blend of his old art style with the one towards the end of the series.

[Freeza Soldier #156]

I think my favorite is probably the 2004 art style that was seen with the Kanzenban covers. It's neat to see characters in the latter portion of the series in the more rounded art style used earlier and it works really well. I wish Akira Toriyama would have stuck with it.

[Doctor.]

I've flipped through the manga multiple times to compare, and this image shows the same conclusion I came to. From about '85 through to '89, the art style stayed quite consistent. The way the face, ears, muscles, eyes share the same design and style with little change in how the characters are drawn. However, as you can see here, 1990 everything got an overhaul. But the change didn't stop there. Since 1990 the designs have been changing. For example, the way he drew the cheesy in 1990 was defined by the collar bone and a line down the middle to define the pecs.


However, by the end of Z, the cheesy was drawn without collar bones, instead, Toriyama drew to round bubble looking things. That style started to appear around the Cell games era. Take a look for yourselves.

Ever since 1990, his art hasn't stayed consistent unlike before.

Hmm... I find the 1989 style in the image really different from the others. The eyes are less rounded than the 88 and before but still more rounded than 90 and up. The forehead and ears are really huge, which isn't really the case with the other art styles.

05 looks really good to me, for some reason.

[Vijay]

Toriyama's art style gets refined over time.

Rounded style fits early DragonBall days where focus was more of plot/comedy & less on action.

But it no longer suits DBZ's action-packed epic adventure. Guess, it was right during Frieza Saga when the art got "realistic". Biceps of Super Saiyan Goku, body proportions of 100% Powered Frieza really showed how much Toriyama's art has evolved over the time.

By the time Cell~ Buu saga came, Toriyama's drawings got very sharp & has little-to-zero-rounded art style. Started losing its steam at tail end of Buu Arc, but as far action goes, Toriyama's art style was not only fluid & detailed, also easy to follow (which is crucial for a successful Shounen).

[ABED]

But it no longer suits DBZ's action-packed epic adventure. Guess, it was right during Freeza Saga when the art got "realistic". Biceps of Super Saiyan Goku, body proportions of 100% Powered Freeza really showed how much Toriyama's art has evolved over the time.

It was more real around the last several arcs that preceded the Freeza arc. The characters were muscular, but not grotesquely so, and the art in the 22nd Budokai is more than fitting for the rest of the series.

I think Toriyama simply changed his style over time because he wanted to keep himself interested.

[jjgp1112]

He got way too sloppy during the Buu saga, but late 89-93 is the best in my opinion.

[DarkPrince_92]

I liked everything up until the Android Arc I'd say. Then it starts to look a bit rushed.

[Attitudefan]

I've flipped through the manga multiple times to compare, and this image shows the same conclusion I came to. From about '85 through to '89, the art style stayed quite consistent. The way the face, ears, muscles, eyes share the same design and style with little change in how the characters are drawn. However, as you can see here, 1990 everything got an overhaul. But the change didn't stop there. Since 1990 the designs have been changing. For example, the way he drew the cheesy in 1990 was defined by the collar bone and a line down the middle to define the pecs.


However, by the end of Z, the cheesy was drawn without collar bones, instead, Toriyama drew to round bubble looking things. That style started to appear around the Cell games era. Take a look for yourselves.

Ever since 1990, his art hasn't stayed consistent unlike before.

Hmm... I find the 1989 style in the image really different from the others. The eyes are less rounded than the 88 and before but still more rounded than 90 and up. The forehead and ears are really huge, which isn't really the case with the other art styles.

05 looks really good to me, for some reason.

It's hard to really come to a conclusion based off one image to say that the whole year looked like that, but you can see that 88 and 89 share the same ear shape and detail on the inside. I mean, nothing will be 100% identical, but look at the Saiyan arc style to before and it stays pretty consistent. I can pinpoint the exact change. It happened just around when Goku and Vegeta started to fight. All of a sudden, Toriyama started to add detail that wasn't there (see Vegeta's forehead lines for example). You can see, within a few chapters, that Vegeta changed drastically from when he arrived on Earth to the end of the fight. The eyes got sharper, the muscles more detailed and the noses were starting to be drawn with the little triangle at the bottom of it instead of a thicker black squiggle for the whole nose.

The big ear thing was always present, more or less starting in 1988. Piccolo and Goku's fight have plenty of examples of this. Plus, in 88, when the characters got mad, he started to draw a straight line on the bottom of the eye instead of keeping it completely round. However, most of the proportions, face detail and muscle detail remain the same. In my height conundrum thread, you can see that Goku from the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai looks relatively the same as with the Saiyan arc Goku. Plus, that example for 1989 is a special drawing where it is more detailed than most panels since it is the first picture to appear for that chapter and got a bigger space for the art. Otherwise the drawings look the same in comparison.

To really grasp at the art style changes, one would need sample sizes from each era to compare fairly.

But Goku looks the same in the Raditz arc and the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. SO does Piccolo. However, the character that changes first with the shift in style is most noticeable with Piccolo, where in the Saiyan arc he is starting to be drawn with a longer face, squarer eyes, and less wrinkles. It is intermittent in the Saiyan arc, but it starts to define the change.

By the Namek arc, all the characters, and their body proportions all start to really change drastically. Again, it is most noticeable with Piccolo. By the Cyborg arc, Piccolo looks completely different than before.

Compare this:

Spoiler:

To this:

Spoiler:

I apologize for the flipped images, but you can download them, reverse them and compare. It looks like different artists!

I noticed how in the post-1990 art, all the characters' heads are leaning forwards. It's kinda weird.

[FortuneSSJ]

From 85 to 88 are the best to me.

[trick007z]

I think he hit his stride from 86 to 89. After that it becomes too polished.

[Son Edo]

Looks all the same to me

[Analytical Delusion]

Very cool graphic.

87-89 was his peak in my opinion. Maybe 90/91 should be included. Always love rereading those portions of the manga because of the art in addition to the story.

[mcdonough88]

For some reason I've mixed feelings about his art during the Kanzenban period, TOO MANY SPIKES!

[Attitudefan]

For some reason I've mixed feeling about his art during the Kanzenban period, TOO MANY SPIKES!

That, and they can look too skinny, and have that hanging head syndrome that we see to this day starting post-1990.

[mcdonough88]

Compare this:

Spoiler:

To This:

Spoiler:

[Analytical Delusion]

I know it's a minor detail, but did Goku switching over to the featureless gi disappoint anyone else? Really would've loved to have seen Goku fight as a Super Saiyan with the skinny belt as opposed to the sash-type deal he had, regardless of the emblems.

Despite not liking the Buu saga art style as much, I'm actually a bit of a fan of the blue top/bottom he was sporting at the 28th Budokai.