In the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Princess Zelda is fascinated with ancient Sheikah technology. The Sheikah Slate, in particular, captivates her interest, specifically the camera feature. After defeating Calamtiy Ganon, Link has no more need of the Sheikah Slate. Smile for a selfie among the wild Silent Princess flowers in Hyrule Field!

I illustrated this as part of my live stream during the Linktober Zelda Creator Con. I'm happy to say that this piece turned out how I envisioned, which isn't always the case. It started out as a simple and fun drawing of Zelda holding the Sheikah Slate with a big smile, but as I played with the size and orientation of the canvas, it gave me the idea to make it epic.

The Wire Frame

When creating her pose, I used simple shapes to create a wire frame in the shape of a female. I double check to make sure the head isn't too large, arms too long, etc. The character's body needs to have an aesthetically pleasing flow to it so she's not stiff and boring. If this basic pose doesn't look good, the entire drawing suffers, regardless of how detailed I draw her later.

The Sketch

I used reference screenshots and official character art to help me fill in the details. Zelda is wearing her adventuring apparel, which is a fantastic look for the princess in my opinion. It's elegant with detailed trim and multi-layered design. I sketched a very rough background just to give me an idea of scenery placement and horizon line. This will be painted in later, which means I won't depend on these lines during the inking process.

The Line Art

Drawing the line art is my favorite part of the process. I'm a fan of strong, clean lines. I used Clip Studio Paint EX on the ipad pro 12 to illustrate this piece. Using the Apple Pencil was a must because of the pressure sensitivity it provides for variable width strokes. Clip Studio's smoothing settings in the tool properties helps keep my lines smooth, especially for those long strokes as seen in her hair.

The Flat Colors

Again, I reference official artwork to make sure that Princess Zelda is colored correctly. Hyrule in the background is multi-layered (ie: the hill in the foreground, the valley, lake, mountains, and sky). These colors are mostly placeholders. They need to be different for the purpose of separating each area, but I would later change the hues to match my vision.

The Finished Illustration

In order to create the field of Silent Princess flowers and petals, I drew the flower on a new layer and registered it as a material for use in the software. I did the same for a few petal variations. I created custom brushes using each individual drawing and was able to create hundreds of flowers and flying petals much quicker than having drawn them one at a time.

I originally thought a traditional blue sky would suffice but when I played with different colors I found that warmer tones looked much better in contrast with the blue flowers and thus decided on a morning scene. I recorded myself making the background as a speed paint. You can watch it here.

I also have art prints available for this illustration in 3 sizes! Your patronage helps me create more art more often. Thank you very much!