With March halfway in, it might seem like ages since October ended. A lot of things might have happened in our lives since then, but a lot also happened in October. If you didn’t already know, it’s a month that gets bombarded with artwork due to Linktober, a unique challenge that encourages people to create art based on daily Zelda-themed prompts. It’s been quite some time since I personally participated in Linktober, but I still always enjoy seeing all the fan art being posted online during the month.
The columns team at Zelda Universe have teamed up with Linktober for the past several years to highlight fan art and artists, and even host raffles. With just under 500 entries last year, it took us two months to reveal our top three winners. We’re still not over how fantastic the winning entries are and so, it is finally time to take a closer look at them, starting with 2024’s third prize winner, “Day 22/23: Favorite Character/Element” by loariart, or Aria as the artist also goes by.
When I contacted Aria to learn more about the artwork, I was surprised to hear that this was her first time participating in Linktober despite being a fan of the games for a longer period of time. She told me it was challenging to come up with something she felt worth posting online every day but enjoyed the experience, and is already looking forward to next October.
I’m glad that the challenge got Aria to create this because there are so many things I love about her artwork. Don’t ask me how, but I somehow had forgotten that Link could learn magical spells in Ocarina of Time and that Din’s Fire is one of them, until I saw this picture. I clearly remembered how Link would crouch down, just like in Aria’s picture, and release a magic storm of flames. This picture reminded me of a short yet impressive moment in the game — just one of the things I love about it.
Aria explained to me why Link, specifically the Hero of Time, was chosen for the promt “favorite character”. To the artist, Link has become something of a comfort character after she first got to play the game as a teenager, and finds everything about him to be appealing, from the design to his tragic backstory. As for the promt “element”, she thought of how cool the animation looks like when Link casts Din’s Fire and decided that it was a good idea to combine it with her favorite hero, completing two daily promts with one painting.
To me, Aria’s Link looks so much cooler than he did in the Nintendo 64 game. His pose is perfect, and he looks so handsome as he’s focusing on casting the spell. I also appreciate that Link isn’t painted in his traditional green tunic, but in warm colors instead. This Link is golden brown, warm orange, electrifying yellow, all thanks to the fire storm engulfing him. The color palette might be simple, but it still manages to create so much depth, with the light from the flames dancing across his pointy hat and all the shadows they cast.
Speaking of flames, I just have to mention how much movement Aria adds to what is otherwise a still image. Link is still in his pose, fully concentrated, but Din’s Fire adds movement as the light reflects off of him. It heats up the air— making details of Link’s hair, collar, and boots float up for just a moment and spread out in a powerful blast. The flames look playful as they surround him, and it seems impossible to tell where they begin and end. Aria had to experiment with different brushes to make them look nice, and hopes to get better at drawing fire in the future. The support from the Zelda community and the conncetion she’s made with other fans have made her feel even more inspired to continue drawing and become an even better artist. I personally can’t wait to see how her art will evolve when it looks this good already.
All that heat captured in this picture, all that movement in a very quick moment in the game— they all match perfectly with the messy brush strokes and sketch-like pencil lines. It’s perfectly imperfect, and adding any more details would ruin the unique feeling I get from looking at this piece. Aria shows that it doesn’t take much to make an image come alive, making her a worthy third prize winner for our Linktober contest.
