Tanooki's Dissection: "How To Draw DragonBall"Book

Tanooki Kuribo · Post by **Tanooki Kuribo** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 10:00 pm

Just for the Hell of it I got this "How To Draw DragonBall" book off of Amazon.com for 50 cents.

Shouldn't it say something like "How To Draw Characters From DragonBall" or "How To Draw Goku & Friends From DragonBall"? I don't know it just sounds odd to me.

The first page is just an introduction to the book and how you should go about drawing these characters. It seems like they want to throw in as much DragonBall terminology as possible but it's obviously they have no idea what there talking about. "Ride a Kamehameha wave of fun" That right there just implies they think this "wave" is like an actual tidle wave that you can ride. I hate when anybody adds "wave" to the end of Kamehameha.

Well whatever, I feel stupid even saying that stuff because this is a children's book. So lets see the first thing we get to draw:

Wait what? That's the first step?! You mean the first drawing that is like 60% done already?! You really expect kids to just draw that as the first step? Wow. And only 3 steps for this picture? This should have been like (at least) a 7 - 8 step drawing. I mean, I know exactly what they were going for here, where you would draw the outline first then fill in the rest but still... Wow. I like how they teach you: "Then draw his wrist guards, the knot in his belt and the lines on the power poll". They just tell you to draw it, they don't even bother to show you how. Iam surprised there first step wasn't "Just draw Goku".

This is pretty much how they went about "teaching" you how to draw...

"Draw some stray hairs, fingers and thumbs, a belt, and details on his shoes, clothing and tail"... What?

I actually tried drawing Goku in this stance above. The picture on the left is what I drew from memory, not looking at the picture. The one on the right is from following there instructions. I honestly don't know which one is worse

.

This book has inspired me to make my own "How To Draw" book. I'am going to come out with "How to Draw Mario Bros" soon, here is a sneak peak. *Sarcasm*

Post by **Herms** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 10:14 pm

Oh God, I used to have (maybe still do have somewhere) a "How to Draw Dragon Ball Z" book that was probably from the same line. I got it from a Scholastic Book Fair in 6th grade or something. I used it to draw a picture of perfect Cell, and I think after that I got bored.

I really like your picture of Goku on the left for some reason.

ForestEquilibrium · Post by **ForestEquilibrium** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 10:30 pm

I also have quite a few of these from my younger days, luckily the later ones were much more in depth since they actually started out with the basic shapes.

xzero · Post by **xzero** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 10:40 pm

How to Draw Donkey Kong was better than that, but I still have some of those How to Draw [Disney Movie], such as Aladdin and Lion King. I believe those went through a variety of steps that I thought were stupid, like drawing a line with a circle at the top of it as the first step, but that's probably why I'm studying law instead of art - never had the patience to finish those stupid drawings.

Chuquita · Post by **Chuquita** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 10:43 pm

I think I saw a dbz one like that at a comic store at the mall once...

I know a friend who actually has a different dbz "how to draw" book; I could hunt for some of the scans if you'd like; it had all sorts of comparision shots between basic sketches of the characters.

Oh! Another friend found this Japanese "how to draw" with Toriyama book and uploaded scans from that recently:

Snail · Post by **Snail** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 11:03 pm

Your dissections/reviews are always a blast to read Tanooki.

Ex-Dubbie369 · Post by **Ex-Dubbie369** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 11:15 pm

Chuquita wrote:

This is sort of like the Tao Pai Pai picture when he had to show the tailor how his clothes should be made. I love the dot eyes.

Chuquita · Post by **Chuquita** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 11:35 pm

Ex-Dubbie369 wrote:
Chuquita wrote:http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/6108/m5fc5.jpg

This is sort of like the Tao Pai Pai picture when he had to show the tailor how his clothes should be made. I love the dot eyes.

And the faces on Gohan's birthday cake in that pre-Cell Games filler episode.

I don't know how I remember that. ^^;

Adamant · Post by **Adamant** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 11:40 pm

I love how they add some random plot point and call it a "fun fact".

Fun Fact: Piccolo is green. That's because he's an alien from the planet Nameck. Goku is also an alien, but he's not green. He's skin-colored.

I had a "How to draw Donald Duck and Daisy" book as a kid. It was better than the Dragonball book, but quickly turned into "just copy these poses" once they got the basics down.

SSj_Rambo · Post by **SSj_Rambo** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 11:48 pm

It's always kind of annoyed me when people spell Dragonball as Dragon Ball, with a space in between.

Chibi Mystic Gohan · Post by **Chibi Mystic Gohan** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 12:00 am

Chuquita wrote:I think I saw a dbz one like that at a comic store at the mall once...

I know a friend who actually has a different dbz "how to draw" book; I could hunt for some of the scans if you'd like; it had all sorts of comparision shots between basic sketches of the characters.

Oh! Another friend found this Japanese "how to draw" with Toriyama book and uploaded scans from that recently:

Oh, so Toriyama actually shows how to draw the characters in this book? I've been meaning to track down an older how to draw book of his... Do you know what this one is called?

Also, is that an original Freeza drawing I see? It's neat.

SSj_Rambo wrote:It's always kind of annoyed me when people spell Dragonball as Dragon Ball, with a space in between.

Be annoyed at Toriyama, then.

SSj_Rambo · Post by **SSj_Rambo** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 12:09 am

Chibi Mystic Gohan wrote:
SSj_Rambo wrote:It's always kind of annoyed me when people spell Dragonball as Dragon Ball, with a space in between.
Be annoyed at Toriyama, then.

Ya, I know that's how it's spelt it for Dragonball, but in Dragonball Z he spelt it as one word, and that's how it is spelt at Daiezenshuu EX. And whenever it is spelt in Japanese it is spelt as ドラゴンボール, I know I can't read Japanese, at all, so can anyone tell me if the ー symbol means a space.

Castor Troy · Post by **Castor Troy** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 12:16 am

The Toriyama book looks a million times more helpful than that scholastic one...

Chibi Mystic Gohan · Post by **Chibi Mystic Gohan** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 12:18 am

SSj_Rambo wrote:
Chibi Mystic Gohan wrote:
SSj_Rambo wrote:It's always kind of annoyed me when people spell Dragonball as Dragon Ball, with a space in between.
Be annoyed at Toriyama, then.
Ya, I know that's how it's spelt it for Dragonball, but in Dragonball Z he spelt it as one word, and that's how it is spelt at Daiezenshuu EX. And whenever it is spelt in Japanese it is spelt as ドラゴンボール, I know I can't read Japanese, at all, so can anyone tell me if the ー symbol means a space.

The whole manga is called Dragon Ball, you know. Toei made the "DRAGONBALL Z" logo. See this title page, for example (or any other in the series

):

Adamant · Post by **Adamant** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:02 am

Chibi Mystic Gohan · Post by **Chibi Mystic Gohan** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:05 am

Yeah, Toriyama drew the picture, he didn't write the text. (Hell, the Neko Majin Kanzenban, which uses the same type of cover design as the Dragon Ball Kanzenban, is titled "Nekomajin.")

mrkaizoku · Post by **mrkaizoku** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:20 am

SSj_Rambo wrote:
Chibi Mystic Gohan wrote:
SSj_Rambo wrote:It's always kind of annoyed me when people spell Dragonball as Dragon Ball, with a space in between.
Be annoyed at Toriyama, then.
Ya, I know that's how it's spelt it for Dragonball, but in Dragonball Z he spelt it as one word, and that's how it is spelt at Daiezenshuu EX. And whenever it is spelt in Japanese it is spelt as ドラゴンボール, I know I can't read Japanese, at all, so can anyone tell me if the ー symbol means a space.

That ー is elongating the sound of the last character which is ボ (Bo).

Captain Awesome · Post by **Captain Awesome** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:35 am

My younger sister years ago, had a Dragonball Z "How to Draw" book, and it was just as pathetic.

It seems to me that to put one of these books out, drawing skills aren't a pre-requisite, all you have to do is take some line art, delete a few lines, and then put it into a two step "guide"

Bleh.

Magica · Post by **Magica** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 4:29 am

Tried my hand on it. I started to rush later on. Messed up on Mario, though. I have this tendancy to right and draw with the paper sideways. D:

Sebastian (SB) · Post by **Sebastian (SB)** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 5:23 am

SSj_Rambo wrote:It's always kind of annoyed me when people spell Dragonball as Dragon Ball, with a space in between.

Vice versa for me. I usually put "DragonBall" for "DragonBall Z", but I've always referred it as "Dragon Ball" cause it helps avoid any confusion.

Yeah, Toriyama drew the picture, he didn't write the text. (Hell, the Neko Majin Kanzenban, which uses the same type of cover design as the Dragon Ball Kanzenban, is titled "Nekomajin.")

Yeah, I think it really stems from the fact that the Japanese don't really know their English grammar/spellings. Kinda like how they've been using the "F-R-I-E-Z-A" spelling in the recent video games.

Ya, I know that's how it's spelt it for Dragonball, but in Dragonball Z he spelt it as one word, and that's how it is spelt at Daiezenshuu EX.

Oh wow! That site sounds really awesome! It must be VegerotEX's site!

I kid. That Toriyama "How to Draw" looks really cool though.