This is about as much love for the classic anime and manga as you’ll ever see stuffed into one piece of artwork.
You know those mosaic-style photo collages where every piece is made up of a smaller picture of something related? Like maybe you take dozens of cat pictures, then have a computer program arrange them in a way that when they’re viewed from farther away, they form a larger cat.
Well it turns out there’s a guy in Hong Kong who can do that with just a pen. Over the past couple of weeks, illustrator Ah Leung has been sharing photos of one of his latest projects, a picture of Goku, the hero of perennially popular anime and manga Dragon Ball. The finished product came out incredibly well, capturing the cheerful adventurousness of the character during the opening arcs of the franchise.
But while one of the most common characteristics of manga artwork is the sparing use of clean lines, Leung’s Goku has swirls all over his face, clothing, and hair. At least they seem like swirls at first glance, but a closer look reveals something incredible.
The illustration of Goku is made up of drawings of other Dragon Ball characters! Just about the only space that’s exclusively used for the star himself is his lower right jawline.
▼ Even his pupils serve double duty, as they’re actually the boot soles of another, smaller Goku.
After laying down characters that take up a lot of real estate, such as wish-granting dragon Shenron, rampaging giant ape Ozaru, and future father-in-law Ox-King, Leung next turned his attention to the more compact cast members.
▼ All of the characters are from the early, non Z era of the Dragon Ball franchise, because really, there’s no space left for later arrivals.
Japanese pop culture isn’t Leung’s only muse, either. He’s also produced a series of awesome Star Wars illustrations, such as these portraits of Darth Vader and Boba Fett made up of images of urban life.
It’s his Goku artwork that’s getting the most attention online, though. Hopefully that means we can look forward to a follow-up with the grown-up Goku and his Dragon Ball Z-era friends and foes.
Related: Instagram/Ah Leung, Facebook/Ah Leung
Source: Spotlight, Instagram/ahleung_illustration