Dragon Ball Super's new art style and animation

[Hellspawn28]

Why, what's so bad about it?

I'm just really not a fan. It's actually partially because of you that I realized I really don't like it. You photoshopped that pic of retro SSJ Goku and gave it blue hair. Before that, I thought I disliked the blue in SSGSS, but really, it's just the art in general.

To give some examples: .

Those you posted are decades old. Technology has changed and we are not going to have the original animation style anymore. If you look back ever since the intro for Budokai 2, this is what the current Dragon Ball art style and animation style is now. They just animated the world of Dragon Ball with today's technology and try to give it a colorful look that DB and DBZ had.

[DragonBalllKaiHD]

Adding my two cents here, one of the major problems with Super -- really more to do with the whole modern animation industry itself, not just Toei -- is that the animators simply do not have enough time to create their ideal key animation, and they even have less drawings allowed within 20-minute time frame of an episode. 2,000 drawings in a short amount of time would hardly show one's talent and skills, with their own models and styles, which is why the animation supervisors and key animators struggle to establish their identity.

Dragon Ball Z had least of these problems mentioned above. They had better planning and scheduling ahead of time to produce better quality of animation. The series director also knew how to utilize the key animators' strengths and weaknesses and served them better for scheduling and rotation.

Until they figure out how to address these problems, we are going to have this same discussion for a foreseeable future.

Those you posted are decades old. Technology has changed and we are not going to have the original animation style anymore. If you look back ever since the intro for Budokai 2, this is what the current Dragon Ball art style and animation style is now. They just animated the world of Dragon Ball with today's technology and try to give it a colorful look that DB and DBZ had.

Budokai 2 and Budokai 3 both used traditional animation.

[jjgp1112]

Why, what's so bad about it?

I'm just really not a fan. It's actually partially because of you that I realized I really don't like it. You photoshopped that pic of retro SSJ Goku and gave it blue hair. Before that, I thought I disliked the blue in SSGSS, but really, it's just the art in general.

To give some examples:

This:

Spoiler:

vs.

This

Spoiler:

This:

Spoiler:

vs

This:

Spoiler:

This:

Spoiler:

vs.

This:

Spoiler:

This:

Spoiler:

vs.

This:

Spoiler:

All of those example you provided for Dragon Ball Z were from movies and TV specials which naturally had a higher budget and more production time to work with, in comparison to the video game cutscenes and commercials you used in the case for modern Dragon Ball which were most likely had little to no planning and were rushed because they were insignificant animations in the grand scheme.

Not to mention the Gohan shots are completely different moods and settings.

[JulieYBM]

Dragon Ball is still animated through hand drawn drawings, it's simply inked and colored on computers.

[fadeddreams5]

Not to mention the Gohan shots are completely different moods and settings.

Isn't that the same exact setting? Modern Gohan's face looks wider, his bang is shorter and thicker, his side hairs are longer (notice the extra spikes in the bottom and side of his ears), and he's glossier. It looks like he has layers of spikes on his head instead of actual hair too. The design is different.

Why, what's so bad about it?

I'm just really not a fan. It's actually partially because of you that I realized I really don't like it. You photoshopped that pic of retro SSJ Goku and gave it blue hair. Before that, I thought I disliked the blue in SSGSS, but really, it's just the art in general.

To give some examples: .

Those you posted are decades old. Technology has changed and we are not going to have the original animation style anymore. If you look back ever since the intro for Budokai 2, this is what the current Dragon Ball art style and animation style is now. They just animated the world of Dragon Ball with today's technology and try to give it a colorful look that DB and DBZ had.

It's not just the technology though (that is a major factor). It's the character designs as well. That's the only reason I pointed out Broly and SSJ2 Gohan from the games. One now has lime green hair. The other... well, I listed the differences above. This applies to almost every character. Krillin, for example, is noticeably shorter and looks even more like a kid. Same goes for Dende. Goku constantly shows off a Luffy face. Piccolo has eye shadow. Mr. Satan is skinny. And so on.

[TheDevilsCorpse]

This applies to almost every character. Krillin, for example, is noticeably shorter and looks even more like a kid. Same goes for Dende. Goku constantly shows off a Luffy face. Piccolo has eye shadow. Mr. Satan is skinny. And so on.

You can't attribute all of this to Super. Dende shrinking to being the size of a child was a problem that started in Z. Likewise, if you're talking about the black marks on the side of Piccolo's eyes as being "eyeshadow" (below), that's something that started popping up in Z once his eyes lost their round shape, depending on the animators.

[emperior]

Why, what's so bad about it?

I'm just really not a fan. It's actually partially because of you that I realized I really don't like it. You photoshopped that pic of retro SSJ Goku and gave it blue hair. Before that, I thought I disliked the blue in SSGSS, but really, it's just the art in general.

To give some examples:

This:

Spoiler:

vs.

This

Spoiler:

This:

Spoiler:

vs

This:

Spoiler:

This:

Spoiler:

vs.

This:

Spoiler:

This:

Spoiler:

vs.

This:

Spoiler:

I am not an art critic, nor do I know the proper terminology to use to express myself here, but there is something wrong with the art in this series nowadays. Like, something missing. The designs and colors just feel...off.

The SSG ritual didn't have bad animation. It didn't have animation at all, pardon the hyperbole.

They were completely stiff with deformed faces. All while a blond Videl had a poker face. lol.

Very great post, shows exactly what I think. New colors and drawings just don't feel right

[Gaffer Tape]

Piccolo has eye shadow.

Likewise, if you're talking about the black marks on the side of Piccolo's eyes as being "eyeshadow" (below)

If we are going to make a comparison to cosmetics, what Piccolo has going on is really more "eyeliner." Eyeshadow is a coloring that goes on the upper lid of the eye.

(The More You Know. )

[kei17]

Ugh, that shadow on the cheek looks so awkward. Why does Yamamuro draw it that way in recent years?



The face looks far better with this classic style shadowing.


And this is what I want.

[Black_Liger]

Can we just make a uproar and ask for a new character designer?. Maybe if enough people bitch about it (I would hella bitch about this too). We can get someone better than yamamuro.

[JulieYBM]

Can we just make a uproar and ask for a new character designer?. Maybe if enough people bitch about it (I would hella bitch about this too). We can get someone better than yamamuro.

I imagine Morishita Kouzou and Kido Atsushi don't care fans and other industry professionals hate Yamamuro's work. Morishita's worked with Yamamuro a lot in the past few years, too, both on Buddha and allowing him to direct Fukkatsu no F, to say nothing of hiring him to be character designer for other series and projects.

[Black_Liger]

Can we just make a uproar and ask for a new character designer?. Maybe if enough people bitch about it (I would hella bitch about this too). We can get someone better than yamamuro.

I imagine Morishita Kouzou and Kido Atsushi don't care fans and other industry professionals hate Yamamuro's work. Morishita's worked with Yamamuro a lot in the past few years, too, both on Buddha and allowing him to direct Fukkatsu no F, to say nothing of hiring him to be character designer for other series and projects.

Damn it, well worth a try... I do want to see a new take on DB, the character art direction is getting annoying.

[emperior]

That Piccolo looks far better than the original, hope Toei will realize it and that character designers will go back to old, and better character designs.

[Cipher]

And this is what I want.

Wow. What a difference.

It really does illustrate the weaknesses of Yamamuro's designs. Episode 16 of Super also helped illustrate that there's no reason designs closer to the Boo arc models can't work in modern animation.

In this case part of my issue is that the Yamamuro designs aren't really any closer to Toriyama's modern work, either, which I feel more than anything is what Super should lean toward.

[Son Edo]

Today's Dragon Ball animation does seem to be more cartoonish compared to Cell, Boo saga's.

[HybridSaiyan]

Just a little comparison here.

Original



Super



Now, I'm sorry but the original image has far more life and it looks a lot more like Toriyama style.
What's with Goku and his skinny arms in the super re-draw?

[JulieYBM]

The key animator felt like drawing that way and Iseki Shuu'ichi didn't correct it because he was busy working on the rest of the episode, as evident by the nice looking cuts elsewhere.

[HybridSaiyan]

I honestly can't get over how different Goku looks though.
The Goku I vision within my head always had looked like this. This is how Goku's image is to me.





My stomach can't stand his art style in Super

[Araki]

I honestly can't get over how different Goku looks though.
The Goku I vision within my head always had looked like this. This is how Goku's image is to me.

Goku stopped looking like that loooong before Super, though. That's from Minoru Maeda days.

This is the average Goku from Buu arc:

My stomach can't stand his art style in Super

That shot is from a quick in-between animation frame. And that's biased as Goku in Super doesn't look like that.
If you want to use a fair example of Goku in Super, at least use a still, like this:

[HybridSaiyan]

Ah, the Buu Saga Goku still resembles the early days Goku asides from his hair being shorter and the much larger muscle mass in my opinion.
I couldn't find a nice still like that so i apologize. I admit that looks very clean and solid however..the shine in his hair, is that really necessary?
Is there a reason they just don't color the hair all black these days?

I always enjoyed Goku looking like this:
http://pre06.deviantart.net/9d25/th/pre ... 72mk0y.png

Is that Minoru Maeda's work?