And now for something completely different from me!

Self Critique: I know there had to be a better way to draw Piccolo’s shoes. Gohan’s hand near his chest could’ve been drawn a little better. Probably a slightly clenched fist would’ve sufficed.

And now we get to this pic, which was actually commissioned from my Manager at my part-time. At first I was about to draw Gohan headbutting Radditz, but the manager decided to have this drawn instead (which was fine since I didn’t begin anything when he changed his mind). I was to draw this scene early on in the Dragon Ball Z series, where Nappa was fighting Gohan and was beating the crap outta him. This was when Piccolo stepped in to block Nappa’s beam, ultimately killing him. Had to watch the scene again since it’s been a very long time since I last saw it. I did have several references to go on, in particular a figure I was shown (Called Piccolo’s Remption) that depicted this scene, though after Piccolo took the shot. What I was gonna draw was the moment before Piccolo took it.

For Piccolo, I broke out my Body-Kun model and posed it accordingly. I wanted this to have a low angle shot for a dynamic view, as well as to bring it down to Gohan’s eye-level in a sense. Getting the positioning of Piccolo’s pink scaly spots was surprisingly difficult since different images showed them in different spots. However in those images they were correct, and I was inexperienced in male musculature since I don’t do it often. Regardless, I referred back to the figure, as well as the concept sketch I did for Piccolo to get those spots where I needed them to be. The purple gi was easy enough, utilizing the Airbrush/Watercolor smoothing technique I’ve been using lately on fabric for a better depiction of folds and wrinkles. Gohan didn’t take as long to draw, but the beginning was a bit tough. I basically had to draw construction lines like I was about to draw a chibi, but still have certain limbs be longer than that of a chibi. Overall he was drawn freehand without much additional referencing. However there is one discrepancy with Gohan. In the show, Just as Nappa and Piccolo took their places, Gohan is on the floor after suffering the Nappa’s previous attacks. But in other depictions, like in that figure, Gohan is standing up. By the time I realized this, I was already too far into the pic to change Gohan’s pose, so I had to make due with him standing.

The background was more or less easy. I kinda had to laugh as this would be the third pic in a row where I’d draw a background wit many rocky structures. Thankfully they weren’t as numerous as Frozen Shade or Helene. It was a little tiring doing something like this again. But it did prove to be a bit more interesting since it hat grassy spots. I also used the mesh transform tool at the end to warp the mountains into a very slight fish-eye view to make them look taller. Also did that same effect (without using Mesh Transform) to the clouds. This was another discrepancy. The original show had the sky with a pinkish sunset hue. But some remasters of this scene (one of which I believe came from one of the fighting games) has it in a broad daylight blue. I decided to stick with blue. The manager didn’t mind, so I stuck with it. While it wasn’t present in the show, I added dust clouds near the ground to at least reflect how much fighting there was between Gohan and Nappa (and just the generally tense nature of all the fights that happen in this series). Gotta say though, for a pic like this, I’m quite happy with what I was able to pull off.

Done on Clip Studio Paint Pro. Cintiq 16 tablet used. Body-kun model traced for Piccolo’s construction lines, then drawn freehand the rest of the way. Gohan drawn freehand from beginning to end.

Gohan, Piccolo, and Dragon Ball Z © Toei Animation, Akira Toriyama.