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The-Quill-Warrior β€” Character Design - Cell All Forms

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Published: 2017-12-27 18:27:54 +0000 UTC; Views: 24275; Favourites: 317; Downloads: 0
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Description Merry Christmas! Here's a horrifying bug man!

It's my design interpretation of Cell from Dragon Ball Z, as part of this month's Character Design Challenge.Β www.facebook.com/groups/Charac…

This was a fun one. It was my first challenge where I had to redesign an existing character (or just draw fan art of one, but that's less challenging). And I was lucky they picked a franchise I was familiar with too. XD

Picking a character from DB to redesign was tough though. I knew I legitimately hated the character designs of the Saiyans (Trunks notwithstanding) because of how samey they looked - I remember mistaking Gohan, Goku and Vegeta as the same person, which is never a good sign - but because their design traits were so integrally woven into the lore of the race, I decided to leave them. I wanted to redesign a character, but also remain as authentic to the tone and style of the original show as much as possible.

My two choices were Krillin and Cell. Krillin I wanted to turn into a Super Human, but that's been done before. Cell on the other hand, I felt personally motivated to redesign because of how he looked. I never liked how his badass bug look got more and more human with each form towards perfection. it just looked less interesting, like "Awww, but he looked cool though..."

So I went with redesigning Cell in all his forms, with the task being to make him retain his bug-like appearance while still making him humanoid. Here's some points to each design.

Cell
He's the same as he looks in the show. No differences. It's worth noting though that the later two forms retain the exact same colour scheme as this counterpart. No new colours were added, though some might have been removed. The reason for this is because both Frieza and Buu (and even Zamasu) retain the same exact colour scheme throughout all their transformations. They may lose colours, but they still keep the same colours they always have. For example, Frieza's colour scheme of his first form has white, purple, pink and very light pink. His final form loses the pinks, but he keeps the purple and white.


Imperfect Cell
- His 2nd form is still as tall as he is in the show, and also retains the same muscle mass and the tail (though I took out the orange of the tail.)
- Notice how the structure and shape of his muscles is similar to the 1st form. Except the orange parts have been upgraded to lime green parts. The lime green parts have been upgraded to dark green parts. And the dark green parts have been upgraded to black marble parts. The reason for this is because I'm trying to imply the weaker parts of his 1st form have now grown an extra layer of thickness; providing extra durability and toughness.
- There are less spots on his dark green hides - less blemishes - he is becoming more perfect.
- His face is longer - resembling that of a grasshopper. Choosing a bug to resemble for Cell's 2nd form was tricky, since cicadas and roaches don't have a stronger counterpart that looks radically different from them. Grasshoppers come the closest to them though, so I went with that. So I made the face longer, his forelegs bulkier than his shins, and he has grown an extra set of wings. He also has more hide armour on his neck that has a smooth curvature, similar to the sleek look of a grasshopper.
- His bug hands with two fingers each have now turned into full-human hands. Just to imply a growth in his humanoid part as well. However his feet are still bug-like, to retain his monster-like quality.
- Head casing has covered his entire face, for extra durability. Like a helmet. In fact, think of his muscles changing colour and orientation like his armour has upgraded.
- Blue mesh under his eyes for added creepy factor.

Perfect Cell
- A butterfly was the first choice for a Perfect form. It might seem a bit gay, but hey, his perfect form is already kinda foppish and eccentric in the show. And I'm not talking about his DBZ Abridged version.
- The orange beak mouth from his previous 2 forms has now been upgraded to a visor, like a robot. In fact, his entire design is emblematic of that of an action figure (in other words, he would still look cool. XD)
- His frame is much smaller than his 2nd form, however he's still just as tall, and even more powerful. Just like Frieza and Buu in their final forms; shrimpy yet more agile and powerful.
- The colour of his muscles still retains the same scheme from the 2nd form, with some alterations for that little bit of extra durability. Also some parts are spikier for added sinisterness.
- No spots at all - no blemishes - he is completely perfect. I'm surprised they made his spots more complex to draw in the show. Must have been torture for the animators.
- His eyes are the same, yet a blue edge runs underneath them and outlines his head casing. Made for a stylish look and adds to his eccentricity.
- His hands are still human, and his feet are still bug-like.
- His stinger tail is gone. There is no need for it now that Android 17 & 18 have been absorbed. Thus, its main function has been served, and as part of his evolution, it is removed.
- His most notable feature are his wings (which actually look like they can fly in contrast to the show!) Made to look sharp and sleek for style and sinisterness. Would also make for good angle shots in the show. The pattern on his wings resemble that of a butterfly, with the eccentric colours and the large circles in the middle that symbolise eyes. However, the pattern also looks insect-like, with the orientation of the lines; and furthermore the lines have been designed in such a way that they also look like circuitboards. Because remember, he is a cyborg. Biomechanical, yet he is still part mechanical.

Well that's it. Hope you like!
(Also shoutouts to Team Four Star for their DBZ Abridged series which made good background noise whilst I drew this. XD)
Related content
Comments: 58

Cerberus-Chaos [2023-08-29 16:47:51 +0000 UTC]

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MrPerfectCell [2023-03-17 19:20:04 +0000 UTC]

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xXMension04Xx [2023-02-04 04:22:29 +0000 UTC]

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manue1234556 [2021-12-19 10:28:18 +0000 UTC]

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lucaschannel07 [2021-04-12 16:06:12 +0000 UTC]

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gdelcampoalves [2020-09-21 18:25:15 +0000 UTC]

I love this redesign! πŸ€©πŸ˜ƒ

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Chronos-X [2019-09-03 02:32:29 +0000 UTC]

Overall

Vision

Originality

Technique

Impact


Love what you did there. No disrespect for Toriyama-sama, but I don't care all that much for Semi-Perfect and Perfect Cell's designs: too bishounen/generic for my taste. For the life of me, why do so many people make aliens and monsters human-like? If they're not human beings, why have them look human in all except skin color or other details? Kinda defeats the purpose, but I digress.

Your Imperfect Cell is a definite improvement over Toriyama's design: no humanoid face/feet, plenty of details to recall Cicada Form Cell while making the two into their own entities. Perfect Cell Butterfly Form is gorgeous: nice detail on the wings, mishmash of "natural" and "artificial" traits (he's an android, after all).

In my headcanon, Cell could end up looking like this after removing some genetic material, as explained in the link below. I'm seriously entertaining the thought of incorporating your version of Cell into my fanfic series. Lemme know if you're interested.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBY1hW…

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anansideviant In reply to Chronos-X [2022-04-18 18:39:41 +0000 UTC]

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Chronos-X In reply to anansideviant [2022-04-18 20:15:16 +0000 UTC]

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The-Quill-Warrior In reply to Chronos-X [2019-09-03 13:58:17 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much for your critique.
And if you would like to use my version of Imperfect & Perfect Cell for your fanfiction, you have my permission.

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Chronos-X In reply to The-Quill-Warrior [2019-09-03 14:11:57 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much; this really means a lot to me. Keep up the good work!

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The-Quill-Warrior In reply to Chronos-X [2019-09-03 14:14:27 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! ^^
You too!

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Chronos-X In reply to The-Quill-Warrior [2019-09-03 15:24:41 +0000 UTC]

Just so you know, I'm NOT MasakoX. He's also here in DA.

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The-Quill-Warrior In reply to Chronos-X [2019-09-03 21:04:16 +0000 UTC]

I didn't assume you were, but I actually didn't know MasakoX was here.

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Starkmechzeta [2019-12-11 16:52:03 +0000 UTC]

Honestly, though I love the actual Perfect cell design. With how he looked in his first form, I thought he'd be more like well bug like, your version is very nice.

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The-Quill-Warrior In reply to Starkmechzeta [2019-12-11 19:47:57 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

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Starkmechzeta In reply to The-Quill-Warrior [2019-12-11 20:00:47 +0000 UTC]

No problem. Β 

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mantisngo2468 [2019-10-25 04:28:34 +0000 UTC]

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The-Quill-Warrior In reply to mantisngo2468 [2019-10-25 16:49:52 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! ^^

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ShadowEclipex [2019-08-25 18:58:47 +0000 UTC]

These is some cool redesigns!

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The-Quill-Warrior In reply to ShadowEclipex [2019-08-25 19:50:05 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much!

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ShadowEclipex In reply to The-Quill-Warrior [2019-08-25 19:50:18 +0000 UTC]

No problem!

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ProtronRazoron [2019-08-15 06:03:05 +0000 UTC]

Perhaps like before he can spawn Cell Jrs like before. Solid renditions to later forms though.

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shadowzero20 [2019-07-18 13:39:36 +0000 UTC]

I often love the idea of toriyama improving the imperfect cell design and it think this good example, not much for final form but do like it has more majestic look compared to it. Love to see you do more imperfect cell designs, or hire you to do some as I have my own that I haven't touched in years and collecting dust.

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The-Quill-Warrior In reply to shadowzero20 [2019-07-18 22:02:19 +0000 UTC]

Well I am open for commissions, so if you would like me to draw your versions of Cell, I'd be happy to oblige.

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shadowzero20 In reply to The-Quill-Warrior [2019-07-19 13:20:07 +0000 UTC]

sure thing, already noted and eager to see what you think of the imperfect cell version I have thought up

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Burke23 [2019-04-14 23:09:57 +0000 UTC]

Okay, this is amazing!

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The-Quill-Warrior In reply to Burke23 [2019-04-15 14:38:08 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! ^^

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Burke23 In reply to The-Quill-Warrior [2019-04-15 16:43:34 +0000 UTC]

You’re welcome

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MonsterAlmanac [2019-03-12 07:18:33 +0000 UTC]

I do adore these redesigns! Can’t say I’m much of a dragon ball fan per say but I have quite enjoyed the abridged version and cell is just well...p e r f e c t I o n. Character wise at least. DB is another one of those franchises that makes there aliens and monsters a bit too human looking for my tastes, considering cell is suppose to be an amalgam of a bunch of different species I give him a pass for a the most part.

i do like how you leaned more into the bug aesthetic taking inspiration from different species of insects! Your choice to remove less spots is a very clever symbolic change to cells progression towards perfection, and also a good solution for the animations to have an easier time animating him.Β 

Hmmm, I’m not use to critiquing but I’ll do my best to be respectful! With cells perfect form, I do like how you’ve made his face less human but I feel this comes at a cost of cell being slightly less expressive. Maybe a simple solution would be to make this part of his face like coolers face where it could suddenly just grow a mask helmet. If you didn’t want to go that route I might have even gone for a more insect esque mouth. I know the main inspiration for the perfect form is a butterfly but maybe predatory insects could have been considered, like a mantis mouth ! They have these little Antae things and mouth pincers for tearing up prey that are especially terrorfying! Would have been interesting seein something so alien expressing speech that way, then again that might have been difficult to animate as well, so maybe hornet or ant pincers also would have sufficed ?Β 
gah I hope I don’t sound nit picky this is very well done!

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anansideviant In reply to MonsterAlmanac [2022-07-16 21:42:34 +0000 UTC]

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MonsterAlmanac In reply to anansideviant [2022-07-18 17:19:41 +0000 UTC]

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anansideviant In reply to MonsterAlmanac [2022-07-18 17:39:50 +0000 UTC]

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The-Quill-Warrior In reply to MonsterAlmanac [2019-03-12 14:29:38 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!
Indeed, looking at his Perfect Form mouth now, Cell looks much less expressive than he does in the show.
Perhaps a Cooler Mask would've been the way to go.

I like you idea of a mantis mouth or pincers. That would've been effective in combat too!

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MajorLeagueGaminTrap [2019-01-19 12:40:37 +0000 UTC]

I wish Akira Toriyama used these forms of Cell

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The-Quill-Warrior In reply to MajorLeagueGaminTrap [2019-01-20 14:51:46 +0000 UTC]

Aww thanks. ^^

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MetalX-2001 [2018-05-21 20:03:08 +0000 UTC]

Β 

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Darkman777888 [2018-05-18 06:51:17 +0000 UTC]

this should definitely be the forms of cellΒ 

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TheOnePhun211 [2018-05-09 22:25:33 +0000 UTC]

Thats honestly really cool o3o

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The-Quill-Warrior In reply to TheOnePhun211 [2018-05-09 23:01:46 +0000 UTC]

Thanks.

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TheOnePhun211 In reply to The-Quill-Warrior [2018-05-09 23:11:06 +0000 UTC]

You're welcome ^^

//Love the butterfly idea, its honestly the absolute most unique form for cell i've ever seen! Props to you for total originality ouo

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The-Quill-Warrior In reply to TheOnePhun211 [2018-05-10 01:23:04 +0000 UTC]

Awww thanks! ^^

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TheOnePhun211 In reply to The-Quill-Warrior [2018-05-10 01:30:19 +0000 UTC]

No problem! ^^

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Madarao123 [2018-03-14 23:48:04 +0000 UTC]

Cell would make a pretty female XD

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The-Quill-Warrior In reply to Madarao123 [2018-03-15 01:20:48 +0000 UTC]

lol yeah. XD

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remuko [2018-01-25 20:53:46 +0000 UTC]

Its kinda cool. Last form seems super feminine though and I'm not sure thats the best look for him. Also this progression makes him seem like a Pokemon to me tbh lol

Still very very well drawn!

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The-Quill-Warrior In reply to remuko [2018-01-25 22:26:27 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! Although Cell's design in the show I would argue is already Pokemon-like. ^^

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remuko In reply to The-Quill-Warrior [2018-01-26 17:59:42 +0000 UTC]

A bit, but he becomes so human that his perfect form if none of the others feels less pokemon-y whereas this design keeps him very flygon-y throughout.

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The-Quill-Warrior In reply to remuko [2018-01-26 21:51:03 +0000 UTC]

Fair enough.

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remuko In reply to The-Quill-Warrior [2018-01-27 20:40:45 +0000 UTC]

Still lovely!

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