Here’s a study of Princess Zelda as she appears on the cover of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: The Complete Official Guide. Breath of the Wild is one of my all-time favorite games. Zelda has come a long way since she first appeared in The Legend of Zelda back in 1986. Originally created by Shigeru Miyamoto, she’s gone through quite a few changes over the years, evolving from a typical damsel in distress into the more emotionally complex character we see in later games. She occupies a central role in the storyline of Breath of the Wild, fighting alongside Link in epic battles and acting as an indispensable guide on his journey.
I did this one using Procreate. One of the problems I’ve been having with working digitally is that things can end up looking a bit too…digital. It’s easy to overwork things and lose the brushstrokes that add interest to a painting. I wanted to see if I could remedy this by limiting the number of layers I work with. Instead of separating everything out onto separate layers, I did one for Zelda and one for the background, and used a rougher brush than I normally do, and I think it worked pretty well!
One thing I love about working digitally is how easy it is to try out different colors and lighting effects. Here’s a few variations I played around with. Which one do you like best?
