Drawing DBZ-style (Artistic Suggestions)

[MajinVegeta25]

I'm having trouble learning to draw characters from DB/Z/GT.
Does anyone have any pointers?

[Aurek]

Though I would not call myself an artist or anything mabye there would be a few things I could point out. However I dont think anyone will be able to help you unless you post some pictures.

[Rocketman]

Don't get too detailed. A more experienced artist may disagree, but to me, the Dragonball art style is somewhat simplistic.

For Super Saiyans, a good rule of thumb is to make the spikes stand out more in higher levels. SSj1 Goku, for example, can get away with the upward-pointing mass of hair being a mass of hair, with only the four bangs clearly marked off. SSj2 typically has more rigid borders for the spikes, and for SSj3, every spike needs to be drawn.

[oponok]

Keep in mind proportion. I'd say the vast majority of fans who draw anime or manga fanart disregard proportion entirely. Make sure it's either realistic or consistent with the characters of the particular series. Also, specify to yourself which style you prefer drawing in: Toriyama's or the anime's. And practice the faces a lot.

And be careful with clothing. Yes, Toriyama was lazy and gave everyone easy-to-draw, loose-fitting, baggy clothes, but pay attention to how they should fold and such.

It also doesn't hurt to study other manga artists (or classic western-style figure drawing, which I highly recommend if you're really serious about art).

Practice is detrimental. It's the only way you can see improvement.

[Chuquita]

It's important to try to start out simpler until you get the hang of drawing the characters. Once you can draw them without having to look at an example, you're ready for the details.
Reference sheets to look at when drawing the facial features are always helpful. I have my own style now but when I need to draw something in Toriyama's style I still use manga pages to help out with the eyes. (Vegeta's eyes along with anyone in ssj form are much more difficult to draw than say Bulma's or Kuririn's).
For different angles, if you have any figurines or models, they help as well.

[MajinVegeta25]

Thanks guys. A mod can close this now.

[Bejiita]

I draw DBZ characters all the time, I was gonna draw one in a minute after I do this. Here's how I draw.

Start with deciding the position of the face, wether it's facing at you, or from a 3/4 view, if it's a 3/4 view, one ebrow would be bigger, the one on the larger part of the face.

If you draw it facing you, it's easy to mess up to shape of the face, mainly the chin part, you have to draw the eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth properly first, then the cheek marks, then draw a line on either side, to make the sides of the face, and draw the bottom part of the face, then the ears. Now the hair, draw an invisible hair line, and use that as a guide to where the hair comes out from, I like to do a faint circle after I've done the face for the head, and go over it with the hair, having a good knowledge on how human hair is would be good, because it similar.

Now the tester, turn your page around and look at your picture from the other side, this is the best way to tell if you've bent the chin or messed the shape up. It took me long to perfect this.

I can draw most characters off by heart, I just used to go mad sketching faces at school when I started getting into DBZ, my PC stopped working once, so I was drawing characters of the TV screen when it was on, trying to capture as many details before the scene finished. My drawings wern't good at first, but I kept on trying these off the top of my head pictures and noticed which parts I wasn't too sure on how they looked, and checked the next time I saw a pic of them, and slowly progressed and made my art better, copying, it's nice, but drawing the characters without copying is great, draw how you want, who you want, you also make less mistakes when drawing off by heart.

If you ever mess up a facial part while you're doing well, and the rubber won't do the job, never mind, since mostly the Z fighters are beat up, you can make it a mark on their face and do a few more to make it look like you meant it.

I still need to work on the body's, I'm gradually perfecting the figure, I only started with faces, DBZ is the first cartoon I drawn which has real people, so I need to practice.

I drew this a while back and posted it in a thread here, notice I messed the shape up on the face if you look properly.



BTW, the eyes shouln't be a problem, most look the same, Goku's super saiyan eyes can be made to look like Vegetas normal eyes, Goku's normal eyes are also the same for Gohan, Goten through alk their ages, Trunk is mainly Vegeta's face and mouth, chibbi Trunks eyes are more open.

Good luck.

[B-kun]

Uh, dude, if you have something to add in, just press Edit. You do not need to repost everything else.

[Sun_Wukong]

Here's an idea, create your own style! All the cool people do it.

[MajinVegeta25]

Thanks guys, my drawings are getting a lot better.

PS. I can't make my own style, because my own style SUCKS

[*PINHEAD*]

I doubt that. I've been drawing my whole life, even before I could pick up a pencil properly. I started getting really into art around the time my interest in Dragon Ball was at its peak. Surely I nearly perfected copying Toriyama's style, but I soon developed my own style. It's not that hard to make your own style. Find some of your favorite artists who have unique styles and use them as inspiration. For instance, just a few of my favorite artists include Toriyama, T. McFarlane, and J. Vasquez, and accordingly, my art style combines the simplicity of Toriyama, the edginess of McFarlane and the dark, heavily contrasting crudeness of Vasquez. Although it doesn't look like any of these artists' work, you can tell I've been influenced by them.

[Bejiita]

I doubt that. I've been drawing my whole life, even before I could pick up a pencil properly. I started getting really into art around the time my interest in Dragon Ball was at its peak. Surely I nearly perfected copying Toriyama's style, but I soon developed my own style. It's not that hard to make your own style. Find some of your favorite artists who have unique styles and use them as inspiration. For instance, just a few of my favorite artists include Toriyama, T. McFarlane, and J. Vasquez, and accordingly, my art style combines the simplicity of Toriyama, the edginess of McFarlane and the dark, heavily contrasting crudeness of Vasquez. Although it doesn't look like any of these artists' work, you can tell I've been influenced by them.

I think making your own style is good but I try to make them look as much as the manga as I can, you might as well make it look like the real thing.

[Leotaku]

PS. I can't make my own style, because my own style SUCKS

Don't think like that. C'mon, stuff like this takes time. Believe me. It took me months to START developing my own style. I've only recently started getting to a point where I'm more stable with drawing and style, and becoming really consistent.
Give it time. In fact, I recommend you don't go for your own style right away. I think it's most effective to learn realistic anatomy first. Once you got that down, you have a proper base of knowledge from where you can proceed to stylize, and actually know what you're doing.

[GotenZ1]

While it IS good to learn your own style, it should never be the first thing of importance to a beginning artist. Many professionals I have spoke with say that you need to learn basic proportion and figure drawing skills. Even some of the wierdest looking chracters have a certain consistency to them and logical (and simple) ways of drawing them (just look at some of Cartoon Networks original shows). Once you get good at basic figure drawing THEN you can develop your own style. I've heard too many people complain that paying attention to propotion and anatomy will ruin their style. That is not true. Learn your anatomy and propotions and THEN figure out your style. I know a few people might disagree with me on this, but I'm telling you, if you do this stuff then professionals will respect your work much more.

On that note, it is good to copy other styles-as long as you do not claim it as your own. Toriyama is one of my main influences too, but I also look at some Jack Kirby, Mike Weirdingo, Otomo, and a lot of others. Each artist usually excels at a few techniques. By copying some of their styles you can learn them and incorporate them into your own stytle when you are ready. One last thing (and I cannot sterss this enough) make sure you draw more than JUST ANIME. Seriously, I love anime and it has it's many high points, but it is not the BEST drawing style for EVERYTHING. Professionals will say the same.

[Vejjiechan]

Diito about the proportions and anatomy. It is very important -- if you understand how the sizes of different parts of the body relate, and how the different parts "plug in" to each other, you are on your way to drawing well and creating a convincing figure. Many beginning artists go wrong in the sense that they pick a point in a line drawing, and then just continually draw out from that point as they observe their reference. Drawing well requires much more analytical thinking.

Suggestion: Find a reference picture, preferably where the characters are in standing positions. Print it out, and put a piece of tracing paper over it. Sketch in "circles" over the head, the upper body mass (the chest), and the lower body mass (the pelvis). It is the relation between the sizes of these three elements that, when retained, will make the figure of the character recognizable as whomever it is, and will also determine the character of the figure as masculine or feminine. Practice making skeleton analogs -- which are basically stick figures. It will make your drawing much better in the long run, as opposed to just jumping into a "finished" picture right away. Drawing faces/head detail is just as founded on proportion as the figure... it's just more tedious =)

[Bejiita]

This is true, seeing as I started with drawing just the face, hair and neck to the top of the chest, and diodn't draw anything below, OI get a picture with a good upper part and crappy arms and legs, but I have practiced since then and have greatly improved.

If you watch each DBZ episode you can spot the differences in the artist who draws the episode, because each of the artists who drew the anime of DBZ drew entire episodes each, and I can tell which artist done which episode, they all have different ways of drawing the characters, the face, the figure, everything.

Like, the person who drew the episode where Gohan finally kills Cell would be say, the same artist who did the episode I Kill No More, where SSJ Gotenks is born, notice the resembelence? It's the sharp edgy cornered style.

And the artists who does the episode True Saiyans Fight Alone (the artist I least like) would be the same artist who did The World Tournament (where Goku first meets Goten), he's style is more for the rounded edges.

I don't know if anybody else notices this, but it's easy to tell once you know. The older episodes are harder to tell the artist because mostly aoll them old DBZ sagas use the rounded edge style, and the angular pictures start to appear a bit later on after the Frieza saga.

[Leotaku]

Bejiita: Indeed, you can tell there are different artists working on the episodes. It becomes painfully obvious to me, as I think some episodes are so horribly off when it comes to copying Akira Toriyama's style, then others I just love.