The dark, haunted depths…
Link descends into the depths of the Shadow Temple… Cool, huh? This is one of my favourite pictures. And that skull… I did research! Wow! I have an Eyewitness book about bones and they had a picture of a human skull, so I tried to draw it. And it turned out okay despite some perspective problems.
Hey, that’s me! But… what happened to my hair?
Today’s picture is very appropriate: Link III meets… Link III! This was when I just found out about Twilight Princess, and saw Link’s new look. Whoo. This picture uses symbolismmmmm (eerie voice) in that his reflection is different. There’s a lot more in it, with the outline of a pool and long grass in the background, but I left that out because it’s practically invisible. That upside down Link is a reflection, okay? …You might have to turn your head upside down to see the older (in age, newer in game) Link.
This must be heaven, since it’s impossible
More Zelda! This is, from left to right, Link II, Princess Zelda from Link II’s time, Raven, Link III, and Rana. This incongruous meeting is of all my favourite Zelda characters, I suppose, of that time… Sorry about Zelda. She was nice, but the scanner wasn’t big enough. Rana looks wierd. The Links look good.
The other day when thinking about the Oracle of Ages manga, I realized how well the backgrounds were drawn. It really seems like Raven comes from a medieval era, and Link comes from an era that is still medieval but is more civilized, in the appearance of the buildings and the roads and so on. Also, in the ‘future’, there is no monarchy of Labrynna, which adds to the ‘modern’ feel of the ‘future’. Raven comments on the industrious, pleasant look of the future on one page when he is rescued briefly to that time. Also a couple of other plot points make the earlier Labrynna feel more… like a pioneering, budding village. A farming village.
Look, ma! No hat!
These two pictures of Link were also drawn during the BC Provincials. My mom scolded me for not paying attention, but I think it was worth it, since these pictures illustrate my concept of Link’s hairstyle, which we otherwise can’t see under that nifty hat of his. Also it was intermission.
Now, where’s that Keese?
This is Link! Not just any old Link, but Link made of Sculpey modelling clay by me! Most of the head and torso are filled in with foil, meaning I can’t go back and fix the lines of his face. His limbs and the Master Sword are strengthened and straightened with toothpicks. His face, his shield, his scabbard, and his sword are all painted with Games Workshop paint and I touched up the white of his sweater and pants, too, because it had a lot of green and brown smudged into it. That’s how I knew today would be the day for these pictures (hooray) because I found my sheath reference sketch in my sketchbook, with the details taken from the Super Smash Bros. Melee trophy. The shield details were from a printed out action pose picture which was done for Soul Caliber II, I believe.
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Fear me and my whiteboard, for I can draw Link!
This is a picture I drew on my whiteboard one day when I was bored. Dad took a picture of it with his digital camera. I like this picture! Navi’s nice, too.
I, II, III, IV, yay!
This just outlines the different Links and how they fit into my own interpretation of the Zelda story… first comes the snub-nosed Link I, who saved Zelda in the first two games: The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link.
Next, there is the both handsome and adorable Link II, who found his inner hero in A Link to the Past, continued with Four Swords and The Oracle of Seasons and finally returned to his Zelda’s side after The Oracle of Ages.
Then, there is Link III, whom we all know and love as the hero of The Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and in a fit of insanity, I placed him in Link’s Awakening as well.
As an epilogue, we have Link IV, of Wind Waker fame, as well as the new ones I haven’t played yet that are in the ‘toon’ style: Phantom Hourglass and quite possibly Minish Cap, with Vaati coming back in a bishounen incarnation or something instead of a wierd black blob. I think Wind Waker had just come out, though, because that’s the only one written below his little head.
You can see my style for Link III has developed since I started: here I’ve found the look I want, and I use it with very small alterations indeed through the next couple of years. He’s also the only one in profile, which probably means something: I think I thought the others were more recognizable in 3/4 view. Also, Link taught me to draw profiles, but I probably overuse them since absolute profiles are rather rare. I like the long nose, but the eyes are probably still too high up.
I can see that I started to draw a 3/4 view of adult Link III behind the finished picture, but I erased it. He must have been ugly.
Redead + Stalfos = Zombie Pirates?
Hyumph. I remember this was drawn because a) I had to watch a freaky movie called Pirates of the Caribbean, and b) I was beating the Shadow Temple, the freakiest Ocarina level I’ve ever seen. So, Will is trying to explain to Link what they’re up against, and Link is trying to fit this in with his own knowledge, so their conversation is a bit as follows…
Will: They’re pirates, cursed so that they can never die. In the moonlight, they turn into skeletons.
Link: Oh, so… That sounds like… Redead!
Jack: Redead?
Link: They must be Redead that have been turned into Stalfos at the same time.
Will: Whatever you think.
Jack: What are you talking about?
Link: Redead are actually Undead, only I killed so many that they’re not exactly UNdead anymore. They’re tricky.
Jack: And what under the sun are Stalfos?
Link: Uh… They’re not exactly under the sun, are they? They’re large skeletons. They take about half a dozen hits with the Master Sword.
Jack: You’re a strange guy.
Yeah, Link’s a straaaange guy according to these 19th century folks. So, I didn’t like the movie too much, but I enjoyed this picture, even if they all look like dorks.
I found out at my Telemann rehearsal that the down bow symbol for strings comes from an abbreviation of the Latin word for “noble” and the up bow symbol is the abbreviation of the Latin word for “vile”. This is why they look sort of like an n and a v. Odd, no? This was because the down bows mostly come on the down beats, and the down beats are more important – more “noble”.
Best Friends Forever
Link has just beat the Forest Temple and his best friend Saria has become one of the six/seven Sages, so she has to stay there, at least for the time being. Even though Link has grown up and will never remotely be a Kokiri again, she wants him to know that they’ll always be best friends.
Saria’s too short in this picture, but other than that, it’s quite nice.
Life is good when you have magic bean sprouts
Link, tending to one of his bean sprouts, experiences a moment of peace and joy. I like this picture, even though it’s not really finished: I never shaded his leg or his boot. The ear is much better and his face doesn’t look ridiculous. His glove/gauntlet is not accurate, though, and he seems to be missing his sword and shield as well. I also didn’t try shading the face because faces are hard to do and I didn’t understand their shapes at all back then. Now I still don’t…