Any Tips On How To Draw DB Characters?

[Ultimate_DB_Fan]

Basically, are there any fans here who know how to draw DB characters? If so, what's the best method(s) for learning how?
I ask this because, while reading and looking at the art for DB Multiverse, I've sort of been tempted to experiment a bit in the drawing field. There's nothing better then creating fanfics in comic book style with characters from the Dragon Ball universe.
Anyone?

[ShiningMoon]

In the DB style in particular?
I draw a bit, but not strictly in the DB style. My humble opinion and advice from limited personal experience is that you'd do best developing your own style if you haven't already, and then coming back to DB. What I mean is, if you learn how to draw in general first, and then come back to DB, you can avoid the very precarious positioning of drawings produced by reference to one image only, that often end up looking kind of distorted or weird (tracing, that type of deal). All my DB drawings improved vastly when I migrated to trying to learn anatomy in general, and then adapting it to a more DB-esque style, like this older work of mine:
http://shiningmoon.deviantart.com/art/q ... t-37024709

I used no particular DB references for this picture, but rather a combination of experience with what the characters look like and general drawing, adapted to more or less the DB style.

I say this because you can always tell when someone has attempted to copy a familiar pose, at least if it's not done quite masterfully. Oftentimes the pose comes out looking stiff. I personally can't copy poses -- I'm not that good at copying stuff in general -- but maybe you can!! It does sort of limit things though, if you can't create poses yourself.

Otherwise I kind of drift around to different yet related styles for my DB art, like this newer (and, I think, not quite so good) one: http://shiningmoon.deviantart.com/art/C ... -149514388
Are you talking about DB art non-specific to the style, or stuff that tries to emulate Toriyama's work as closely as possible?

Maybe it would be easier to give tips if we could see some samples of your progress so far? Have you done much art outside of DB? That'll help a lot if you have, but if not, well, everyone has to start somewhere! In general and not knowing anything about your experience in particular, I'd say give loose sketching a shot to start with. Get used to looking up lots of references for anatomy for poses (hypocritical advice since I hardly do nowadays!). Devote time each day to practicing (more hypocritical advice). And then, it's a pretty smooth step to trying to more or less emulate the DB style, while still keeping your art nice and vibrant. I think. Like I said, my humble advice, maybe I'm going about it all wrong... o.o

Hope that helps??

[Velasa]

Really the best answer I can give you is to not copy the original style. Unless you're a master at it like Announcerguy, miming the original just looks awkward. What you yourself have to bring to the table in your own originality is just so much more interesting to bring forward.

[Ultimate_DB_Fan]

I do have experience drawing the characters from Z. I draw a decent ssj Goku, and I can even do Freeza in his final form okay. With that said, however, I can only do characters standing, liking Goku did when he glared at Nappa in both the manga and anime.
When it comes to different poses, I just can't do it. There's the whole thing with drawing the clothes differently and making the facial expressions also different.

[ShiningMoon]

Oh, I see! I have the opposite problem; when I try to draw full-body drawings of characters standing still, they always look a little off. Well, I always used to draw them standing still in the same pose, but then I think after some middle school or high school drawing class I was forced to start trying generally drawing people in different poses.

Watching the more physical/rough (does that make any sense?) fights like Goku vs. Majin Vegeta always inspired me to try dynamic poses. It's tough at first though, because you have to think of the character in all three spacial dimensions, so to speak, by rotating him/her and his/her clothes around, using foreshortening, and the like. Maybe you could practice by taking some sort of exciting pose, and trying to draw it from a different angle? I've never tried that specifically but it seems like it might be a good place to start. Don't forget that you can always use yourself and a bathroom mirror as a reference, if you want to find out whether it's physically possible for an arm to bend this way or if the hand can be angled that way.

As for the facial expressions, I think that's a bit of a trial and error process sometimes. Like the mouth and the eyebrows have to be "just so," you know? I always end up erasing and redrawing mine about 50 billion times to get it right.

Again, not that I'm the master of drawing or something. O.o Just some thoughts/personal experience.

[dchan316]

If you wanna learn to draw Dragonball, in particular, then draw a lot of Dragonball. Keep drawing, and keep learning from them, so that you're always getting better. Basic drawing skills are always good to know, so try to learn perspective, shapes, angles, etc.

And, for character art, anatomy will help you infinitely for almost any style, should you choose to evolve your art. The best thing to take is life drawing classes, or figure drawing. However, a great cartoony reference to learn from is Disney's Tarzan, the character of Tarzan in particular. Glen Keane did an amazing job with dynamic poses, and simple, clean lines. Keep an eye on the overlapping lines of the muscle shapes, and the way the body twists and turns.

[Ultimate_DB_Fan]

Thanks for the input, guys.
I took the liberty of looking at many, different pages in one of my Viz/DBZ manga novels, and I examined one of the more iconic shots, which is the moment where Nappa strikes one of Tien's arms off. SO much detail is on that panel, that if I even tried to draw what was there from scratch in my mind, I wouldn't even know where to begin.
One thing that's helpful is drawing in stick figure format first, which is what I read somewhere.

[Kaboom]

Moved to the FanWorks section.

And I can't do much other than repeat what others have already said. Practice, practice, practice. Start by copying and tracing, to get the feel for the style and structure of the characters. Then learn the details and proportions so you can build them yourself from the "bones" up.

[Scarz]

Any style you're thinking about drawing in particular? There are at least 4 distinctive styles to throughout the DB sagas. Because of the DBAF animation project I'm helping out with, it has forced me to step back from the more rounded earlier styles of Dragon Ball that I'm most comfortable with and into the more harder angular look that was mostly popular with the fans. Because of my cartoon like drawings it has become a bit of a challenge to keep that later DBZ-GT look the character sheets. I'm even thinking about doing a study on the "anatomy" of DB or simply just a really close look at Toriyama style throughout the series. Here's a cut and copy from another thread:



I've study the differences between the size of a normal drawing of heroic American character to average size DBZ character. DBZ character have huge craniums and are about 6 and 1/3 heads long. (Even longer are shorter depending on which character you draw) Their chest are and waist are much higher up and they have long legs and short arms. (This later DBZ and GT I'm speaking of).

Anyway that's just my personal observation, when I draw Dragonball characters I like to draw them in early style of Toriyama work and if my own style bleeds into it, that's alright with me.

[The Tori-bot]

Buy one of these. They are the bestest guides ever for drawing DBZ, or any other kind of drawing, period. I promise you will not be disappointed in any way, shape or form whatsoever. Really.

[Metalwario64]

Buy one of these. They are the bestest guides ever for drawing DBZ, or any other kind of drawing, period. I promise you will not be disappointed in any way, shape or form whatsoever. Really.

You trying to pull an April Fools joke Ultimate_DB_Fan?

[Scarz]

Buy one of these. They are the bestest guides ever for drawing DBZ, or any other kind of drawing, period. I promise you will not be disappointed in any way, shape or form whatsoever. Really.

You trying to pull an April Fools joke Ultimate_DB_Fan?

I'm really hoping that was an April Fool's joke.