Being the fan of RPG’s in general, I recently picked up Mistwalker Studios first title, “Blue Dragon” for the Xbox 360. This game includes some pretty Big names, including Hironobu Sakaguchi (creator of the Final Fantasy Series) and Nobuo Uematsu (music composer of the Final Fantasy series, and many other projects). The combined work of these two alone can make for a pretty decent RPG. Then I saw the name that sent shivers down my spine, “the legendary art of Akira Toriyama.”
Mr Toriyama has been somewhat of a thorn in my side over the years, and while I have deeply enjoyed some of the games he’s done atwork for, I deeply loathe his artistic style. Mr Toriyama is responsible for the artwork of such titles as Chrono Trigger, the Dragon Quest series, Dragonball Z, and many, many more. I have always wondered to myself, how in the HELL did this man get so popular?
Lets Take a look at some of his work. Perhaps most notable, is the famed Toriyama forehead. These ridiculously engorged man (and woman) noggins have always left me confused and disgusted. Is the character balding, do they have a tumor, what the hell is wrong with his head? And its not just a few characters, almost every single character design produced by this man features these over embellished cranial abominations.
So much possibility for ad space!
Lets also examine the Toriyama female. It’s a mystery to me how you can go about character design, and not manage to create one even remotely aesthetically appealing female design. Not only would I say his woman lack any sort of sex appeal, but they ALL look exactly the same. Lets just take the same damned design, and put a different wig on her why don’t we?
Ugh! Get them away from me!
Now, ignoring the fact that all we need to do is change the haircolor of a particular character, or put a hat on him. Many of Toriyama’s characters just look plain retarded. While I am not in any way bashing those people, its just hard to believe that your main character is going to have any success conquering the forces of evil, when he looks like your special uncle Jimmy as he just discovered a cookie.
Must not eat... magic.. cookie!
Almost got the bronze too!
I will say, that while I find Toriyama’s human designs atrocious, his monster design isn’t terrible as long as he doesn’t appear to be blatantly ripping off some other form of fiction:
Purely unintentional of course
Ladies and Gentleman, let me now introduce you to a real Japanese character artist, Yoshitaka Amano. Amano is responsible for the first half of the final fantasy series. Honestly, the sprites do not do him any justice, whereas I found the sprites of Chrono Trigger doing Mr Toriyama great justice!
Sprites do NOT do this man justice
When it comes to Toriyama, just give me the sprites please
Amano’s work is unique and vibrant, and above all things, his designs are done in freaking watercolor! If anybody has ever tried watercolor, you know it is not an easy medium to work in. Somehow Amano makes it work, almost better then any other artist in the medium I’ve been exposed to. The problem with Amano’s work is that being able to replicate his genius in video game medium would be a difficult task. However the technology is just starting to get good enough that a game that looks like a living watercolor painting might actually be possible! If such a thing were to ever happen, I’d simply wet myself with glee.
Now THIS is talent!
Returning to Toriyama and Blue Dragon, I finally turned off the English voice acting and returned to the original Japanese version ( I am so happy games do this now!). The childish voices coupled with the horrendous character design were almost too much for me, and the game is much easier to play now that everybody sounds like a pissed off Japanese person. Like I said, it boggles the mind how this designer got so popular in the first place. But I have to wonder, does anybody out there agree with me? Or does his sense of design only seem to push my buttons? Feel free to comment this article and let me know if you agree or disagree!
I’ll come right out and admit it. I’m an Anime fanboy. An “otaku” if you will. (And I am fully aware of the social ramifications of the label… I could drink legally before I went on my first date.) Unlike most, though, I didn’t start following the medium until I was almost in college, and my initial contact was in the form or downloaded fansubs as opposed to Saturday morning catoons. As such, Dragonball has absolutely no nostalgic pull on me. I think that the majority of American anime aficionados see DBZ through a haze of childhood memories, recalling their excitement upon receiving a Goku action figure for Christmas or some such nonsense. If it weren’t for that inevitable association, I doubt that anyone would pay any attention to Toriyama’s work. That said, I have no idea why he’s so popular in Japan.
The guy with the cookie appears to be considering the consequences of savagely violating said cookie, most likely while veins pop on his ……forehead. If Pokemon anime is aimed at kids then Goku and the Forehead Friends are anime for loudmouth teenagers who cant wait to get all pretentious and make fun of someone for not knowing all about the crap artfest that is Z. That said,were I a teenager today, I would probably BE one of those kids.
While I enjoyed the wondrously well fashioned story and smooth fighting system in Crono Trigger I have always been deeply disturbed by the characters, most of whom appear to be hosting an orgy for hedgehogs on their head. DBZ is not my favorite either. I’ve seen the Japanese version of it and everything but more blood and (poorly drawn) nudity do not make up for the fact that the characters SCREAM EVERYTHING!!!! Hear, hear on your judgment.
I think you hit this right on. I do agree that art plays a big part in viewed media there is more to it then just art. While the games like Chrono Trigger are great. Their greatness comes from story and gameplay. It’s crazy how the art can throw it off so fast. However There are some very beautiful games and anime that are horrible for a lack of gameplay or story. I think we have found ourselves spoiled by the few exceedingly great games and anime that we forget how hard it is to pull it all together so well.
i think he got more popular not because of his art style alone (which is both recognizable and completely unique) but also because of the great stories that accompany them. personally i feel some of the earlier dragon ball stories are some of the best stories you can find in the adventure genre. because of this he is one of the most influential story tellers of all time. i personally love the man though and find nothing wrong with an art style. if its your style, its your style. im not going to hate on it.
I like Toriyama’s art style. It’s very distinctive and recognizable, which is refreshing compared to most manga which has the generic style.
Yoshitaka Amano is clearly not a manga artist, so why are you comparing him (her?) to Akira Toriyama? You might as well compare Stan Lee to Leonardo DaVinci. It’s hard to take your argument seriously in that regard.
I know anime snobs look down on him for Dragon Ball Z (which I have neither seen nor read), but on a pure visual basis, he’s great.
If Toriyama is doing design for video games then i have every right to compare him to Amano. And yes Amano has done some forms “manga” as well, So its fair game.
just to be clear on this, i’m not telling anybody to hate his artwork, i’m just explaining why I hate his artwork, i find it in no way aesthetically appealing.
and also so we’re clear, i’m not a big fan of 90% of the manga artists i’ve seen either, mainly because everything starts to look the same after awhile, I will say Toriyama differs in that aspect, as his designs are very distinct. So distinct and recognizable, yes. do I still think his characters look like retards with brain tumors? you damn well better believe it!
“If Toriyama is doing design for video games then i have every right to compare him to Amano. And yes Amano has done some forms “manga” as well, So its fair game.”
That’s completely bogus, no offense. Toriyama’s and Amano’s works have two completely different styles, Toriyama is primarily a mangaka and Amano is a “old-school” Japanese artist influenced by Ukiyo-e. As such, their works reflect on that. Saying that they are comparable to each other just because they had works in videogames and manga is just unfair. Would you compare Tetsuya Nomura and Amano just because they both worked on Final Fantasy? It’s a bit ridiculous. Like Anon wrote in the above post, “You might as well compare Stan Lee to Leonardo DaVinci. It’s hard to take your argument seriously in that regard.”
yes, i can compare Nomura, toriyama, and Amano’s work as “artists who’ve done design for design for video games” because.. guess what.. they’ve done art for video games!
You hardcore Toriyama fans are dense!
Nomura’s work is pretty generic, but nothings ever really grated on me like Toriyama’s did.
Bring on the flames, maybe i’ll get enough ammo to write another article on why i can’t stand the mans work
I’m not “hardcore” anything, I’m simply saying your comparisons of different styles are pretty bogus. I could care less if you hate Toriyama or anyone else for that matter.
My entire post was about how hating Toriyama because Amano one ups him in every way was pretty ridiculous. I have no idea why you insist on comparing them artistically when they all do different things. Toriyama draws comics. Amano paints pretty pictures. Videogames are not their forte. No solid comparison.
If you hate Toriyama fine, if you like Amano, fine. But Amano is neither better or worse than Toriyama. They have different styles and shouldn’t be compared to anything at all. A better article you could have written would be to simply hate Toriyama on an individual basis pointing out the things you don’t find appealing.
I might have to agree with James on that one, Mark. While I’m not a huge fan of Toriyama’s character design, I do have to respect him from an artistic standpoint. I sure as hell can’t draw huge foreheads that well.
well, i thought my point was pretty simple, i cant stand toriyama’s work because it ruins the mood of the game for me (i finally forsake blue dragon because i just couldn’t stand the artwork, i found the characters incredibly annoying). This is pretty much an “I cannot stand Toriyama’s work” post, while including an artist whom if the were able to mirror his style in a video game, would be pretty damn awesome! Toriyama can stick to manga just fine, but if we ever happen to see a future Chrono game drawn to Toriyama’s style, i will weep, and probably stay away from it.
Then don’t buy the games. Its not like you are obligated to buy the games.
Actually he kind of is… we basically force him to review every RPG ever made.
Clockwork Orange style.. you fuckers!!
Come now, my droogs. Don’t you like playing RPGs day in, day out, forever?
Still going at it huh?
Mark you know both Joe and I would be happy to review the RPGs you aren’t interested in for you, just the review may never get done.
As for my opinion on Toriyama… I have never had a problem with his art style. The men are cute and the women are manly. The only problem I have is that he like the Unreal engine is overused and makes the games he touches feel like another Dr. Slump/Dragon Ball ripoff.
Maybe Toriyama still uses his traditional style because that is what is expected of him. Like Porn, it sells.
1. The Hairline, if your referring to the saiyans yeah they have huge foreheads, and literally those I think at first he did it to just define these guys as alien beings that look different from humans. But literally raditz and vegeta had huge foreheads, Not too many other instances, The others have moderate ones that suggest balding which is actually realistic compared to other crap concept artists where everyone has perfect hair. The majority of his characters besides those few with ridiculous hairlines have perfectly feasible and normal hairlines
2. Females, you not finding something attractive doesn’t mean others dont. The whole change the hair around and get the same character thing, you dont know much about manga or anime do you? Thats the case for literally any anime style for the most part. Manga styling is simplified exaggerated facial features, many artists define characters by their other overall traits.
3. Its anime if you dont realize that they have exaggerated and weird expressions your an idiot.
4. Seriously, Toriyama is one of the most unique character designers in the business. You can think one of his characters looks like Yoda or some crap. But no, if anything people over the years have been taking from him. His concepts have been very unique and very original especially for when they were created for the first time.
5. Yoshitaka compared to Toriyama you really dont know much about concept art do you? Yoshitaka’s work is more towards traditional art, in fact personally he’s a shitty concept artist because he doesn’t give a clear view of the characters, having nice fine art is cool and all but thats not what concept artists do, your judging his quality of work based on character concept sheets and pictures of DBZ. Like someone already said he’s a manga artist and his specialty is actual technical drawings and his line work can be amazing. Compare that to Yoshitaka’s artsy fine art style with characters that are laughable on how abstract and horribly rendered they are
You’ll probably try to think of some rebuttal
But I dont plan on being back to look at it, this whole review is utter biased crap
http://thelifestream.net/wp-content/uploads/yoshitaka_amano_zidane_ffix-300×273.png.
For instance his concept art for FF9, (as in the link above) the character designs are horrible or the most part drawing wise, their lose scribbles which some may find as appealing art but for a concept artist its horrible. Yoshitaka I find a crappy artist overall, his grasp of environments is good but his figure knowledge and rendering for them is pathetic
So comparing those two is a dumb idea all together
Yoshitaka is a fine artist who is good with abstract-esqe paintings that look
more like fine art than concept art. While Toriyama is a manga and concept artist
with sleek clean linework their complete opposites and just because you dont
like one style you act like its crap with ridiculous bias
“… your an idiot.” One of my all-time favorite stupid mistakes.
“this whole review is utter biased crap”
Hey, somebody finally gets it! it is biased! and specifically written to troll and aggravate Toriyama fanboys!
Mission Accomplished if i do say so myself!
This is incredible. What a well written and thoughtful argument. Never have I seen such eloquence, literary grace, and verbal loquaciousness… is what I would be saying had it been written using any kind of English writing standard. What is it with you Internet denizens? It’s subject then predicate. Capital at the beginning, punctuation at the end. Your, you’re, and yore are not the same word. People; going off on a hugely long rant about anything (especially anything remotely technical in nature), but also writing it in the same manner as a fifth grade (primary school for you Europeans) Special Education student, does nothing to elevate your (note the proper usage) already tenuous position. All that you are (or you’re) going to accomplish is a wall of text that paints a self-portrait resembling this:
*Not drawn by Akira Toriyama.*
“Not drawn by Akira Toriyama.”
I know. It’s way too good. Also, she isn’t glowing.
I’ve been playing through Dragon Quest IX in the little downtime i have anymore. Its actually crazy fun (and pretty Oldschool Joe) just the right format for Toriyama’s design not to bother me too! there is something nostalgic and awesome about Dragon Quest. I’d love to try out the multiplayer aspects of it sometime if anybody else picks it up!
Funny you should mention that, Mark. I too have been playing a little of the Dragon Quest IX (just beat Dragon Quest IV and figured I’d try the new one out). Granted, I’ve been more firmly entrenched into Puzzle Quest 2 (not as good as the first one), but I’ve been devoting a little spare time towards DQ. What’s a little disappointing to me, though, is that nobody jogs in place anymore. It hardly feels like a Dragon Quest game at all if the characters aren’t fiercely concerned with their weight.
as soon as i got to the job change temple, i went nuts,
leveled every class to 25-30 off metal slimes to get the nice bonuses before proceeding in the story.
i remember metal slimes being both my bane and my joy in VIII as well
That’s how I beat IV (not that I really needed to); by beating up on King Metal Slimes. Can’t argue with 30050 xp a pop.
At least the author acknowledged Toriyama’s place in video games. Amano may be a better painter, but Toriyama’s character designs reverberate in history, like it or not.
On a side note, as Final Fantasy character designers go, Ill take Akihiko Yoshida. Noseless though they may be, man can he design. Beats acid trip Amano and zipperbelt Nomura any day.
i LOVE Akihiko Yoshida, he’s doing all the art for the upcoming FF: Warriors of Light DS title, i am VERY excited about that game.
also, i want to note Akihiko Yoshida’s cutscenes on the FF Tactics remake were pure gold, i’d love to see more of that style in an anime or something.
Agreed.
This isn’t particularly related, but rummaging through some old boxes last night, I found my copies of both Chrono Cross and Xenogears. I was a happy Joe, especially considering my old PSX was in the same box (a super old phatty Generation One with the included expansion port on the back).
score! what i wouldn’t give to find the time to replay both of those right now, such greatness should never gather that much dust >_<
Well, with our main LCD TV on the fritz, all we’ve got is an old CRT in the bedroom; perfect for playing consoles from a couple generations ago. On a sadder note, I could only find one of my old memory cards, and it didn’t have any of my old saves on it. Guess I’ll have to start from scratch.
Your examples of Toriyama’s artwork are all either stills from anime (which weren’t drawn by him) or simple character portraits for games, the kind of content he needs to churn out as a guideline for the game makers or for use a menu portrait, which isn’t meant to look very detailed.
Comparing Toriyama to Amano is actually retarded. It’s like comparing Will Eisner to Picasso. Both are masters of their crafts, and neither is even remotely worth comparing to the other. Though one of these artists may have a more cartoony style, its every bit as valid an art form.
Do some research and you’ll find some spectacular Toriyama art. I’d urge you to post examples of that, rather than these atrocious Blue Dragon screens which were probably drawn by underpaid Koreans.
Reading this closer, if your complaint about Toriyama is that his charming character designs are standing in the way of you enjoying another by-the-book grimdark fantasy RPG, then whatever, go blow your wad somewhere else. There’s a reason Dragon Quest is the best selling RPG series of all time - some people appeciate quality.
I love how i’m still trolling people with this article over a year after i wrote it.
And you all make the same points, which i’ve rebutted multiple times, leading me to believe everybody reads the article but nobody reads the comments, and the comments are even funnier then the article!
And the reason Dragon Quest is great is because the series remains consistent. Decent storytelling and well honed gameplay, that’s what keeps my playing, NOT the art. I know what to expect from a Dragon Quest game, it delivers, and sometimes even offers a few little surprises, i’m never blown away, but also never off-put, if only the Final Fantasy series could maintain such consistency.
Flame on bitches!
You haven’t rebutted any points, you’ve simply said “they both make video game art.” It’s a retarded basis for comparison, especially since neither of them would be considered “video game artists.” Parts of their portfolio sure but definitely not what defines them.
Additionally I point to the fact that you include very little actual Toriyama art in this article. If your only exposure to his work is the character and monster designs of Dragon Quest, then you really aren’t in any position to judge his style. You’ve boiled this down to “Blue Dragon/Dragon Quest vs. Final Fantasy VI,” despite your headline inferring you’d actually be comparing the two as a whole.
Basically, don’t write shit and then claim “I WAS TROLLING LOL.” Sure, it’s meant to be a humorous piece, but its humorous only to those who aren’t aware of how off-base you are, whereas anyone who actually knows the work of the two artists (your commenters) have been repeatedly confused by this needless comparison.
Oh, and so you know what real trolling is. Suck my cockkkkk k thx
Minus the “headline” bit, since you apparently jammed Amano into this article for no reason other than your own Japanophile fan-wankery. OH LOOK AT HOW GORGEOUS. KAWAIIIIIII
I’ve seen “real” Toriyama sketches, i still don’t like them. This is what is represented in the games i’ve played, this is what i’ll post, i dont give two shits if every cell wasn’t hand drawn by Toriyama himself. If this were meant to be a fair artistic comparison between the two, it would be, it’s not, its an opinion. Toriyama’s work ruined blue dragon for me, and I don’t plan on purchasing another game that features his art in such detail (DQIX was fine, doesn’t bother me at all when its dumbed down to the equivalent of sprites)
It Comes down to taste, I know plenty of people that feel the same way i do, and plenty who don’t. I’m not arguing that Toriyama isn’t an artist, or isn’t unique. Its like Andres Serrano, I dont care for his work as an artist, but acknowledge that he is one (Watch, now you people are going to start bitching about me comparing Toriyama’s work to “Piss Christ”)
*bolded the important point that nobody who reads seems to get
The important part is not “this is my opinion” but that you’re attacking an artist despite having no basis in either artistic sensibilities or simple standards of taste. You can’t expect to post “the Mona Lisa is bullshit” and not be taken to task by people who actually know something about what you’re talking about. Akira Toriyama is a world renowned illustrator and you’re griping that he ruined your video game, while pointing to cheap cel animation to make your point.
In short, whatever opinion you have on this man’s art is backed up not with any evidence as to his failings as an artist, but simply a rather generic “I’m not much into this.” If that’s really what your argument boils down to, then what the fuck sort of basis for an article is that? I can understand why you needed to shoehorn in the Amano nonsense, grasping for a point and unable to critique Toriyama’s work without pointing fingers at a distraction.
Your article is shit. Have the balls to admit it and move on.
Welcome to The Big Critique, a place where people of no authority write shit about stuff of no importance.
A name like “The Big Critique” would assume that an actual critique takes place. If your articles are nothing more than “I don’t like this but don’t really have any valid reasons why” then maybe you should consider changing it to “Some guys with no real authority on any subject and their useless personal opinions.”
I guess thats a hell of a URL. Good luck with the 10 daily pageviews or whatever it is.
Just to solidify that last point, a critique is not the same as an opinion. A quick hop over to dictionary.com tells us critique is never simply a personalized thought on a subject, but one backed up with legitimate criticism based on some knowledge in the subject area.
So basically, my taking exception to this article is entirely valid. If you present something as a critique, then your defense of it cannot be “oh, well its just an opinion.” If your articles are all opinion based then your site title is entirely illogical and misleading.
Sorry to drop some science on you guys.
Dear Vito Gesualdi,
Your input is greatly appreciated.
I will voice your concerns over our domain name during our next meeting of the council of critique, and to our honorable leader, Mr Big.
Thank for your loyal readership and frequent participation. Since we know you have much better things to do with your time, It fills us with great joy to be graced with the presence of such a grand authority over the internet. Good luck with your quest to restore sanity and decency to the internet. Might i suggest you start with 4chan next?
* the council of critique may or may not consist of me, a bottle of vodka, and a bag of day old muffins, and Mr. Big may or may not be my Junk wearing a brown fedora.
Just making sure anyone who stumbles across this page (much as I did) sees that I’ve not only torn this article apart, but the entire basis of your website as well; your defense (or lack-thereof) reduced to humorless anecdotes.
Again, if you want your site to not suck (this is advice here) write about shit you actually know something about. Good luck in the future!
I just dont feel a compelling enough reason to defend this article against e-tards such as yourself, I’ve made my points, almost two years ago as a matter of fact, this article was written for humor, as many of my articles were written during that time, not to professionally critique the art of a man i wouldn’t waste my breath on discussing in a less then humorous manner.
now be off, go jerk off to your original sketches and signed Toriyama portrait.
–Readers! read on below for more predicable yet futile attempts from Vito Gesualdi at snagging a little attention, i think he’s lonely is his little corner of cyberspace, please support HIS mindless ramblings by going to http://northnowhere.com/ (of course i wont read it, despite him wasting his time reading my crap, gee, guess that makes me an asshole!)
I thought it was named The Big Critique due to the size of our enormous Johnsons. I must admit I am shocked and somewhat shamed to realize that we have neglected our duty in supporting the artwork of tiny penised Asian artists. I will immediatly be changing my review of the film Taken to reflect more on how the artwork of an obscure [and might I add entirely miniscule genital owner] could have improved a film whose lead stars genitals have been known to cause head trauma at urinals when he is zipping up. I profoundly apologize to all our readers and hope to correct my opinions as quickly as possible therefore leading to a site that panders more to those who are entranced by the kind of art that graces most color blind and mentally handicapped Asian bedrooms. [Just playin Vito. By your name you sound Italian, which means your sausage is huge, and at the end of the day, big dicks and Emilio Estevez, posessor of the Christ-Wang, are what this site is all about. GO BIG DICK!!!!!!!!!!]
There you have it folks, proof:
Well, shit boys… let’s shut ‘er down!
I should also point out, Vito, that your blog, North Nowhere, also makes no sense. *Ahem* Beings as Nowhere isn’t really a place, and er… therefore uh… couldn’t have a North. If we consult dictionary.com, we’ll clearly see that go fuck yourself.
Jason, you need to write more, that was pure poetry.. we need another estravaganza that requires mass group participation, celebrating another beloved (or hell, maybe even loathed) actor.
you should consider changing it to “Some guys with no real authority on any subject and their useless personal opinions.”
can I get upset about the obvious gender bias of said troll?
You can, but I really can’t imagine it’d accomplish anything constructive.
Were we trying to be constructive? I was just hoping to join in the criticism and anger fun that seems to be happening here
Man, if you guys have so much time to chime in
defending shit writinghelping me look like a dumbass, maybe you should work onupdating this here site of yoursfinding me a bag full of dicks to choke on.Haha, classic.
Yeah, I was running out of ideas.
I LOVE bags full of dicks!!!
Alright, you’re a moron. First of all, Toriyama-sama has designed many more females than the four you’ve chosen to compare. Congratulations, you intentionally found the four with the closest possible appearance. While I will admit that Toriyama’s characters do appear very similar in a lot of cases, it’s bound to happen after designing probably thousands of different characters for various games, not to mention all his manga/anime. Secondly, you can suck my balls. At least with Toriyama’s work you can tell wtf the picture is supposed to be. And how the fuck is a short green monster thing in a robe “blatantly ripping off” anything? Even if it was, have you never heard of homage? Apparently not. Oh shit, the designers of sonic made sonic go “super sonic,” which causes his quills to change direction and his hair to turn blonde. During “super sonic” mode, he becomes much faster and almost invincible. Oh shit, they must be blatantly ripping off super saiyan.
You’re a jackass. As for females, you forgot bulma, arale, ayla, lucca, fiona, schala, queen zeal, epon, mary ivonskaia, chaco, the female kaio, chichi, android 18, videl, and many many more. Rather than specifically finding 4 pictures that look somewhat similar and presenting them as an all-inclusive example of Toriyama-sama’s female character designs, how about you actually look at the whole spectrum or else shut the fuck up? Akira Toriyama is 8 billion times more successful than you’ll ever be, and you’re apparently just pissed off because of that.
His art style is unique, incredibly detailed, and completely unmatched. Sure, it’s a bit odd at times, and a lot of characters have similar hair styles and clothing(the faces are practically identical too), but that doesn’t mean every single thing he does is exactly the same. Go suck on a big fat dick. If he’s as bad as you say he is, and Amano is so great, then tell me why Amano’s artwork only shows up in Final Fantasy. And what the fuck does the tools he uses to do his art have anything to do with his (lack of) greatness? As if he’s somehow better cuz he uses water colors… What a douche.
Figures somebody with the name “Magus” would post something like that.
Amano’s art only shows up in Final Fantasy? Do your research pal. And while I’ve read about Amano artwork being on exhibit in some pretty prestigious galleries, i’ve never seen or heard of such an exhibit for Toriyama.
Medium means alot, guess what you get with a pencil? a fucking eraser. Watercolor is a bitch of a medium to work with, you get no leniency, it is a harsh mistress. And the things that Amano can do with watercolor have lead him to become one of the best modern artists in that medium. He is recognized by the professional art community, while Toriyama is more likely to be referred to as a “kitsch” artist.
read the comments for my answers to the rest of your statements, i’m not going to repeat myself.
This is awesome!
Sure he pulls a photocopy of a drawing out of a drawer somewhere and just changes some of the colors, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t making unique characters. The important part is that he drew the original. Fifteen years ago.
@Magus - Though I don’t have any problem with Toriyama’s art style, I’m curious how the females you mentioned are different from the ones Mark mentioned, excluding Arale from Dr. Slump?
Now I for one have a feeling that the reason all of his art looks the similar because when commissioned to do a job he is told, “We liked what you did with Dragon Ball, that has a lot of fans. Do it like that, because it will give our game an instant fan base.” That is probably the reason that Blue Dragon had decent success in Japan on the Xbox. Does that make him an impressive artist? Not really. But does it make him successful? Hell yeah, he has received a lot of work and we all know who he is.
toriyama’s designs are awesome. who care if they all look the same? amano’s art looks like $hit compared to toriyama. the creator of this article is an idiot
is it just me, or do the people that criticize my article seem to be getting dumber as the months/years go by?
I do find it silly that people are still trolling a topic that is now over two years old.
I guess that means i’m the better troll eh? Best article I ever wrote, not my favorite necessarily (i think the one i wrote on EA is my best work), but nobody gives a shit unless i’m slamming their beloved Toriyama.
character design eh? Toriyama win easily because his characters much more recognizable (that’s the most clear and objective indicator). Beside of character design, Toriyama win in technical drawing such as foreshortening complex object and put them all together (example: bulma and goku ride a motorbike, he draw it from any perspective with details AND drawn by his style), while the Amano guy that you compare to him, have more abstract style and playing with color which is too many people can do that, especially with nowadays technology (most people will not care if it done with watercolor or photoshop especially people who playing video games). I suspect after a few years, you’ll forgot his name and compare Toriyama with another artist that you think his art is cool, but surely not as everlasting as Toriyama’s artwork because you have puber taste. Compare Toriyama with Leonardo da Vinci, now that’s justice.
I actually have always liked Akira’s art style, more so humans than anything else though (his dinosaurs and animal people were a little strange..)
And at the same time, I actually dislike the other art style you gave as an example. To me it’s the same as many other Asian artworks, in that the detail is heavy but in the wrong places, or that it seems complicated and cluttered. Whereas DBZ (my favorite era being the android/cell sagas in terms of art) had clean lines and while shaded and colored sometimes boldly, had simple and clean designs to them.
To each their own though..