I don't think I can properly convey how huge Toriyama's influence is around the world, but also, particularly in Latin America. Like, this isn't a competition, but I don't think that most people outside of Latin America properly understand how huge Dragon Ball is here. Street art (of every type and quality), your classical bootleg art on every type of business, it's presence as symbols of football fans and players, the level of stardom that the latin american dub actors have around the continent (also, it is known that the latin dub is the best way to watch the show, don't @ me), the fact that Goku's fight against Jiren in DB Super was broadcasted and celebrated like a sporting event, with whole cities setting up public broadcasts (that actually got them in legal trouble with Toei and Crunchyroll), the list goes on.
Dragon Ball actually started airing on TV in Latam back in the early to mid 90s, and at least here in Chile, was on regular open TV. Chile has had a tradition of airing anime on regular TV since the 70's, so having Dragon Ball back in the 90's was nothing new. But the levels of popularity and ubiquity that it enjoys are second to non. Like, I still have memories of coming back from school and sit down to watch Dragon Ball, as well as other shows like Saint Seiya, Slam Dunk and Captain Tsubasa.
One of the things I most treasure about it is that it, when doubts arose about how it might be too violent for us to watch, my dad -who was in his late 20's, early 30's in those years- started watching it with us, and it actually brought us closer, because watching Dragon Ball became one of our daily activities. Commenting and playing Dragon Ball pretending to be its characters in the school recess was a foundational moment. Not only when I was a kid, but later as a teen, when Dragon Ball started airing on Cartoon Network back in the early 00s, and reignited everyone's fandom, and yes, we still kept playing pretend, but the fights were far more real than when I was even younger (by which I'm saying I actually had real fist fights in high school were everyone was pretending to be DB characters). How can I also leave behind the countless hours playing games like the Budokai Tenkaichi series (and it's absurdly huge rosters) with my friends on weekends.
And besides Dragon Ball, there's of course Chrono Trigger. Not counting Pokémon, Final Fantasy 7 was my first RPG. And after playing it, I was eagerly looking for similar things, and one of my best friends happened to have CT on his PS1, so not only I was hooked with the game in and on itself but also, of course Toriyama's art. CT is one of the best games ever made, one of my favourites, a game that I still replay every couple of years.
I can't state properly how big Toriyama's art and work has influenced my life one way or another. I can properly pinpoint in my own artwork all the things that I know I took from Toriyama and incorporated in my drawings. The way I draw ears, the way I draw frowns and how I position eyebrows, how I draw necks and the clavicle and the shoulder muscles like the trapezius, all around the shape of the arms, all of that I learn from watching, studying and imitating Toriyama.
And like me, I've seen countless artists sharing similar stories. I lost track of how many variants of "if it wasn't for Toriyama, I wouldn't have picked up a pencil at all" I've seen in the last hours. It's a powerful communal experience, that kinda eases the shock of his death, as I've seen many people celebrating his art and work.