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tffan01 — Not You Again! (Redux)
#frog #jerk #link #maple #tf #transformation #legendofzelda
Published: 2017-08-05 02:51:36 +0000 UTC; Views: 7693; Favourites: 40; Downloads: 0
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Description
So, this is about two weeks of work. Holy cow, I did not intend for this piece to be so big, but it just kept . . . expanding as I tried to get it to look right. Things about this still don't look quite right to me, but I don't know what else to do. I mean, I know the ground looks flatter than it should, but I don't know how to fix really fix that.Anyway, this was the originally the first pic that I ever posted. It's been about a year since then, so I thought I'd redo it to see how much I've improved. I think my progress speaks for itself. Dare to compare: fav.me/d9pqnto
So, have you ever noticed that Link is a complete and total jerk? He goes into people's houses without asking, damages their shrubberies, breaks their pots, blows holes in their walls with bombs and steals their stuff. That's not exactly heroic behavior, is it? Well, in Oracle of Seasons/Ages, he has a run-in with the witch apprentice, Maple. In every encounter, he goes out of his way to bump into her and knock her off her broom, and while she's dazed, he runs around stealing her money, potions and even heart pieces. What ungentlemanly behavior!
Well, Maple has decided she's had enough of that and has shown him exactly why you don't piss off a witch. No longer a green-clad menace to society, Link is now a slimy frog. He'll have plenty of time to think about his actions as he finds himself a nice pond to live in. And since Gannon has kidnapped Princess Zelda, it seems unlikely that he'll be getting that magic kiss to restore him any time soon, so it looks like Hyrule's gonna need to find another hero.
Talk about a non-standard game over!
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I was contacted by a group suggesting that this could be an entry in their contest. Since offering constructive criticism to other contestants can earn you bonus points, that seems like a good way to get some advice on how I can further improve, so I guess I'll give it a shot.
Game: Legend of Zelda, Oracle of Seasons/Ages
Character changed: Link
How to get the Game Over: Knock Maple off her broom too many times.
Link to Contest Journal: fav.me/dbih5rz
Now with a follow-up Game Over screen: fav.me/dbj02y2
Related content
Comments: 56
You certainly got the comments you wanted huh? There really isnt anything I can add that hasnt already been said. Thanks for giving us a chance.
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Oh, yes, I definitely got a lot of useful comments on this one. Thank you for accepting the piece.
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I really like this piece! It's well drawn and it gets its point across with clarity. Like others have said, Link's shadow/silhouette is a nice, clever touch. The improvement from your first attempt is evident.
Your lighting on the frog was the right idea. You could have gone even bolder. Keep improving your use of values and contrast. Right now, if you squint, you'll notice that the areas that stand out are the witch and the frog's eyes. I would argue that the areas you'd want to stand out are the "magic beam" and its point of impact. I've made a quick edit to roughly illustrate my point:
imgur.com/a/rPxLe
I like to use coloring to guide the viewer's eye and create a sense of atmosphere. Describing objects is less important ("her bag was red, the bombs were blue"). Contrast is especially useful. The eye is attracted to areas of high contrast so you want to have the "important" parts of your images (information-wise) also be the ones with the highest contrast.
I love the clarity of your characters' poses and expressions. They're clean and expressive. One minor complaint is that Maple is walking, which weakens her silhouette. I suppose it's left over from the original, but her annoyance at Link would be even more intense if she was standing still. Alternatively, walking might work if her expression was indifferent. The two together are incogruous.
While not great at conveying the "Game Over" theme, you've taken a classic idea and executed it beautifully. Great job and keep it up!
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Oh, wow, that was incredibly helpful. Thank you so much.
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So there was a lot of room for improvement in this one. First off, sadly there have been a lot of, "hero angers a witch and gets turned into a frog" so I wouldn't say it is original. As for the art I think an element you need to focus on is lighting. While in general you kept the light coming top down from the right, the shading on Link's hat and face do not match the other lighting choices and the bag on the witch's hip shouldn't be casting a shadow like that given the direction of the light. Also you drew the witch's left arm without an elbow.
As for the good points, I feel the expressions were nice and I enjoyed the coloring of the whole piece. Either way thanks for entering and I'm certain you will improve with time.
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The reason the lighting on Link is different is supposed to be that he's being hit by a secondary light-source in his chest (the zap). But it's been pointed out what the problem with that line of logic is by some other people. I do still need to figure out how lighting works. Academically, it sounds simple, but in practice, I keep finding the specifics more complex. This was my first experiment with complicated lighting, so I was bound to get a few things wrong. I do hope I can figure this all out eventually.
I think I see what you mean about Maple's arm. I think. Her arm isn't properly defined, so the place where the elbow should be isn't clear. And I think I might have her arm rotated wrong in relation to her hand, but I'd have to see an actual photographic reference to be sure there.
Still, I did get a lot of good feedback from people during this contest. I never expected to win (because I'm aware of being a novice in terms of skill), and I only joined because the contest provided an incentive to give feedback, so I got what I wanted.
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I'd say study photography with a focus on lighting to get a grasp on what looks natural and remember that light is almost always additive. Once you figure out where you have the sun pointing down, in general other light sources(like the magic) will remove shadows without creating its own or if it is colored light then it will make it's own colored area of effect.
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Yes, that is what others have said.
Thanks for the input.
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Personally, I like it. It's an old idea, so common that nobody even thinks to use it anymore. Most people who enter the contest are probably going to go the (arguably easier) TG route, but this is a classic, yet unexpected change. You anger the witch, she turns you into a frog. No shoehorned in new enemies with special abilities or unexplained "they lost, so they changed" scenes. It's a refreshingly simple concept with an excellent execution.
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Thank you. I am quite pleased with the pic.
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I do enjoy the picture. I like the ghost-like image of link surrounding him as he suddenly just poof!s into a frog, which shows that he's still in the process of being transformed.
The witch could use a bit of work, though. She doesn't look very much like a witch, and even less like an experienced one. I think link made that same mistake, though. . .
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She's actually not an experienced witch. She's the apprentice witch from Oracle of Seasons/Ages. But experienced or not, it ain't a good idea to get on a witch's bad side.
She could use some work, though. There are a few things that have been pointed out to me in the comments that could be improved. There's always room for improvement.
Thanks for the comment.
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OOOOoooooohhh. I have no clue on either Zelda lore or Oracle of Seasons/ages whatsoever. (are they the part of the same game? Thanks for the reply
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The Seasons/Ages games where linked together. They weren't direct sequels in the sense that one led to the other, because you could play them in any order, but once you played one to completion, it would give you a code you could enter at the new game screen and it would add new content to the other game, including a new dungeons and a second final boss, and characters from the other game would appear in the new game and provide new side-quests. It was interesting.
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I love the concept of this picture and how detailed you drew this and it is amazing how much you improved from the original piece. The glowing Link-shape looks amazing and the shadows look realy good.
The perspective is still a bit wonky, especially on right Maples foot and the rupees. Also the grass and path could use some texturing, like you drew on the trees and bushes.
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The grass/dirt path are the one thing that really bothered me, but I wasn't sure how to approach them. I'm still learning some things for Illustrator. I just sort of figured out how to do basic textures today (though some of the specifics for making it work really well are on the to-do list for learning). If I can figure some more of this out, I may make a second pass at it. Now that you mention it, though, I do notice that way to much of the bottom of Maple's foot is showing for that angle. I'll have to remember that for the future.
The after-image of Link's original form is actually surprisingly simple. It's a flat color silhouette with an outer glow and inner glow effect applied. The end result does look great, though.
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Yes, that's the problem with Illustrator. It wasn't made for textures and shading, but for clear designs and logos. It is great for clear outlines, but not so much for pictures with many small details. Sadly I have an realy old version of Illustrator and it can't even handle glow or drop shadows.
It's cool to find another person, who draws with Illustrator.
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I've seen some really interesting and detailed pics done in illustrator, so I know it's possible. I just haven't figured everything out yet. But I keep working at it and finding new things. If this is how much I improved in one year, imagine how much more I'll improved I'll be next year.
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Shure it is possible, but harder than in Photoshop or other programms made for drawing. I'm positive you will be able to create amazing pictures in Illustrator in the future.
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I like how all the small details came together to form a lovely overall picture! From the rupees to the master sword to the subtle background details, it really helps build the perfect Zelda deep woods atmosphere. The TF itself is lovely, I always like these types with the "fed up" style revenge TFs xD The zapped silhouette is also a favorite method of mine, and her pose (and the silhouette pose) as well as the resulting frog came together nicely~ great work!
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That background took me forever to do. I'm glad you like it.
I also enjoy "fed up" tfs. It fit this situation so well, given how this element of the game is executed. It really does come across as Link mugging Maple. Given that Maple is a witch (the flying broom should have been a dead give-away), this seems like a really bad idea to me. And anything that gives me an excuse to do a frog tf is okay in my book.
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Good logic to me! It's why I like a lot of your works in general
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If you like this, there's another pic I commissioned that's a similar idea (Link getting transformed because he was being a jerk) that you'll probably like.
If I Eat Mo' Acorn
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That pic is already in my favorites! Go figure xD
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Oh man! I should have checked to see if anyone else was doing Zelda! As a fellow contestant of the 'Game Over' contest, I also did a Zelda picture. At least our themes and pictures are completely different. I love the fact that you went with transforming into a Frog, and showed the transformation in progress. That's inventive and unexpected. This is pretty awesome, so I hope you do well in the contest!
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Thanks. I confess, I went with frog mostly because I like frog tfs. But I had a good excuse for one with Maple, so . . . yeah.
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I love the dynamic nature of this piece, especially the flash of light that once was Link 
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Link got what he deserves! But perhaps he'll find a cute princess who'll kiss him back... Hyrule is full of princesses after all!
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Thanks. I did try to layer the images in a way to give a better sense of depth. And I like the affect of the fading after image in the shape of the pre-tf form. I don't recall exactly where I saw that originally, but I've been experimenting with ideas to find out the best way to do it. This is probably my favorite attempt so far.
And it'd be fun to see games implement TFs period. You so rarely see it.
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You did a good job! Out of everything in the piece, the after image is my favourite. You nailed that!
Ditto! Pop culture seems to shy away from transformations even though they could lead to very interesting mechanics. It opens up a plethora of stories and gameplay elements, so it's a shame to see no mainstream titles making use of it.
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Dude this is epic, nice work man. I love you're shading along with the style, keep it up.
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This seems like a real contender: it's such a classic scenario, and the setting is well-known and fits the situation perfectly. Plus, your follow-up adds some nice flavor to the piece as a whole. Great job.
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To be fair, whether Link leaves Maple alone or deliberately tries to rob her depends on the player.
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And that's why this thing exists. The game rewards you for being a jerk in many ways, but your portrayed as the hero by the narrative.
The joke is that I'm having the characters react the way that they would react in real life if someone did what Link does.
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Gotta say that the idea of the witch character just getting pissed at Link and transforming him for shits and giggles is kinda hilarious to me. The art in question is really good though so I really hope you get at least placed in the top four!
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It's not really for shits and giggles. The idea here is that Link was basically robbing her and she decided to stop him from doing so by giving him a zap.
Still, glad you like the art. This was a lot of work so it's nice to know it's appreciated.
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Very awesome work! Definitely some big improvements since the original piece.
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Definitely huge improvements. I do wish I knew how to make the dirt trail look less flat, though. I've tried looking for tutorials, but all the ones I find are for older versions of the program I use and are apparently not applicable anymore (at least, not in the way that they tell me to do it).
Still, it doesn't look too bad now, and I'm sure I'll figure out how to do what I want to do eventually.
I'll probably revisit this pic again, using it as a benchmark for improvement every couple of years. I like to see Link croak.
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The issue with ground looking "too flat" is something I struggle a lot with myself, so I can't give you a definite solution, but something that seems to help is to image the floor as not-flat while drawing. That way you'll be able to place some elements along the ground at different heights; maybe add some pebbles or rocks. Perhaps a puddle of water/mud has occured somewhere. Or there's just a small indent in the road. All these little details can help to make your floor feel less flat. If you add a bit of detailed shading to these elements it'll work even better to convey a feeling of form. Like I said; I'm far from an authority on this subject, but those are just some of my thoughts on the subject; perhaps they'll be helpful.
It's always nice to have a bit of a "benchmark" to track your improvement ^^
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Perhaps.
What I wanted to do was add a texture to the path shape, but the textures tool just made it look weird, and although I know there's a way to add textures using clipping masks, every time I tried it, it just erased the path every except where the texture lines were. I've used them before on assignments for class, and I had the same problem initially, but I don't remember how my Graphic Design teacher showed me to do it because it's been so long. I'll have to ask him again.
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The way I use clipping masks is to create a first layer that'll hold the base color for the path; then create a new layer on top and Alt + click between the two layers. Then whatever you paint on the top layer will only display when it overlaps with the bottom layer.
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Pretty neat concept. The only thing I wonder is why you went with green hair for Link. Is that a part of the tf?
I do like Link's froggy look and the detail of objects scattered on the ground. The only thing in this drawing I can wonder about revision wise is that Maple's face seems a tad angular.
I do like the detailing in your description as well as your game choice. Oracle of Ages was particularly fun.
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Green hair? Frog Link doesn't have any hair. Perhaps you have mistaken his iconic hat for long, flowing locks?
I do see what you mean about Maple's face, though. Her nose is a bit on the pointed side. It looked less pointed when the pic was blown up to 800% while I was drawing it, I swear. >.>
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