Training Exercise

Geeeee guess what I have been watching again, lol

Toonami Aftermath reminded me how much I love DBZ.

This show actually defines my young teen years...
It may sound stupid but it was a big part of my life...
new episodes were the greatest thing I had to look forward to every day, creating fanart for the show developed my drawing skills immensely, and through the show I made friends at school.




I first discovered Dragon Ball Z during the summer between 6th and 7th grade. I used to be totally obsessed with it, the nickname given to me by the boys in middle school was "DBZ Girl" because I was the only girl who hung out with them and raved about the show. I used to share fanart with them all the time, and actually, Goku was the first human I ever drew, before then I only drew animals, it was DBZ that finally gave me an interest in learning to draw humans.

I have seen all the dubbed episodes as well as the android saga to the end of the series in raw Japanese. I have seen portions of Dragon Ball and read most of the DB Manga, but I have only seen a handful of Dragon Ball GT. I have seen all but 4 of the films (one of my favorite films is The History of Trunks, there is so much anguish in that film and it really gripped me hard)

I know there are many people out there who hate DBZ, I can see why as some of the filler sagas suck, there is a lot of fighting with a lot of powering up and muscle bound guys sounding constipated, and the for-TV editing removed too much and lame-a-tized parts of the series (heebus jeebus any DBZ fan should be SURE they see it UNCUT because the editing took a lot of heart, emotion and angst out of the series)
BUT despite the flaws I love this show, namely because a lot of character development goes on and I love the characters. I love Goku's innocent charm and how he is always so happy, I love how arrogant Vegeta is and to see him go from being a conceited villain prince to being a humbled earthling and father was just awesome, then there is adult Trunks and knowing his story and how much trauma he had gone through, well I think you get my drift, there is alot more to DBZ than the fighting.

With this piece I wanted to show something I wish we got a touch more of, that being Goku and Vegeta and the sort of rivaled friendship they developed, we get a little in the series (one of the best canon instances being this scene from a recent OVA [link] ) but I want more. Here Goku and Vegeta have just finished up a training exercise, and being Saiyans they of course enjoyed beating the crap out of each other in the process.



Line art in pencil, colored by mouse in Corel Painter X
I more or less did it without reference (I had an ep playing as I drew and glanced at it) because, well, in middle school Dragonball Z is like the ONLY thing I used to draw and the style and outfits and such are like ingrained into my memory X3




PS: .... Team 4 Star
if you do not know what that is, look it up.
Best F**king fandub abridged series ever my freaken gawd I love Team 4 Star so very very much <3


PSS I have dug out my old fanfiction (it has been floating around on the net for over 10 years) I am fixing it right now (it needed some plot help, and spelling help...and lots of grammar help...) expect it up by the end of the month along with some fanart for it