The evolution of Toriyama's art style

[dodge2461]

I kind of have a soft spot for his Buu saga art style. Almost everything is angular, it's very clean, and can convey the serious parts of the manga, as well as the more comedic parts.

Of course, I'm not saying any of his art before this is bad. I've always held Toriyama in high regard when it comes to art in manga.

[Tatakae!!Ramenman]

I like all of his artwork so much(except his new stuff), but my favorite has to be the Z portion of the art, especially in the buu saga. I don't know how to describe why I like it better because his artwork was so detailed throughout the series, but it just looks more "awesome".

[AnzuMazaki]

From 85 to 88 are the best to me.

Toriyama's 84-88 art atyle is my favourite as well, it's what I based my art from
I even draw DBZ era characters in DB style too.

[shinmaru]

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Like the first one, the new style Is just not my thing

[Doctor.]

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Off-topic, but I never got why Goku has his hand on Trunks' head instead of Goten's :p

Still, I love all of his art and I don't have a favorite style from when he was serializing. I have to say, though, his new art seems more like a downgrade.

[Attitudefan]

I think that what is hurting the new style is the detail. The charm of Dragonball's look was its simplicity. The extra detail affects the proportions, the little something that catches a person's eye.

When Toriyama does quick sketches, it looks more like is artwork of old since it lacks those extra details.

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.

Yes, very much so. Not a fan of the sash belt and no emblem. I was so happy to see that in the new film Goku at least had the emblem. I'll never understand why his Cyborg arc uniform is the most widely circulated.

Give some love to the 84 to 89 art people!

[Vijay]

But for an author adopting a "simplistic, rounded" artsyle over 9 years (including Toriyama's Dr.Slump) , its only natural to switch to detailed artsyle to keep things interesting. Which somehow managed to lay ground-work for its successors which was improvised upon.

Yeah, I adore Buu Arc art style. Sharp, angular, gives a "tight, rigid" feel which I often associate with Animators like Yammamuro, Masunaga Keisugi & Ishikawa Shingo.

Guess we can even create a Site dedicated to Toriyama's various stages of art-style evolution

[Marco Polo]

Fat Buu would look ridiculous in the old, rounder style. His design works well because it contrasts with the other characters. If everyone is drawn round and simple like him, he loses his charm.

On the other hand, I would have loved to see some of the early characters drawn in the Buu Arc style. Young Chi-Chi for example, with her (relatively) complex armor and helmet. Ox King would be interesting too. Hell, Yamcha's first outfit would be pretty cool on an adult character.

[Doctor.]

I really like his art on Neko Majin. I don't know why he changed it with Jaco/Minus, his characters now have really long heads for some reason, and the arms and legs are extremely skinny.

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Still, my favorite is probably his 23rd Budokai arc or Buu arc styles.

[Tatakae!!Ramenman]

Yes, very much so. Not a fan of the sash belt and no emblem. I was so happy to see that in the new film Goku at least had the emblem. I'll never understand why his Cyborg arc uniform is the most widely circulated.

Give some love to the 84 to 89 art people!

I think he did that to make it easier to draw Goku. It takes a lot of time to draw in that logo and he was on a very tight schedule. I assume that is also the reason for Vegeta losing his armor in the Buu saga and now that he doesn't have to worry so much about time or drawing it himself, the have given Vegeta his armor and Goku his emblem.

[Chuquita]

That end-of-Z gi; so much <3 for it. I want it to be in DB15. ^u^
Neko Majin's Gokû does look very nice.

I'm so entertained by the fact that 18 looks near-exactly the same in the chapter title cover and the Kanzenban re-draw where everyone else looks different. XD

I think what throws me off about Toriyama's current art, more so than the "everyone's skinny now" thing is the drifting facial features; a lot of the time where on the face the eyes land in distance from one another and then from where the nose and mouth end up can really make things look not-quite like how I'd be used to. It sometimes leads to wide-face where the head looks too big for the body (example: Toriyama's character drawings for BOG; check out Chi-Chi and Goten specifically in his drawing).

Makes me think Toriyama's stopped using that technique where you draw lines (that get erased later) one going down the middle of the head and one across in order to make sure you get the distances between facial features accurate.

[jjgp1112]

Count me as a fan of the Kanzenban/Neko Majin style, too. It's a great balance of early DB and Z-era DB. Sadly, nowadays he draws everything waaaaaayyy too lanky.

[Dbzfan94]

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Off-topic, but I never got why Goku has his hand on Trunks' head instead of Goten's :p

Still, I love all of his art and I don't have a favorite style from when he was serializing. I have to say, though, his new art seems more like a downgrade.

Because Trunks is secretly Goku's son too.

Anyway, on topic, I love almost all Toriyama's work in the manga, with the Buu Saga being my least favorite not counting the anime. My favorite would have to be the 23rd Tournament - to Freeza

[Marco Polo]

I think he did that to make it easier to draw Goku. It takes a lot of time to draw in that logo and he was on a very tight schedule. I assume that is also the reason for Vegeta losing his armor in the Buu saga and now that he doesn't have to worry so much about time or drawing it himself, the have given Vegeta his armor and Goku his emblem.

It's a shame about Vegeta because I liked the symbolism of him progressively abandoning his Saiyan clothes and ending up with full Earthling clothes in the 28th Budokai (and GT).