Legend of Zelda Calendar Contest

Hello everyone!  Enormous apologies for my lack of blog activity as of late.  Remember in my last post when I told you I was up to something?  Well, that something was another calendar contest!  The contest featured my favorite video game series, The Legend of Zelda, and was put on by the Zelda fansite, "History of Hyrule."  The contest theme was, "Festival with Music."  Here's my interpretation:

"Race Day At The Romani Animal Festival"

So what is this picture about?  Well, if you're a Zelda fan like me, then you know it's fanart based off the game, Majora's Mask.  (If you aren't so into Zelda, this probably just looks like some crazy kid with a bunch of happy animals--which isn't that far off, actually.)  My favorite part of the game is when the main character, Link, puts on the "Bremen Mask" and plays a little tune on his ocarina, causing animals to follow him around.  It's just adorable--and the dogs even bark in time to the song!  And what about that racetrack in the background?  In the game, Romani Ranch has dog and horse races and if you wear a different mask, the doggies will tell you how they are feeling and who you should bet on.  (Boy I love this game!  And yes, I'll admit this probably sounds crazy to non-video gamers.)

I took all of these ideas and turned them into a festival concept, titling the piece, "Race Day at the Romani Animal Festival."  Here's my contest blurb:

"It's the big race day at the Romani Ranch Animal Festival!  Every year, Link dons the Bremen Mask and leads the animal racers on a parade.  The cows and cuccos cheer as the racers strut their stuff, prancing and leaping to Link's ocarina tune.  Who will win this year?"  
 
Yes, I am a total Zelda nerd and I don't care who knows it.  (Now that I'm an adult, I can openly admit that without my cheeks even turning red!)

This was so much fun to do (yet sooooooo intensive and time-consuming!)  Since it was only my second attempt at painting with Photoshop, I think I bit off a bit more than I could chew with this piece.  But, I'm overall very happy with how it turned out.  I tried my hand at perspective and adding visual depth to the picture.  This was also my first effort to shade furry and muscled critters (which, I must say, is not easy to do on a computer!)  Of course there are things I would like to change, but I think I did the best I could with the time I had and my novice-Photoshop abilities.  Overall, it was a great learning experience and I'm proud to say that I didn't repeat the mistakes I made on last month's SCBWI contest submission.  (I did run into plenty of new issues and technical snarls, but now I can avoid those in the future, too!)  Now, I just need to get FASTER!  When it comes to the art race, I am definitely the tortoise and not the hare. (And this tortoise had to pull an all-nighter to make it to the finish line...)

The winners for the contest get chosen soon.  There are over a 100 entries, so fingers crossed mine makes it into the calendar!  The other entries are so beautiful and creative.  You can check them out here.  Contests like this simply fascinate me.  I love how one prompt can inspire people in so many different ways.  I wish the very best of luck to all the other contestants!

Now that my entry has been submitted, I can get back to blogging and sleeping!  (And those Simbas.  Guess who drew #16 today...)  This was also a great way to pass the time until the new Zelda game, Skyward Sword comes out.  November 20th is just around the corner!  Maybe I'll be inspired to do more fanart then!  :)

Note: Link, cuccos, etc. are all copyright Nintendo.  This is just my humble homage to them.