Happy Saiyan Day! (Patreon)

March 18th is a fan created holiday since the date sounds like "saiyan" in japanese. For the longest time I always forget to participate by drawing some saiyans, but I wanted to do something this year especially after Akira Toriyama's passing this month ;__;

Like many people who have shared their thoughts, his art and Dragonball have influenced me in so many ways. I mentioned before that Sailor Moon and DBZ were my starter animes. My parents used to record the episodes for me when I was at school, and I would pause the video to copy screen shots. When it came to sailor moon I did my best to get the style right, but my faces were so wonky and it left me discouraged. Then I watched dragonball, and something about the art style just CLICKED and I was this unstoppable 13 year old drawing machine!

I look at all my work over the years and find Dragonball's fingerprints all over it. The way I draw faces, poses, clothing, even animals! It led to the creation of Agra and my other red saiyan ladies and the love to create OCs in general. It allowed me to meet some fantastic people who have changed my life in so many ways, and several I'm still friends with ;u; I jumped into other anime because friends would say "if you like DBZ then this is right up your alley!" and even my interest in saiyans led me into games such as Mass Effect.

It would be easier to say what Toriyama and Dragonball didn't influence at this point.

This feels like such a paltry summary of what his work means to me, but I wanted to write it down just the same. It still hurts and I wish him peace wherever he is, and peace to loved ones he left behind. And that all of us continue, as he once quoted, to "Tackle life with as much energy as Goku!"