Zelda Manga Dump!!

The Dreaming v3: I am making great headway. The whole book is inked, and Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 7 are completely toned and finished. Only 3 more chapters to tone!! Volume 2 is still here on Amazon.com.

 

Zelda Fan Manga: Massive Zelda fan manga dump. I haven’t been lazy with the drawing, but I’ve been lazy with posting ’em up here. The previous 4 pages is here, while the whole thing started here. Easier that way. About the previous poll (no poll for a long time), option (b) won out again, so here it is.

 

Zelda - Page 10

 

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Zelda - Page 25

 

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Zelda - Page 26

 

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Zelda - Page 28

 

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Zelda - Page 32

 

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Zelda - Page 33

 

The winner for the last poll was again (b). The options and votes for that last poll of “Right now, Link is thinking:” are as follows:

 

  • She asked for my arm, so I should give her my arm. (22 Votes – 33.8%)
  • I shall sweep her up in my arms and carry her up the stairs! After all, she IS injured (so I have a GOOD excuse). (28 Votes – 43.1%)
  • If she needs fresh air and sunshine, she probably needs exercise too. I shall escort her up the stairs, but she is to climb them alone. (9 Votes – 13.8%)
  • She should stay here, as Princess Ruto asked. This is Ruto’s domain, after all. (6 Votes – 9.2%)

 

Once again, the last voting round determined something of substance. It was to determine how Link felt towards Princess Zelda. For the curious, I have made a list of the voting options, including what would have happened if that option had won out.

 

Option A: She asked for my arm, so I should give her my arm. (22 Votes – 33.8%)
Result: Link gives Zelda his arm, and helps her up the stairs.
Attitude: This Link does what he’s asked to. He believes in a kind of civil formality between himself and the princess (and royalty in general), and if someone else tried to overstep that boundary, he would protest on Zelda’s behalf. This Link sees Zelda as his equal in every way, and trusts her sound judgement on everything she does. His slight deference to her means that he (a) still considers himself to be in her service, and (b) will put her judgement ahead of his own. He may or may not be romantically interested in Zelda, but at this point in time, he considers them good friends.

 

Option B: I shall sweep her up in my arms and carry her up the stairs! After all, she IS injured (so I have a GOOD excuse). (28 Votes – 43.1%)
Result: You’re looking at it.
Attitude: This Link will do what the princess asks him, but he’s constantly look for ways to do a bit more. His motivations are primarily romantic – he’s definately interested in Princess Zelda, but then he’s just as likely to be a flirt in the first place. He knows what the boundaries are, and knows how to break them, though he also knows that he can’t go too far without getting a backlash. Despite not always following the princess’ orders, this Link regards Zelda as his equal in every way, and respects her judgement. He also respects the fact that as the ruler of Hyrule, she has to stand alone on alot of issues, but at the same time, he can’t help but hope she will be willing to lean on him a bit more. He definately does not consider himself to still be in Zelda’s service. In fact, he doesn’t consider himself to be in any kind of service to anybody besides himself. He’s a free man!!

 

Option C: If she needs fresh air and sunshine, she probably needs exercise too. I shall escort her up the stairs, but she is to climb them alone. (9 Votes – 13.8%)
Result: Link explains why he believes Princess Zelda would benefit from walking up the stairs on her own, and so she has to struggle up the stairs by herself. Needless to say, she gets pretty pissed off at the end of the climb.
Attitude: This Link believes in tough love, and above all, believes that a strong leader makes a strong country. He considers Zelda a friend, and is protective of her, but thinks that the best thing to do is to toughen her up at any time she shows weakness. He does NOT consider Zelda an equal – he believes he’s better at some things, and she at others, but in some cases his judgement ought to override hers (like now). He knows he’s no longer in service to the Hyrulean royal family, but he thinks in this case, it’s completely irrelevant. If Zelda is naive about anything, then he should be there to make sure she knows that a ruler has no room to be naive.

 

Option D: She should stay here, as Princess Ruto asked. This is Ruto’s domain, after all. (6 Votes – 9.2%)
Result: Link can say this, but he just comes off as lazy. This is because while this IS Ruto’s domain, Zelda’s authority out-ranks Ruto, so if Ruto were here, she WILL have to let Zelda go whereever she wants. Link will still have to help an annoyed Zelda up the stairs.
Attitude: This Link feels Zelda is a friend, but not a close one, and in some ways, even thinks of her as somewhat childish and naive. He doesn’t quite know why he feels that way, but it could be because she’s a princess who spends the majority of her time in Hyrule Castle. He definately does NOT see Zelda as an equal, and believes not only himself to have better judgement on some things, but other people too. He still considers himself to be in Zelda’s service though, and because of that, ought to give what he believes to be the best possible advice to her. If this results in absolutely no risk-taking, then so be it.

 

More Work?

The Dreaming: Vol3 is due in November 2007, and I’m 2/3 of the way through inking already. Paul and Katie is helping with the toning (yea!), so hopefully I can get it finished quickly and move onto the next project!

 

Random Art: Some stuff I just realised I haven’t put up anywhere.

 

A self-portrait of me

A self-portait of me, for "The Australian" newspaper. Ironically, this was inked by the G-pen, though it shows me holding the Saji pen.

 

Drawings

Stuff I drew at Supanova last October, and completely forgot about until now.

Zelda Fan Manga!!

The Dreaming v2: Volume is out, it’s on Amazon.com. I also finally found out which European company it was picked up by – actually FOUR companies. Akileos of France picked up “The Dreaming” v1 for a Jan ’07 release, while Italian publisher Counter SRL also bought it. And it turns out that there was a Spanish and the Netherlands version all along… which explains why I’d gotten fanmail in Dutch (That was a big head-scratcher…). TOKYOPOP will probably continue to sell “The Dreaming” around the world, so perhaps I should keep an eye on it. It’s nice to know that other countries have picked it up though.

 

My Zelda Fan Manga: On the brighter, more fun side, I’ve been waiting for the Nintendo Wii to come out over in Australia (6th Dec), so I can play The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I’ve been a long-time Zelda fan, so I decided to draw a manga to celebrate the release. Now, this was originally started as drawing practice, but because I don’t sketch much and I never draw anything that isn’t manga, I turned it into something story-based. You get to vote for what happens next though (scroll down to the bottom).

This actually starts halfway through the story, but there’s enough to know what’s going on (we’re in Zora’s Domain, folks). The story’s not based on any of the Zelda games in particular, because then you might as well play the games. It’s set in the same universe, with the same characters, and has the usual Zelda lore in it. It’s fun drawing these characters… Ruto was annoying in Ocarina of Time, but then she’s got some real personality and attitude. She also has an odd nose, which I’ve changed (into something equally odd, but at least different-looking).

 

Zelda - Page 1

 

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Zelda - Page 2

 

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Zelda - Page 4

 

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Zelda - Page 5

 

Following four pages after these five are up here.

Vote for what happens next. This will NOT determine any plot points, but it WILL determine how the characters interact with each other (possibly with permanent consequences). The poll closed on the 9th December, 2006, and the voting results were quite clear. Option #2 was the clear winner.

 

  • Get all teary-eyed and emotional (12 Votes – 14%)
  • Bow his head, gallantly kiss Princess Zelda’s hand, and greet her with a gentle smile (53 Votes – 61.6%)
  • Smile in relief, pull up a chair, and slap her on the back (14 Votes – 16.3%)
  • Forget Princess Zelda!! Let’s hit on Princess Ruto!! (7 Votes – 8.1%)

 

I didn’t draw this manga in the usual A4 size, which made it fun and interesting. I drew it on 15cm x 10cm page (approx. half an A4), and doing it that way is FAST. WAAAAY faster than drawing a page for “The Dreaming” is, believe it or not. I thought I’d have trouble making a story flow with those page dimensions, but not at all. It makes me want to experiment with other page types. Circle? Triangle? Square? 3-triangles? I also love using dot-tones and cross-hatching. Love it!! It’s not much work compared to what I have to do for “The Dreaming”.

I gotta do something about the font too. Anyone recommend anything?

Only Flora

The Dreaming Vol3: I’ve finished pencilling chapter 16 (2 our of 6) of vol3, and has started inking chapter 15. This is going to the be last volume of “The Dreaming”, so I’m beginning to work out the details of my next work. But first, I gotta post up a Chapter 8 preview of “The Dreaming” vol2 first, which is coming out in November.

 

Supanova 2006: I’ll be there, selling copies of “The Dreaming” vol1, for about AUD$12. I’ll be at booth Y of the artist’s alley, and TOKYOPOP Australia has also printed a series of bookmarks for “The Dreaming” to be given away for free! Keep your eyes peeled. I’ll be sharing a table with Poshua, who’s selling a copy of “Generation 2006” ($12), an Australian manga anthology. This anthology contains my manga “The Two Dollar Deal” in it, so that’s probably your sole chance to buy it in print (for now).

 

Project “One2Eight” (aka 1 TWO 8): This is a new project I’ve created, and I’ve yet to put up a proper information page for it. The project consists of a series of short stories, each self-contained and complete, with a strict limit on the number of pages allowed. The challenge is to tell 8 stories, consisting of a 1-page story, a 2-page story, a 3-page story, and so on, to an 8-page story.

Both “The Two Dollar Deal” (8-pages) and “Message To You” (4-pages) is part of this series, and now you get to see “Only Flora” (5-pages), which is actually a prequel to another story (part of the “Boy Meets Girl in 10 Pages or Less” series). I did this story a fair while ago, and it was basically just an excuse to experiment at drawing without using ANY rulers (save for the panel lines). What the heck.

 

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Only Flora - Page 2

 

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Only Flora - Page 3

 

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Only Flora - Page 4

 

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Only Flora - Page 5

 

The inspiration for this project came from a quote of Hagio Moto, who said that if you can tell a single, complete story in 8-pages then, you’ll never have any trouble telling a story of ANY length. Hagio Moto is right on that, but I want to go a step further, to see whether you can a single, complete story with a story arc in less than 8-pages (what a “story arc” will need a better definition). And I’ve proven that it’s doable. You can tell a 1-page story, but you can’t have a narrative arc in only 1-page of manga. Another aim of this project is to find the watershed point at which a story can begin to have a story arc, which is to say that it actually has a beginning, a middle and an end.

 

Narrative Watershed: I’ve found this point to be at 4-pages. 4-pages is the least number of pages you can have in telling a single, self-contained story with a story arc. It was originally 5-pages, with “Only Flora”, but I decided “Message To You” could qualify. At first it didn’t because it had no text in it, but I changed my mind when I realised you can tell a far longer story without text (Gon, anybody?). So why wouldn’t it qualify?