Zelda Artist Exposition: Anokazue

The Legend of Zelda has spawned probably one of the most engrossing fandoms of all video games because not only does every game tell a story, the mythology of the series sparks great interest into what is and isn’t known about the Zelda universe. This, in turn, is often manifested through art. And this art is one of my favorite things about the Zelda community. In the realm of Zelda fan artwork, the variations of art styles and incarnation preferences are endless. Zelda fan art is endless, which also means there is endless talent to discover so you never know what great artist you will stumble onto next while browsing deviantART or the internet in general. I believe there a many amazing artists out there that deserve editorials written about them, but today I would like to draw your attention to my personal favorite artist of Zelda artwork, the deviantARist Anokazue.

Anokazue is of course a screen name, but he goes by Ano (no gender is specified on his or her page so I will refer to Ano as a male). Ano is from Malaysia and has been a “deviant” for about 2 years, and he has contributed his amazing art to many other fandoms, such as Kirby, Pokemon, and Adventure Time, along with some original work.

Ano’s artwork usually incorporates beautiful, vibrant colors mixed with nice shading and cute, cartoon figures. Notice the drawing to the right. It is a perfectly good example of how he uses color and light. Lighting has a great deal of influence and disparity in his work, ranging from the bright work shown to the right and his Finn and Jake drawings to a dark portrait of Levias or a drawing he did of Marshall Lee from Adventure Time. This is probably best used to create mood in his artwork, which is probably my favorite thing about his artwork.

Although the pieces I am showcasing are all of Link, Ano has also done several great works of other Zelda characters. There is a bright work of Fi in a wave of water, a sweet drawing of Skyloftian Zelda, and several drawings of bosses such as Scaldera, the drawing of Levias I mentioned above, and the battle against Blizzeta. His earlier drawings focus more on The Wind Waker Link with some more comedic influences, but the majority of his gallery is made up of Skyward Sword drawings.

My favorite Zelda piece of his is the one pictured below of Skyward Sword Link gliding down into the clouds en route to Faron Woods (at least it appears that way).

I especially love Link’s eager, joyful expression and the swift, airy way the color and painting is done.

So who is your favorite artist of Zelda artwork? What did you guys think of Ano’s art or this article? Should I do more “Zelda Artist Expositions”? Is there an artist you would like me to do another exposition over? Leave a comment and thanks for reading.

Anokazue’s deviantART page

Thumbnail taken from “25 Years of Legend of Zelda” by Anokazue
“Reassuring Smile” by Anokazue
“Skyward Sword” by Anokazue
“Ordon Link” by Anokazue is another one of my favorites.