The Anatomy of the Art of Dragonball

En español

Prologue: General Blue’s Gayness
A discussion of everyone’s favorite homicidal gay nazi leads to a discussion of Dragonball’s art.

Part One: Clarity

Introduction: Milk Delivery
Before explaining any of the principles by which Toriyama drafts a comic, copies of Dragonball’s chapter 30 were printed out and the characters’ silhouettes were blocked in with black marker. Read this before proceeding.

The Foundations of Clarity
What is clarity and why should a comic book have it? Exploring how Toriyama uses clarity to enhance storytelling.

Alternate Take: Clarity in Combat
To showcase the importance of clarity in a different context, character silhouettes in a fight scene have been blocked out.

Part Two: Sequence

Composition and Flow
What is good composition and should comic book art have it? Exploring how Toriyama composes comic book pages to maximize clarity and emphasize important story elements.

Non-Manga can get it right too: Three Examples
To defuse arguments over whether or not western comics are terrible, examples of one European comic and two American comics with superb art are provided.

An aside: Revisiting Clarity of Form with the Joker
I address a reader’s criticism of a previous entry.

Part Three: Rhythm

Communicating Time – Going beyond film techniques
This entry discusses the use of film techniques in comics as well as a few techniques comics can use that are unique to the genre, particularly controlling the story’s speed through use of object placement and panel shape.

Application: Time and the Toriyama
We return to chapter 30 of Dragonball to see how Toriyama manipulates the reader’s perception of the flow of time.

Toriyama in his own words; Comics for new media
Toriyama himself said in an interview that he understood the importance of panel sizing in placement. He also expressed misgivings over digital comics that display just one panel at a time. This sparked a discussion of new media comics.

Part Four: Focus

Visual Storytelling
What is visual storytelling? Exploring how a fictional narrative needs a premise and how everything in that story should be going in the direction of that premise. Having a look at how what a storyteller omits is just as important as what a storyteller includes.

Deliberate Omission
Should a character be in a panel or not? Toriyama’s art shows us the answer.

Part Five: Direction

The Importance of Essential Action
Even if a character is represented entirely by a drawing and not a living breathing actor, good acting is essential in visual storytelling. This entry discusses what constitutes good and bad acting in the context of comic books and how by giving each character an essential action, or goal, the artist can guarantee the reader sees the characters as always being true to themselves.

Good Comics are Multitasking Comics
This entry discusses how a good storyteller tells details about their characters and settings without diverting a narrative away from its premise.

Acting in Comics: Keep your eye on the prize
A more detailed look at how choosing an essential action for each character keeps the acting in each scene coherent, even when characters experience sudden mood changes.

How Toriyama gets away with never planning ahead
How knowing who the characters truly are gets most of the storyteller’s work done up front.

Conclusion
Wrapping up the analysis of the acting in Chapter 30 and closing remarks on the entire overview of the art of Dragonball.