Patreon Pin Up 2/21/22 (Patreon)

Sometime last week, the existence of this 80's concept sketch for a female version of Link from the original Legend of Zelda surfaced in my Twitter feed. I'm not sure of the whole story or how official this artwork is, but I did find the design to be pretty damn cute, and wanted to try my own take on it. Maybe this is where the pink Link to the Past hair came from? No idea, if you know the origin, I'd love to hear it in the comments. 

I based my background off of official artwork from the first game, which I have always loved. Not kidding the artwork in the instruction booklet really shaped the game for me. I always pictured a blazing red sky above Link while playing. The absence of green grass in the visuals in conjunction with this really helped hammer home the idea that you were exploring a desolate world, where the only friendly faces left had to hide in caves for their own safety. 

As for Link himself, maybe they kept him a male because curves would be hard to convey on a perfectly square 8-bit sprite? His original design seemed to be "what if Peter Pan was a hobbit" and it was abandoned pretty quick. As early as Zelda 2, he was depicted as taller and with human proportions in the official art. I think modern anime twink Link works fine, but I also feel a return of hobbit Link someday would be pretty cool. 

On another note, I think this is only the second gender-swap I've ever drawn, likely the first male to female, anyway. Any interest in seeing more? Personally I think it would be fun to flip some of my own characters like Derek or Warren. Let me know what you think!