So I finally finished this piece that was a part of an art trade with a friend of mine, Agnes Stelmach. It’s an 17″x11″ watercolor artwork that I’ve been working on and off of for a while. She specifically wanted Link from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but I included Ganondorf so I’d have a little more fun with it.

I thought it’d be fun to share some of the progress images I have!

Initially I scribbled Link in my sketchbook while I was out with Agnes and she was interested in me finishing it for her. So I scanned it in and added some details and fixed things.

I wanted to make sure to get a background in there, so I decided to make the image based on the final battle with Ganondorf towards the end of the game. However my initial gesture sketch of him wasn’t so great and I had to fight with it a bit.

Finally Ganondorf’s pose pulled together and I spent an amount of time figuring out the details.

I usually sketch on the computer (well in this case in my sketchbook then on the computer) and then I print them out and transfer them with my lightbox onto whatever paper I’m going to use. It seems convoluted but it’s the most enjoyable way to do things for me. When transferring it onto the paper with my lightbox I’ll often use ink, but in this case I did solid penciling with my .3mm mech pencil that I showed off in my drawing tools post. The first thing I tackled was the lighter areas on link.

I spent a good chunk of my time that I worked on Link at Jessi Jordan’s home (Jezzacat on Twitter) during an art jam we had together.

Ganondorf was a little intimidating to start off with all his details. I don’t usually use masking fluid (sometimes I find it more of a pain than helpful) so I wasn’t sure how to approach him. I ended up using one of my fine tipped brushes that I’ve entirely neglected. And wow that thing will be getting plenty of use in the future. I’m silly for never using it.

Here’s a detail shot from the same point as the previous image. This is with all the flat colors laid down. I didn’t do as many fun gradients with him as I did with Link because I was more worried about the details.

After my runthrough of doing flats on him, I added some values to Ganondorf.

Finally the background. First I did the simple designs for the stained glass and its colors. Then I did a huge wash of dark purple.

Once I finished the background I added Ganondorf’s charging lightning then cleaned up some of the details.

I scanned it in and now I’m here presenting it to you! I hope you enjoyed this process post. ♥