Dragon Ball Art – The Black Goku
The Black Goku’s back, bitches! Get your pimp suit on, don your bling and puff up your golden afro, ’cause it’s time to hit the streets!
Dragon Ball Z was at its peak of popularity in the early 2000′s. At that time, Goku and the other characters of DBZ were assimilated into African American culture.
One of the results was a transformation of the characters into “black” versions of Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo and the other main characters.
There was a popular website that sprung up to specifically showcase this perspective of African American Dragon Ball fans. It was called DaBlackGoku.com.
The site ran from 1999 to 2003. It stopped being updated shortly afterward and then got lost to time.
Luckily I was able to find the site in the Internet Archive and download the pictures that were still accessible. I now have over 320 Black Goku pictures.
Then I went through a selection process, picked the best ones, color corrected and cropped them into today’s art gallery.
Since I had already showcased a few in the original The Black Goku article, they won’t be repeated.You can read more about the phenomenon there.
This gallery is different from the others in the Dragon Ball Art series. It’s not about displaying beautiful art. The idea is to show people how Goku and friends were assimilated by children and teenagers in the late 90′s and early 2000′s to become “black.”
A lot of the art is really unprofessional. Some of it’s a little better. None of it is exceptional. But the quality is irrelevant. It’s the message behind its creation that matters.
The fact that it EXISTS is worth sharing. You can’t find this anywhere else on the internet. That alone makes it valuable.
The sociological message behind it makes it even more fascinating. Try looking past the technical side and into the philosophical side. Why was this art created? Where did it come from? Who made it and why does it exist?
What you see here is a time capsule of Dragon Ball fandom. A thin slice of a sub culture within a sub culture.
Anime was on the rise but wouldn’t become “mainstream” until around 2004. Yet these fans took Dragon Ball to their hearts and produced something the world had never seen…
A Black Goku.
The Spirituality of Dragon Ball Premiering at AM2 Convention
I’m going to give my first Dragon Ball panel presentation! It will be at the AM2 (Animation, Manga and Music) Convention in Anaheim, California on June 16, 2012, from 4 – 5 pm.
The subject of the panel is “The Spirituality of Dragon Ball.”
Here’s the official description:
Exciting!
It’s an hour long show and there will be time at the end for questions. Plus you’ll be able to meet me in person. Who’d want to miss out on that, right?
The poem on the image above says:
“Coming…
I Am Coming Over the Mountain for You
I Am Coming Through the Stars and the Sky
I Am Coming Out From Where I Am
I Am Coming for You…”
That means I want the room packed with Dragon Ball fans. Let’s do this!!
Even if you don’t live in California, get on your Immortal Dragon and fly there!! The world is counting on you!!!
More info about the convention can be found at the AM2 website, along with the other panelists mentioned on Anime News Network.
Dragon Ball Art – Alternative
The beauty of the following Dragon Ball alternative art pieces will leave your eyes wide open. From Goku to Vegeta, Recoome and Bulma, you’re sure to see something new.
Alternative art is difficult to define and is a subject of much debate. I define it as the creative artistic license of established characters or places.
The art takes what you already know and transforms it into something new.
But how do we distinguish “alternative” art from any other fan art? To me, what makes a piece alternative is the feeling I get inside. It has to grab me and make me think, “Oh, now that’s different!”
And that’s what you’ll find in the following images.
Created by fans from across the world, each is in a unique artistic style. Even though they depict the same characters we all love, they’re done in such alternative ways that it really grabs your attention.
For example, the image above is titled “Vegeta Over 9,000″ by Sparky del Ireland, and is a modern twist of the Over 9,000 scene from Dragon Ball Z.
Remember, if you’d like to see more of these, please Like the article on Facebook (the button is at the top of the article) and leave comments at the end. Otherwise how else am I going to know?
Now let’s jump into these Dragon Ball inspired alternative works of art!
The Science of Dragon Ball
The science of Dragon Ball is an extremely vast and engaging yet untouched subject. I now present the idea of analyzing Dragon Ball from a scientific perspective.
The original Dragon Ball series was inspired by ancient cultural concepts and paradigms written about in ancient China, inspired itself by Indian religions and native Daoism.
It has been logical that on The Dao of Dragon Ball blog I have focused my efforts on culture, history, spirituality and philosophy.
But with the beginning of Dragon Ball Z we are quickly introduced to aliens, other planets, space travel, evil scientists and artificial humans. The series becomes more outlandish and influenced by science fiction with every passing saga.
If I were to avoid this aspect of the series, then a complete understanding of the Dragon Ball mythos would be impossible.
There have been several scientific books written about other pop cultural series, such as The Physics of Star Trek [aff], which I greatly enjoyed, and The Science of Star Wars [aff].
Why hasn’t there been anything written about the science of Dragon Ball?
It seems I’ll be the first to do so, however, I’m not a trained scientist, so what can be done?
Instead of writing articles filled with heavy mathematical equations or argumentative posits, I will introduce the scientific elements while integrating modern technological equivalents from our real world. These will serve as stepping stones that show how the science of Dragon Ball can be found in our modern world, or is on the way to becoming more like the Dragon World every day.
Then I’ll present them in a sociological, psychological, cultural and analytical framework that makes it easy to understand and relate to.
Now what content can we discuss?
Advertise on The Dao of Dragon Ball
Looking to reach an audience of hardcore, dedicated anime fans?
You’re in luck, because over 50,000 of them visit The Dao of Dragon Ball every month, and the site now supports advertising.
Read the advertising page to learn about your advertising options and the going rates.
For starters, we’re talking about a 91% focused demographic of young men in their late teens and 20′s that are interested in anime, martial arts, philosophy, culture, and Japanese entertainment.
Secondly, they are heavy internet users and hardcore Dragon Ball fans, having been fans of the series on average for more than 10 years.
Thirdly… well, just go and read the advertising page already, why don’t ya?
Dragon Ball Art – Vegeta Paintings
The Prince of all Saiyans has awakened!
It’s time to explore Vegeta’s life through digitally painted Dragon Ball fan art.
Over the course of writing The Dao of Dragon Ball book and interacting with fans, I’ve been surprised by how much love there is for Vegeta. I had thought Goku was the most popular character.
But it turns out that Dragon Ball fans absolutely adore Vegeta’s attitude, his raw Saiyan strength, and his stylish hair line.
His transformation from a cold blooded killer to a family man over the course of hundreds of episodes is an iconic example of the power of redemption and personal change.
Vegeta now stands as one of the most recognizable characters in this or any other series. There’s no mistaking Vegeta when you see him!
Now we take a moment to look back on the life of a soul that sought the value of its self worth. A Saiyan who lost his tail and became a man.
Dragon Ball Art – Goku Digital Paintings
Dragon Ball art is alive and well in the Dragon Ball fan community.
The previous post about Dragon Ball Paintings displayed fine art created with a brush.
Today’s article unveils digital art created with a mouse or pen, yet equally fine.
Using the following images of fan created works I have attempted to tell Goku’s story.
There may be a few pieces missing, but the hardcore dragon ball fans know where to fill in the blanks.
The majority of images are from the Deviant Art website, and I have given credit where I could.
Enjoy…
Sponsors
