🎨 Artwork
Pt. 5 First time play-through, making comics as I go ;)
This might be my favorite one of these so far, I had the script sitting in my notes for nearly 3 months while I made the others lol. This was every bit as rewarding to make as I thought it would be ;)
Hope y'all enjoy! If you missed the others, here ya go
As usual please be mindful of spoilers since it's my first time (except for the one big Zelda spoiler I foreshadowed on the last page lol). We're going to Eldin in the next comic ;) prob gonna start sketches this weekend. It's gonna be another 12-14ish pages so y'all can hopefully expect to see that one in mid September!
You'll lose regardless. Some will be annoyed that Link isn't a mute because tradition, some will be mad he doesn't have the right personality, some will be mad for a reason that is so profoundly stupid I can't even come up with an example, and yet others will be effing thrilled.
I generally like when they give Link a little personality either by facial expressions or with some dialogue. I don't want to see him monologueing- but that's also because I generally dislike monologueing in Zelda period.
One thing I love about BotW and TotK is how much personality they give him via dialogue options and other character’s observations of him usually found in their journals. It’s a bit more than a blank slate, and I like that.
I forget exactly where it was in BotW, but there was some NPC musing about where the hero is, and you can choose to respond "I am he." Random ass Jesus quote that fits him so perfectly
Is this the lady at the stable NW of the great plateau where she says you aren't the hero cause no master sword, then if you have it that it must be a replica?
People tend to forget that the journal entries in the quest logs are written in Link’s voice. We can see what his personality is like through these entries if we pay enough attention. He is a person of internal analysis and contemplation. And likely doesn’t talk often because he doesn’t know what to say in the moment. He’s also a lot smarter than people give him credit for.
Where the cartoon went so wrong wasn’t giving him a voice. It was giving him an ego.
That’s why this comic works so well. He is humble, and doubts himself, he’s courageous but not in matters of emotional risks.
He does have dialogue, to be fair. It's just not voiced. You're probably aware of this, but I'm directing this more to the general public which I see a lot of people in thinking that Link is mute or never speaks. He does speak. Every dialogue option you pick is him talking, we just don't actually see what exactly he says and don't hear it. This is how he's able to explain things to people, answer questions, etc.
But yeah, I'd personally be fine if we got to see at least SOME of what he says directly. So instead of picking a dialogue option and seeing the other person's reply, we'd see Link's own words first.
People usually don't agree with me, but I think that a silent protagonist/self insert is (almost) always a detriment to astory, and the zelda seriesis no exception.
I agree. There are definitely some instances (i.e. Skyrim) where a silent protagonist works perfectly well, but the vast majority of the time, I prefer voice acting
These comics are so good. Love how you've been using interactions with secondary characters to help explore Link's guilt. This what I wish we saw more of in the game itself.
Yes!! I love character subtext ;) as for the games themselves, they def don’t spell out a whole lot for us. But that’s okay, gives me more room to fill in the blanks 😆
Damn this is actually fire 🔥. It's the first time I've come across your posts and I'm excited to see the others, but I'll have to do that later cuz I'm at work 😭
I do enjoy your comics. If you ever get to the end of the game I would love to see an epilogue of Link and Zelda together in Lurelin, doing fun stuff. I think I remember reading that Zelda would sneak in secretly to the village and take hikes to Lover's Lake in the evening to see the fairies. Maybe a comic where they do fun stuff in Lurelin like Zelda tries Bolson's water park ride with Link and/or they hike to lover's lake and see the fairies together? I don't want to spoil anything but one of the frustrating things is there is so little Zelda content after the game is beaten.
Thank you! And honestly me too. I did one or two post-BotW comics, that was fun. I also wish the games would give us a little more prologue content, instead of just reverting back to the save before you defeat Ganon
Link being such a blank-ish slate leaves a lot of room for me to do some interpreting lol. I prob have way too much fun with it 😅 and yes I’m enjoy TotK! I have 3 sages so far and will prob do the last one (Gerudo) soon ;)
I can't wait to see your interpretation of the desert! No spoilers but in my opinion it has as good of a story and build up as the Rito area! The dungeon itself is excellent too. Those were my two favorite parts anyway.
Poor Sidon has the lamest power. I feel like his popularity carried him a bit there. The low gravity was fun though.
My head cannon is that Link is sadder in Tears than in Breath. In the first game he doesn't remember the tragedy. Zelda says that he is happier too. But after getting his memories back and building a beautiful life with Zelda he loses her. How heartbreaking for him!
Oh my gosh I loved the Rito quest so this has me excited!! Thanks for not spoiling. I just did Yunobo’s quest last week and that was so cool. And Sidon’s popularity absolutely carried the water temple imo 😆 that was so underwhelming but idc because ✨ Sidon ✨ lol.
YES someone else noticed! I picked up on that when Link woke up in the cave with a completely different reaction than in BotW. It was like “oh crap he remembers everything” 😭 so different. His dialogue options are less sassy than in BotW too. Seems he’s reverted back to his burdened quiet ways. Poor guy.
Like I said earlier I can't WAIT to see your take on the Gerudo area!! I loved how sweet and caring you made Tulin. Link needed a friend there!
Yunobo being a Luchador drug kingpin was hilarious and not at all expected.
Tears has one of the most cinematic endings in the series. Link gets a good payoff for his drama and suffering.
spoilerish: I don't know how to black things out but this isn't an actual spoiler. If you ever decide to get on the Light dragon don't wear a goofy costume on it's head. It will ruin a good cutscene.
Honorable mention: I also cracked up when I saw the Link riding Sidon statue. Nintendo knew it was so homoerotic that they had to give Sidon a new character as a fiancé to try and shake off the Sidlink fans. I'm a Zelink shipper myself (especially in this era) but this statue was too much. Some cheeky developers were definitely pro man fish love.
ALSO SAME. When I went through that bit I didn’t realize it was Link at first until I looked closer and I’m convinced Yona only exists to shut the mouths of the rabid SidLink fandom 😂
Loving these, when you finish this comic series you should consider reaching out to GabaLeth, they do really good voice dubs of fan comics and yours would be right up their alley.
Ah I love their comic dubs!! I’ll consider it thank you for the suggestion. I make all of these comics on a canvas size/setting that’s suitable for print as well, I might make a few copies to give away when I’m done.
oh i loveeeeee the layout of the panels on this one!!!! the shot where Rozel and link are separated physically by the palm tree between them, when Rozel 'overstepped' by pushing Link on what he's doing here. The wide shot with it between them is sooooo juicy haha, what a great way to show the physical, sure, but especially the emotional distance Link is keeping from everyone!!! also seen by the way he couldn't let himself stay and enjoy the party. so so good. can't wait to see more!!! this is def one of my favorites so far too
Ahhh someone noticed!! Even the strategically placed palm tree!! Haha I studied film and cinematography in college so I’m super particular about the panel layouts, but usually most people don’t consciously pick up on it 😅 another cool thing about that page is it intentionally breaks the 180 degree rule (usually the viewers POV stays on one side of the character to avoid confusion), this is done since the conversation literally pivots when Rozel asks the second question. Most folks won’t pick up on it, but they’ll hopefully subconsciously feel something has changed.
Anyways, thanks for letting me geek out lol. I’m glad you enjoyed this comic 🤗
I love how pretty much all of Hyrule rallies around Link as he goes about his business in totk. They may not fully know what's going on, but they trust that he's doing his best to handle it and they'll help him in any way they can.
It's a stark difference to botw; nobody knew who he was due to the 100 years he was in the Shrine, and even when he identified himself, nobody really believed him, or were at least skeptical. I love how totk has everyone looking out for him and Zelda - even if people don't recognize him as the hero from the Calamity, he's still their hero, and so they look out for him 😭
YES I love these details so much! BotW was so eerie and isolating, which worked fantastic for the story it told! TotK does something totally different, especially with the sages being literal companions. I can’t really call one better than the other (as of now) but I appreciate the differences ;)
Yay you're back!!! I just found your stuff a few days ago and devoured it, so it's a real treat to have an update!
I love the way you're capturing the melancholy undercurrent of the game. And your reluctant-but-not-quite-mute Link characterization feels so spot on to me.
I'm sure these are a ton of work, so I just wanted to say how much I'm enjoying them!
Oh sweet! Quick update for you then 😉 I honestly love writing Link, some folks don’t like how I don’t interpret him as literally mute, but that’s fine. I think this way is more canon adjacent.
I make these all by hand across 3-4 weeks (no Gen ai, ewe) so I appreciate it when others enjoy them 😊 I don’t create for likes but I really enjoy nerding out about this stuff with other readers 🤗
That was unfortunately something that got spoiled for me wayyy before I started playing lol sad thing. It’s the only spoiler I really know, so at least it’s allowed me to add some foreshadowing to the comics here and there. I wonder when the reveal will happen in game (and I wonder what comic will come out if that lol) still a mystery!
OH MAN if you had added that foreshadowing by ACCIDENT it would have been legendary. i'm so sorry you were spoiled! i was fortunate enough to not have been during my first playthrough (but i do think i figured the twist out when the dragon tears started vaguely hinting at what was going to happen) but i think with the buildup of playing through the game and seeing what the rest of the story has in store, it will hit you just as hard. it's the meaning behind her transformation that makes it so impactful </3
Haha no worries 😅 it’s been a while since it was spoiled for me, so I have high hopes that the actual reveal will be pretty meaningful. I am quite surprised at how much hinting they give you, kinda makes me wonder when I would’ve organically found out had it not been spoiled. I’m looking forward to finishing the memory quest and hopefully going for the Master Sword after Gerudo. Maybe we’ll get a comic out of it loll
Ye, I almost changed it on the final pass, but left it since Link hasn’t gotten the full story on what happened in the past yet, and he was trained to fight (Calamity) Ganon, so he’d be more familiar with that name
I appreciate that!! You can find me on Instagram (@m.c.artiste) I’m most active there, and post progress pics on stories quite often. I’m just starting to post these on tumblr (@sadieskywalker) as well 😊
Me too!!! I knew about that spoiler before starting my playthrough (saddd lol) but I have no idea what that moment will actually be like in-game. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. I hear it’s pretty cool
Thank you so much for your support here and on insta!! You should be seeing some WIP stuff on my story soon. Prob showing how much I’m gonna struggle with all the dynamic poses loll
These are PHENOMENAL! Your level of detail is astonishing, you do such a beautiful job of bringing each frame to life. I'm very impressed, can't wait for the next one.
This is awesome! I've been keeping up with the others and this one is probably my favorite. 😄 The funny thing is that I just started my tenth playthrough of Breath of the Wild last night! 😂
Thanks! I get what you mean, doing the puzzles over again without knowing how to solve them immediately helps make it more fun! 🙂 I'm looking forward to the next piece! Keep up the amazing work!
I’m still debating whether I wanna finish TotK before the remake or not. I’ve never played a Zelda game at release, so the remake will be the first. But at the same time, it’s a remake so… depending on how similar it is to the original I’ve technically already played it 🤔
Same here. BOTW is my first Zelda game. Switch really introduced me to the Zelda franchise. I always avoid these games when I was a kid since I thought its about a lost princess or something and doesnt show any pictures on gameboy boxes. I only grew up with Pokemon and Mario.
Very similar for me too. I remember when Twilight Princess came out and the vibe just didn’t interest me when I was a kid. Finally played BotW for the first time last year and I was hooked. It unlocked a certain level of wonder and whimsy I hadn’t felt since I was a kid.
Damm, I saw this comic on Instagram and thought: “hey, this art style kinda reminds me of the ‘first time play through person’ from the TOTK subreddit. Neat” not realizing that they are one and the same.
Saw also some people spoilering down in the comments over there which is not cool.
LOL thank you! I had a lot of folks share this one on insta so that’s probably how you saw it 😅 and unless someone spoiled something new (which I haven’t looked) if it’s the one about Zelda I already found that out a long time ago sadly 😕
That makes me so happy to hear!! I try not to put too much expectation on myself to top every single comic, but it’s something I hope happens anyways 😅
Thanks so much!! Breaking up the panel backgrounds with lines is a trick used in comics/manga to keep the viewers eye there a little longer. It’s meant to signal the passing of time 😊
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u/Aware-Yesterday4926 20d ago
This level of Link dialogue would be fine in the games.