Artist Community Celebrates Zelda 25th Anniversary

The artist community CGHUB is commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Legend of Zelda this week in their 50th 2D Drawing Jam contest. These contest attract artists of all skill levels to challenge themselves, see what works others have created, gain advise from other artists involved, and to genuinely get to know the other artists in the community. This week they are honoring 25 years of our favorite sword swinging adventures in Hyrule through fan created illustrations while forum members vote on their favorite piece. Twenty eight illustrations have been submitted to be voted on by members in this challenge. The amazing works drawing inspiration from every game in the series, fan favorite Ocarina of Time in particular. With concepts ranging from favorite characters, to epic scenes, fan interpretations of individual NPCs, and even several different interpretations of Link and his appearance. Many let their imaginations fly with all the possibilities available to them and amaze with the levels of skill displayed in each one of these pieces.

Click the images for full size versions of each page, and visit CGHUB for the rest of the pics.

The sheer amount of imagination and expertise placed into some of these works is nothing short of mind blowing. Including a few very interesting ones that simply display side characters such as the Happy Mask Salesman, who really resembles Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman looking at him; or the Skull Kid of Majora’s Mask in astonishing detail. My personal favorite Would be the Link vs. Beast Ganon of Ocarina of Time made by the user Choo. His amazing ability to capture the colossal appearance of Beast Ganon in combat with Link outperforms even Nintendo’s artists.

You can view the voting thread here.

So what do you think? Which pic did you like most? Have a favorite artist? Let us know in the comments below.