I have been waiting to do this, and I finally gathered enough courage to start my own art book. I draw a lot, mostly DBZ, and I wanted to share it with you!
If you saw my announcement about this, then you know the whole story. Essentially, Raditz and the two other saiyans were referred to as space pirates, and something clicked in my brain and I was like "I need to draw them as pirates now" and thus these were created. I also said that they would be posted in a few days, but I had enough free time to finish each one, so lucky us we all get to look at them now!
So first we have Nappa,
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He's, uh...he's terrifying ,:) Anyway, my main inspiration for him was the idea of those really buff, intimidating pirates that guard the captain. I think I captured that idea pretty well with this, as he looks real intimidating...
Then we have Raditz,
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My main inspiration for him was the idea of like a cabin boy of sorts, as he is a third-class. So I wanted him to look simple, someone told me he looks like a peasant and I thought that also fit pretty well. (And yes, he does have an earring, it was a subconscious urge that I followed- and I feel no regret!)
Lastly we have Vegeta,
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Of course, as the prince he is also the captain - so there lies my inspiration: epic lookin captain. I wanted to give him some details that would make him look regal but also some that made him look, well, like a pirate.
And - I don't know what pirates look like, so I mainly took ideas of what I thought would look cool and kinda pirate-y, and I think I did a good job. Nappa looks the most like a pirate, then Vegeta, and last Raditz who looks more like a peasant. There was also some part of me that wanted to make them look a little futuristic, as they are space pirates, but eventually that just sort of disappeared...Nappa had containers attached to his belt like the things that the Cultivars were brought to Earth with, and Vegeta's boots kinda look like saiyan armour - oh! And Vegeta and Raditz have scouters, while Nappa...has an eye patch.
Also this is my new thing: Saiyan Space Pirates. I have been encouraged to make this a series, and I will. I'm pretty sure it'd just be called "Space Pirates", and it's already a promising idea. So, I guess we can consider these three drawings as character refs until I make actual ones! It will be a written story, and not a comic, but I will draw the characters from time to time as I actually write it. I am actually pretty excited about writing this, as I already have a base idea - but if you have suggestions go ahead and throw them out there, as I'd love to hear them! Fun times!
