Legend of Zelda Fanfiction: The Edge and The Light – Chapter 3

Small Shen: The book is out in bookstores, and here’s my post about it, which includes the book trailer and an extract of the first 50 pages! Hope everyone had a good New Year’s!

Zelda Fanfiction: Believe it or not, I have finished all 312 pages of my 11-chapter Zelda fanfiction, in the space of 7 months. Chapters 7-11 has yet to be toned, so I’ll be doing that in February, but it’s a startling improvement in speed compared to conventional manga/comics. Previously, I could only produce a 180-page book in 7 months in pure manga form, but I can double the output within the same period of time, while doubling the amount of story expressed with a prose/manga mix. If that 312 pages was in manga form (rather than a mix of manga and prose), I estimate the story would have taken at least 3 books (ie. 540 pages) to tell, and 3 years of actual work time.

I realise I haven’t posted chapter 3 on my blog yet, though I’m nearing the end of chapter 4. As of now, this series is being serialised on DeviantArt, MangaFox, SmackJeeves, Archive Of Our Own, and Tumblr. I’ll be posting chapter 4 up here shortly.

 

 
Here’s the story, as displayed completely in one Tumblr post. It’s also on this site, but Tumblr makes it easier to read, so I redirect people there.


Click to read Chapter 3: Paradise Lost on Tumblr!

 

Chapter 4 ends next weekend, so it’ll be Chapter 5 after that. I’ll post Chapter 4 up next Friday!

Legend of Zelda Fanfiction: The Edge and The Light – Chapter 2

Small Shen: The book will be in bookstores next month (December 2012), so there’ll be some posts about that next. They did a pre-sale for Small Shen at Supanova Brisbane, and the book sold out in a single afternoon! Thanks to everyone who bought it! More copies will be available at the actual launch next month!

Zelda fanfic: I’ve posted all of Chapter 2 of my Legend of Zelda fanfiction up on Tumblr now, and also at DeviantArt and SmackJeeves! Chapter 2 is 34 pages and longer than Chapter 1. Once again it’s in a mix of prose and comics, which has been getting a lot of positive feedback! Here’s Yunyu’s chapter music too!

Here’s the actual story, at Tumblr. Though it’s also been uploaded at a number of sites, which I’ll list here when I get things sorted.

 


zelda_02_02
Click to read Chapter 2: The Princess of Destinyon Tumblr!

 

I’m now starting Chapter 7, and things are looking good. Meanwhile Chapter 3 has 32 pages, and will be running from the 16th November 2012 to the 21st December 2012. Check out DeviantArt and SmackJeeves for the latest updates!

Legend of Zelda Fanfiction: The Edge and The Light – Chapter 1

I finally got around to posting my long-promised “Legend of Zelda” fanfiction onto Tumblr! Chapter 1 is 17 pages, and it’s done in a mix of prose and comics, much like “We are the Pickwicks”, except this story is much longer. Since it’s so long, I got my friend Yunyu to compose some music for it, which is fun. You can see her music track down below, in Youtube form, which is her version of “Zora Domain” backgroundmusic.

 

 

Now onto the actual story itself. I’ve posted all 17 pages onto a single post for Tumblr, so you can go directly to the Tumblr page itself to read the thing if you click on the first page. Not the best way to present a comic strip (on Tumblr… but it does make it easier to read/load, in terms of the internet. Enjoy!

 


zelda_01_01
Click to read Chapter 1: The Man in Green on Tumblr!

 

Here’s the Table of Contents on Tumblr.This whole thing is also being posted on my DeviantArt, and also on SmackJeeves, so the most up-to-date chapters are being run there. Chapter 2 is running on SmackJeeves until the 10th November, when Chapter 3 begins.

 

Thoughts: It’s interesting how incredibly fast writing/drawing in this prose+comics format is. I started doing this in late May, and by September has already written the whole thing, all 300 pages of it. As of this post, I’ve drawn 160 of those 300 pages, and is mid-way through Chapter 6 (so at the half-way mark). I’ll talk about my work processes for this format later, but if you compare my standard work rate in pure comics format, it’s 10 months for 160 pages, not including toning. In this format, I’ve reached 160 pages in 5 months, so twice the content in half the time. It’s interesting when you think about it.

Pikachu – Free Crochet Pattern

I’m really flying through the pencils for Small Shen… I’m already near the end of Chapter 8. After that, it’s only Chapter 9 and the prologue, which is about 20 pages. After inking and toning, that’ll be the end of July, which is just in time for a Xmas release. WOW!

Then, what’s up next is… this.

 
 
pokemon
 

Anyway, this week, I get to do a pokemon crochet… of which many people have asked for. Previously, I thought Pikachu may have been too complicated to do, but it seems not. This wasn’t that much harder than some of the other crochets I’ve done. Either way, here’s Pikachu!!

 
 
Pikachu
 

Pikachu Pattern

Here’s a list of what I used to make this crochet. It’s not a definite list, so feel free to use whatever you have, as long as it’s appropriate. It’s crocheted in the round, like most amigurumi, so only basic crochet skills are required.

NB. This pattern is created by me, so please give a link back to me if you want to use it or if you want to sell your crochet. Please give credit where it’s due. I should also that I don’t own the copyright to these characters – obviously Studio Ghibli does.

  • Yellow, black, red and brown 8 ply yarn
  • 4mm crochet hook
  • Two pairs of 8mm black safety eyes – 6060 from Etsy is a good place to buy these
  • Large sewing needle, to sew the bits and pieces together

 

Crochet Abbreviations

Here are a list of the abbreviations I use, and what they mean. These are pretty standard, so if you know how to crochet, this won’t be hard to decipher:

  • ch – chain
  • sc – single chain
  • dec – decrease
  • * – beginning/end of a repeating part of the pattern

 
 
pikachu2
 

Pikachu Body (Make 1, yellow)

Rnd 1 – Ch 2, 6 sc in 2nd chain away from hook (Magic Ring method)
Rnd 2 – *2 sc in next stitch*, repeat 6 times (12 stitches)
Rnd 3 – *2 sc in next stitch, sc 1*, repeat 6 times (18 stitches)
Rnd 4 – *2 sc in next stitch, sc 2*, repeat 6 times (24 stitches)
Rnd 5 – *2 sc in next stitch, sc 3*, repeat 3 times (30 stitches)
Rnd 6 – 8 – sc (30 stitches)
Rnd 9 – *2 sc in next stitch, sc 4*, repeat 3 times (36 stitches)
Rnd 10 – sc (36 stitches)
Rnd 11 – *dec 1 in back loops ONLY*, repeat 18 times (18 stitches)
Rnd 12 – *2 sc in next stitch, sc 2*, repeat 6 times (24 stitches)
Rnd 13 – sc (24 stiches)
Rnd 14 – *2 sc in next stitch, sc 3*, repeat 3 times (30 stitches)
Rnd 15-22 – sc (30 stitches)

Stuff the body now, and add 8mm safety eyes
Rnd 23 – *dec 1 in back loops ONLY*, repeat 15 times (15 stitches)
Rnd 24 – *dec 1*, repeat 8 times (8 stitches)

Bind off, and then sew the facial features onto Pikachu with black and red wool.

 
 
pikachu3
 

Pikachu Feet (Make 2, yellow)

Rnd 1 – Ch 2, 6 sc in 2nd chain away from hook (Magic Ring method)
Rnd 2 – *2 sc in next stitch*, repeat 6 times (12 stitches)
Rnd 3 – *2 sc in next stitch, sc 1*, repeat 6 times (18 stitches)
Rnd 4 – *2 sc in next stitch, sc 2*, repeat 6 times (24 stitches)

Fold each foot in half, and sew them together to make a semi-circle. Sew onto the bottom of the body to make the feet.

 
 
pikachu4
 

Pikachu Ears (Make 2, yellow, black)

Using black
Rnd 1 – Ch 2, 4 sc in 2nd chain away from hook (Magic Ring method)
Rnd 2 – *2 sc in next stitch, sc 1*, repeat 2 times (6 stitches)
Rnd 3 – *2 sc in next stitch, sc 1*, repeat 2 times (8 stitches)

Change to yellow
Rnd 4 – 10 – sc (8 stitches)

Bind off, stuff lightly, then sew onto the top of Pikachu’s head to make the ears.

 
 
pikachu5
 

Pikachu Hands (Make 2, yellow)

Rnd 1 – Ch 2, 6 sc in 2nd chain away from hook (Magic Ring method)
Rnd 2 – *2 sc in next stitch, sc 1*, repeat 3 times (9 stitches)
Rnd 3-7 – sc (9 stitches)

Bind off, stuff lightly, then sew onto the sides of Pikachu to make the arms.

 
 
pikachu6
 

Brown Strip on Back (Make 1, brown)

Rnd 1 – Ch 8 (8 stitches)
Rnd 2 – sc (8 stitches)

Bind off, then sew onto the back of Pikachu.

 
 
pikachu7
 

Pikachu Tail (Make 1, yellow, brown)

Rnd 1 – Ch 9 (8 stitches)
Rnd 2-4 – sc 8, then sc an additional 4 chains off the end of Rnd 4 (8 stitches)
Rnd 5 – sc 8 stitches (8 stitches)
Rnd 6-8 8 sc, then switch to brown. Then sc an additional 4 chains off the end of the last row (8 stitches)
Rnd 9 – sc 8 stitches (8 stitches)
Rnd 10-12 – sc

Bind off, then sew onto the bottom back of Pikachu to make the tail.

 
And Viola! You have a Pikachu to fit into the palm of your hand!