My Zelda Art and More

This is some of my Zelda art and maybe some of my non-Zelda art will appear in here too. Enjoy!

The following three pieces are character designs for my fictional Zelda game: Legend of Zelda: The Dragon King. I was going for a more stark and tragic storyline, some of which is included under the pictures.

There will be a map coming soon that will show the places listed in the text below.

(Adult) Link:


Of Child Link: There was a king called Gutthorm that ruled a province in Hyrule called Skorir. He had a beautiful sister named Astrid. He was fonder of her than he should have been and begot a child with her. The child was kept hidden and abandoned in the Lost Woods. They left him under a tree to protect the woman's shame, but tied a golden chain about his neck.

One day a man named Eyvind and his hunting party came through the woods with their hawks and their hounds, and one of them spotted the glittering gold of the chain. This Eyvind was also a magnificent smith who made many weapons in times of war. They looked under the branches and saw the infant crying, and gave him the name Link because of the many chains of gold.

'It's a bit of luck that we've found him,' Eyvind said, 'This child looks to have come from a people of great account, and I prophesy that he will have a great destiny among our people.'

Of Adolescent Link:
Link grew up in a forest village not far from where he was found until he was old enough to test the world on his own. Link was stubborn, obstinate, and difficult to control. He became the adoptive son of Eyvind the Smith, and at an early age became a man of great stature and extraordinary strength.

None of the other children could beat him at games of wrestling, swimming, archery, or swordplay. They called him "foundling" and were inwardly jealous of Link.

Young Link was always careless about his weapons, leaving them on benches so people hurt themselves when they came in and sat down.

'There's one thing that gets you a bad name, Kinsman Link,' said Eyvind.

'What's that?' said he.

'You don't take proper care of your weapons like other people,' answered Eyvind.

'It is because I have nothing to hold it in,' said Link.

'Whatever you ask, I shall give you,' Eyvind replied.

'I don't think you will,' Link replied.

'That is not the case.'

'You have a two-year old black goat,' said Link. 'I want it killed and flayed in one piece, with the horns and the hooves, and made into a scabbard.'

And so Eyvind made Link a scabbard exactly how he wanted. Then a miraculous thing happened: a golden triangle started glowing on Link's left hand. One of the wise-women noticed this and said it was the Triforce of Courage. She prophesied that Link would have courage and victory in every battle, but that greed would cause his death.

It was said that the Triforce had an opposite for each of the three virtues, and that Courage was opposed by Greed. It would be the lust for a dragon's hoard that would bring Link's demise.

Link would hear none of the prophecy made of him, and struck the woman on the nose with a reed. He reasoned that if he never met any dragons, he would not be tempted by their riches.

But as we will see later, Link only seals his fate by making this avow.

Note: The Adolescent (17 year old) Link is who you play as in OoT and TP, among other games. In this game you play as an actual 25 year old adult.

Zelda:


Of Princess Zelda: There was a king called Ringric who ruled over a province in northern Hyrule. With his queen he had a beautiful daughter, Zelda, who exceeded all other princesses in wisdom. She had a beautiful bower and was attended by a suite of maidens.

She wore an expensive necklace with a few of the links missing, and it was thought that whosoever could produce the missing pieces would become Zelda's husband.

Many earls and princes wooed Zelda, but she refused them all, and she was considered by many to be a woman of boundless pride and insolence. On her left hand glowed the Triforce of Wisdom, but most people said that she would receive a check to her pride in one way or another. Thus time passed for awhile.


Ganondorf:


Of Ganondorf: There was a mountain in back of Ringric's castle. One day a man - if he could be called a man - came down from the mountain. In his hand he carried a large bayonet-like spear which he used to impale his enemies. When he approached the castle he demanded to be let in, but the porters refused him, upon which he smote the porters with his spear, piercing them from breast to back, and tossed them over into the moat behind him.

This happened while the king was at table, drinking. Ganondorf approached the king and thus addressed him: 'As I, king, have honored you so much as to visit you, I think it your duty to grant my request.'

The king asked what that request might be.

'Your daughter's hand in marriage,' answered he, 'And if you refuse I will kill you, take possession of your kingdom, and make Zelda my concubine.'

Now the king turned very pale and said Zelda should be sent for and the matter explained to her, unto which Ganon assented. When Zelda saw her potential suitor, she said: 'I like the looks of this man very much, and I will marry him even though he is likely to treat me with severity; nonetheless, I would ask if there can be no ransom paid and I be set free.'

'Yes, there can,' answered Ganon. 'If the king will fight a duel with me within four days, then all the power will be given him that slays the other in the duel.'

'Can there be no champion to replace him?' Zelda asked.

'Yes, there can,' answered he, 'for the king is destitute of strength and manhood and so enfeebled by age that it seems unlikely to me he can mount his own horse without help; and most people would agree that I am more fit to rule than he.'

And with that Ganon went out, and all who witnessed their conversation were sorely grieved. Zelda betook herself to her bower and wept bitterly.

But most people were not surprised by this development, seeing it as a check to Zelda's pride, for refusing so many, and so thought this fate was deserved by her.

Zelda wrote a letter and had it sent to a man named Link who lived in a forest far away, pleading that he come and save her. She offered her hand in marriage and a considerable dowry to the one who could slay Ganondorf. Link thought it would be well to save the princess.

Eyvind gave to him the Master Sword which was the only weapon capable of slaying Ganon, and said that once the sword was in his family but Eyvind stole it, waiting for the day when a hero worthy of the weapon could wield it.

And so the adventure begins...

It would seem you have captured Link and Ganondorf in a way most would not. I am guessing they are in some sort of wildreness/barbarian theme. The picture of Link reminds me a bit of Beowolf (in a good way.) Ganondorf also seems to have that 'demon' like theme for having the ram head. Zelda is presented as what would look like an angel. Of course, this is all what you wanted them to be shown as, correct?

I wish I could see Link's face a little more. It looks a bit smuged. Other then that, I like it. Nice details in the foreground and background. The clothes, and pretty much all features look realistic.

Thanks. I see what you mean about the smudged face. That is actually supposed to be a helmet Ganondorf is wearing - a viking helmet with ram's horns coming out - but the overall look is supposed to be more demon than man.

I *love* the art style.

I don't really care for Link as a barbarian. I do like the idea of Link being a little older and more rugged than portrayed in the games, but there's something about barbarians that's never agreed with me. personal preference though, to each their own.

I love what you did with Zelda. her hair has such a nice flow to it...
the dress though - is that a corset top, or does it bend/flow easily? cuz if it's more of a corset thing, I don't know how she'd ever be able to sit in it XD

The dress is a single garment with a V-shaped girdle that Renaissance faire dresses have, so yes it does flow easily

And I too prefer Link to be older and more rugged. Thanks for commenting!

Your pictures are very nice.

However, youn should add more contrast to them? Like using a darker graphite pencil or darkening them on photoshop after you scan them?

Yeah I could do that.. i'm only using a regular number 2 pencil.. but i don't have photoshop..

Originally Posted by Kveldulf

Yeah I could do that.. i'm only using a regular number 2 pencil.. but i don't have photoshop..

Regular number 2? I think you mean 2B?

Darker pencils are higher in the numbers and they end with B. The darkest in the range is 9B (which is equivelant to using charcoal almost) and the lightest pencil resulting in 4H.

The range is: (starting from lightest to darkest) 4H, 3H, 2H, H, F, HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 8B, 9B.

So if you were to darken the pictures you are drawing without using photoshop, 4B with a 6B should help well.

Also, some scanners allow you to darken pictures before you save scan it into your computer. Mine does that, but I'm not sure about other versions.

Anyway, I hope that helps.

While i can't give you much advise of critique (as I am artistically handicapped when it comes to drawing ;D) I must say that your work here is totally kickass. Your "rugged" spin on the Zelda series is very interesting, and really freshens up the mythos as a whole. I like I like your take on Ganondorf the most, as he looks very intimidating, much eviler and "demonic", as you put it, than how we usually see him. I also appreciate your more "manly" Link, as opposed to the normal style he is depicted.

Great work, I look forward to seeing (and reading) more!

I like the first image of Link. Kind of makes him look like a half-elf druid though. Nice anatomy over all.

The range is: (starting from lightest to darkest) 4H, 3H, 2H, H, F, HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 8B, 9B.

Yeah.. and I saw in your art thread the picture you had of your tools of the trade.. and I was wondering how much that was.. I know you have different currency in your country but maybe you could give a ballpark figure in US dollars?

While i can't give you much advise of critique (as I am artistically handicapped when it comes to drawing ;D) I must say that your work here is totally kickass. Your "rugged" spin on the Zelda series is very interesting, and really freshens up the mythos as a whole. I like I like your take on Ganondorf the most, as he looks very intimidating, much eviler and "demonic", as you put it, than how we usually see him. I also appreciate your more "manly" Link, as opposed to the normal style he is depicted.

Great work, I look forward to seeing (and reading) more!

Thank you so much! Yeah I thought that Link needed to trade out his estrogen for some testosterone and made him more manly

I like the first image of Link. Kind of makes him look like a half-elf druid though. Nice anatomy over all.

Thanks, although druids aren't allowed to use metal weapons, hehe

Originally Posted by Kveldulf

Yeah.. and I saw in your art thread the picture you had of your tools of the trade.. and I was wondering how much that was.. I know you have different currency in your country but maybe you could give a ballpark figure in US dollars?

I don't think I paid more than $15 for my set - but it doesn't have every pencil in it. it depends upon which ones you want, if you're buying individually or in a set (and what set you get), what brand you get, etc.

I suggest you find check Hobby Lobby or, if you're in Texas, an Asel art supply store.

Thanks I'll look into it

Here's a new picture.. Link facing the dragon Motsognir from LoZ: The Dragon King.

Originally Posted by Shaelyn

I don't think I paid more than $15 for my set - but it doesn't have every pencil in it. it depends upon which ones you want, if you're buying individually or in a set (and what set you get), what brand you get, etc.

For the answer on the pencil set prices, this ^^^

And also, it heavily depends on what brand you buy. I use Derwent Graphite pencils because they're top quality to professional artists when it comes to drawing pictures with just graphite pencils.

Some brands are cheaper than others. Buying a set is much cheaper than buying all the range of the pencils separately. Also, buying them all in the same pack will result in better care for your pencils than to buy one by one from art shops or such. The actually graphite stick shatters when you bump them hard into objects or drop them. Have you ever wondered why when you sharpen a pencil, the lead always breaks off and you have to sharpen again? That's what happens when they are not cared for properly.

Anyway, I hope that helps.

If you don't want to spend money on pencils, you might also consider GIMP. It's a free image editor you can use in place of Photoshop. :3 Inkscape is also a decent vector image editor you can use in place of Illustrator as well.

Go for the pencils. You'll have lots of fun with darker graphite pencils, they'll really teach you how to learn to see different values in what you create. Maybe I'm predjudice against just hitting a button on the computer and it fixing everything for you, but you still don't learn as much that way.


Nice job... they're a little on the messy side. Though maybe thats you're 'style'. It's hard to determine the objective half of craftsmanship (what makes something nice and clean) and the subjective side of it that is up to the artist's interpretation sometimes in people's work...

I just like to have my work neat...even if it's a sketch, there's some sort of way you do it. xD Can't explain!

I like how you deviated from the norm of drawing Link with huge anime eyes though. HALLELUJIA!

Maybe I'm predjudice against just hitting a button on the computer and it fixing everything for you, but you still don't learn as much that way.

It doesn't work like that at all. It seems people have this idea of CG being easy and that the computer does everything for you, but... it's not true really. Personally, I find it far more difficult than drawing with a pencil. It really isn't just "hitting a button on the computer", you still have to do it mostly yourself. Okay, you do have things like undo, layers, filters... but you still have to know how to use it all. (Gah, I suck at explaining!) Anyway, what I want to say is, it isn't as easy as some people think it is, on the contrary, a really good CG picture does take as much effort as a really good pencil picture.


As for your art, Kveldulf (btw is there any meaning to your name?), it's really well done. Not really my taste when it comes to the style overall (I think it's mainly the faces, because I normally really like rough styles), but you have a stunning amount of details (and I really like the way you drew Zelda's clothes and the folds in her dress). But I think her legs are too short, but that could just be me. And I like the way you did the backgrounds - like I saidI have a thing for rough styles.
The only other thing I'd criticize is that the characters - aren't really like themselves. I understand that you went for something darker, but as much as I like Zelda's design, for example she doesn't look like her all that much. I think it's because you mde such heavy changes to the normal design and used a completely different art style.

Thanks for the feedback, and I see where you're coming from.

Kveldulf means "Night wolf" in Norse, and was a principal character in Egil's Saga, used to describe the way he could turn into a wolf and a man - a werewolf basically (hence the avatar picture, haha).

Hey I'm posting more art in this thread so please don't close it.

Here is some more of my Norse mythology art. If the pictures don't show up copy and paste the links in your browser.


Thor's Journey to Utgard

http://img193.imageshack.us/i/thorr.jpg/


Odin Seeking Council from Mimir

http://img33.imageshack.us/i/odinv.jpg/


Brynhild

http://img254.imageshack.us/i/brunhilds.jpg/

These are aesome! Though if you didnt say that they were pictures of Link,Zelda and Ganondorf i would have never thought they were.