Zelda Blowout Page 2!
First off, the staff would like to thank all those who participated in this contest. We would definitely call this a tremendous success. One thing is for certain, Nintendo fans know how to do more than play games sometimes. As usual though, not everyone can be the winner. In this case, so many people put in 110% of their effort and it really does show. The purpose of this entire contest is to have fun with the cell shaded Zelda, and see what it could become. So without further ado,
Our winner is a man by the name of Joseph Blanchette. Joseph was one of our first entries when the contest first opened, and is now taking the trophy. His depiction of Ganon is not only stylish, but it looks freakishly like the style of art shown in the Zelda demo. I would bet this is almost how Ganon will look in the final game.
Joseph Blanchette - WINNER
Joseph: I drew the picture in the back of my notebook and then used Flash 5 to trace, color it, add the shading and create the simple background. I used a Ganon based on the orginal Zelda becasue of his cartoonish look. I predict if Ganon is in Zelda Cubed then he will look something like my picture: big and fat... unlike Ocarina of Time's version.
Jerry Majewski
Josh, AKA Kong
Josh: First off, I do not mind the cel-shading. Sure, it would of been cooler as the first demo, but this new look does not bother me much.
Anyway, this is my first experience with coloring "cel-style". At first, it started out to be done totally from scratch. I started sketching out ideas for poses and what not. But after a few mins, I decided to go with a pose that was already shown. So I chose a very common picture that was floating around (and the best one already on my hard drive), and started drawing him like that. First I finished the head. I wanted to get rid of his stupid eyes and make them more "anime" style, so I did. Next I wanted to give him more that and less hair, so I did that also. Did the torso easily, then the shield. By the time I finished that, I realised I am really bad at drawing feet..... So I ended up "Melding" my picture, and the official picture together (his sword and feet are basically the only things I ended up using). The melding basically involved putting my creation, over the official one, modifying the angle (along with lighting adjustments, so it would match), and using color correction to make it look bad quality like the picture. The only things I would change are his boots, ears, hat, and huge mistake which involves not outlining certain parts that should be outlined (I'm not gonna even attempt to swim through all those layers again). Other then that, I'm pretty happy with it.
David Hellman
The Switcher
Vincent V.
Ryan
Fett
Chris Cyr
Chris: I think that this was able to keep with the artistic style of the game while still being an innovative and interesting work. To create this, I used a little known technique known as "stick shading". Because of this, I believe that it seperates itself from the other entries. I hope you enjoy my artistic creation.
Jonathan Yeh
Kat AKA Purplefish
Joy Graves.
Josh Buczynski AKA Sergenth
Josh: Sketchy Link - this is a variation of toon-shading that makes Link look truly hand-drawn. The skecth filter's "random skecthidy" algorithms have proven to be the most challenging stylisitc creation from Nintendo thus-far.
This screenshot is from later in the game, when all of the endless monster slaying and "maze-be-lost-in" takes its toll on Link's fragile child psyche.
Hunky Link - Miyamoto promised a more "mature Mario" over a year ago, so while Mario pulls up his shirt-sleeves in order to do some real work, Link grows up too... into a big headed hunky guy. Zelda will swoon when he strolls into Ganon's Castle and takes care of the big pig, like a man.
Hunky Link's head sports complex "smooth gradient and outline" shading techniques, ala the Lion King -- Nintendo did such a good job on this that it actually cost 3 programmer's their wives, who in turn promptly fell for Link's undeniable hunk-itude.
Ferquin N.C. Root
Once again, thanks to everybody who contributed to N-sider's most successful contest. I hope this has given a hint of insight towards the next incarnation of Zelda. If you would like to get in contact with the editors or myself just click the link below. Hope you had fun!
Thanks to all sources for the use of pictures.
Jason Nuyens