The time has come to announce the winners of our Word Prompt mixed media contest!
We tasked creatives of all kinds to create a piece of work reflecting one of three words; Royal, sages, or music. Our panel of judges picked these words as we believed they relate well to The Legend of Zelda series while also leaving plenty of room for countless ideas, and that’s exactly what we were shown by our talented creators!
Without further ado, here are the winners voted on by our lovely judges on the Zelda Universe columns team:
Best of Royal: “Twili Midna Portrait” by RottenCandyApples
RottenCandyApples’ portrait of Midna in her true form plays with light and darkness, which is quite fitting for a princess from the Twilight Realm. Her bright hair shines in contrast to her dark robes, and the artwork has a clean feel to it with easy curves and smooth lines. While it’s skillfully made, I think what captures the viewer’s attention the most is that signature, teasing smirk on Midna’s lips as she’s looking over her shoulder. It’s for these reasons that we have chosen “Twili Midna Portrait” as our winner for the Royal Prompt category.
- Judge Elina Peyda
Best of Sages: “Sage of Forest” by BlazingBacon
Though it may seem like a deceptively simple endeavor, creating high-quality pixel art requires a deft hand and a keen artistic eye, and BlazingBacon definitely rose to the challenge with her gorgeous tribute to the Sage of the Forest, Saria. The level of detail in this piece is outstanding, from the smooth, dappled marble platform to the beautiful mosaic pattern on the Forest Medallion. And at the center we have the Sage herself, striking a graceful yet playful pose befitting of the friendly Kokiri girl. All we need now is a little floating animation and a GBA-style remix of the Chamber of Sages theme, and we’ll have the perfect Ocarina of Time demake! Thus, “Sage of Forest” is the winner of our Sages Prompt category.
- Judge Meredith Lord
Best of Music: “Hyrule Field Game Boy Deorchestrated” by DEOv
Creating an original music piece is a monumental task. The variables are endless, and the work is tremendous. But what about the distillation of something complex into something simple? How do you take over eighty musicians from an orchestra and whittle it down to say, the four sound channels of a Game Boy? Ask DEOv, since they were able to accomplish this with the piece “Hyrule Field Game Boy Deorchestrated”. They managed to take the main overworld theme from Twilight Princess and process it into a piece that not only retained the sound and feel of the original but also connect it to the nostalgia of Link’s Awakening on Game Boy. The sound is remarkable, and for this reason, it wins the Music Prompt category.
- Judge Derek Yarworth
Best in Show: “Igos” by EternalNemesis596
“Igos” by EternalNemesis596 has received the award for Best in Show. It is a mournful poem told from the perspective of Igos, the late King of Ikana from Majora’s Mask. Igos laments the loss of Ikana and his powerlessness to save the crumbling kingdom, let alone bring peace to the souls of his citizens who have perished. The somber tone is striking and poignant, leaving you with a visceral reminder of the humanity that underpins all of Majora’s Mask’s amazing characters and world.
The poem is written wonderfully, with every stanza in the form of a haiku. This is a very impressive effort that gives the poem a smooth, rhythmic pace, which serves the pensive tone tremendously well. It’s always a pleasure when people fill in the gaps for characters and worlds in our favorite games, and EternalNemesis596’s adaptation of the character of Igos and the Kingdom of Ikana is a fantastic example of this. Well done, EternalNemesis596!
- Judge Liz Burton
Congratulations to our winners, you all did an amazing job and should be very proud of your work! Every single creator who submitted to our art gallery on Deviantart deserves a prize– and that’s exactly what we’re going to do– but we could only pick one winner per word and an overall grand prize winner. That being said, there is much more beautiful artwork to be seen in our gallery and we would love you to take a look, and if you are an artist yourself, we encourage you to join the fun!
