gabelew

[gabelew]

( />/</) ehehe

#botw #zora #sidon #bazz #sidbazz #oh wow is this the first time im posting a ship art of them? really? #i thought i already drew so many #anyway #this is supposed to take place some decades before botw events when sidon was more in his teenage-ish years #thats why the size difference isn't that visible #i have the whole timeline figured out you see #there is even a whole story for this stupid ship that im not going to share now #but i hope the emotions sorta manage to come through anyway #also yes i am ignoring the 3d-ness of sidon's head handlebars very hard why are you asking #it's in service of having pretty posing i am justified

[gabelew]

The store is officially live at

https://gabelew.bigcartel.com/ !

I restocked the popular items, if you missed them last time now's the chance! There's also a bunch of new charms, acrylic pins and prints, both fandom and original ooo

#store update #store #i can finally post about all the art i made for this update wooo

[gabelew]

lol i forgot to post this here sooo

see you guys soon i guess? i have a buncha new stuff for you aha

#store update #store #in my defense i'm still fighting deadlines and things are Chaotic

[gabelew]

I don't think I ever posted this Teba illustration I did for a sword-themed BotW zine some years ago. It was so hard to make the wing grip on the sword look good -_-'

#botw #totk #teba #teba botw #rito #i also felt the need to justify -why- teba would even use the edge #hence the broken falcon bow #also im thinking about going back to this strong black mignola-esque shadows #its a style that comes very easy to me and im in a bit of a slump lately #it'd be nice to have Effects

[gabelew]

HI I LOVE YOUR ZORA ART SO MUCH OMG

Do you plan on reopening your shop soon? I'd love to grab some stuff 🫂

HI ANON THANK YOU WE ALWAY APPRECIATE ZORA ENTHUSIASM IN THIS HOUSE

It's a very well timed question! I'm currently ordering heaps of restocks and new designs (exciting!) for an upcoming con! With all the work and wait times involved though, I expext to only be able to reopen around the last week of February. I hope you're still hungry for fishpeople merch then!

#anon #ask #text #store update #my life will be pretty busy in february even without the con so i figured itll be safer to just wait #i know i said id reopen in january but i am just one person with some semblance of life #i might do a zora merch drop in mid-feb though #open for just a week as a special event of sorts #provided i get the goods on time #we'll see! #I'll definitely let you guys know both here and over on twitter/insta

[gabelew]

i don't draw ship art often,,, but even I'm not immune to office desk smooching aesthetics

and i already had this whole room designed so

#bazz #bazzlink #bazz botw #botw #totk #he's wearing his fancy captain getup hence the scarf and additional armor bits #but yeah i dont have that much to say about it i just wanted to draw some desk action and those two fit the bill #also twitter went bonkers for this one i think its now officially my most popular piece there (on that account at least) #and it got me like 100 new follows #just one shippy art #its nuts #does it mean i should draw boys smooching more often if i want to pull those sweet sweet numbers lol

[gabelew]

Here's the lineup of all named Zora NPCs that use the generic female model in BotW and TotK (no new girls in AoC, sadly).

Like with the guys, I tried giving them unique designs corresponding to their personalities, but still within the constrains of the in-game model (except I hate fish boob, so they're all perfectly flat chested now, sue me). Their ages and heights are similarly vibes-based.

male NPCs | elders & kids | unique characters

My commentary on all (12) of the girls under the cut!

Kodah is canonically the oldest, as she was at least a teen before Calamity struck, which would put her around 150-160 years old. She is (possibly together with Kayden) the only one from Mipha's generation who is still around. Don't think what it possibly entails. Don't worry about it. Don't-

I decided to place Khira here, she gives off mature vibes and I wanted Yona to have at least one attendant who is close-ish to her age. I have mixed feelings toward the new "other domain" Zoras tbh, but that's a discussion for another time.

Gaddison, my beloved. She was a kid pre-calamity, which probably puts her around Rivan's 130 years old. She is hands down the most buff Zora woman, buffer than almost all the guys also. Maybe Bazz can match her in muscle mass, but even this is up for debate.

Laflat, the short and cute secretary doesn't have canon age, but I headcanon her to be born just (like 2-5 years) before the Calamity - she doesn't recognize Link, but also seems slightly older than all the youths running around. Curiously, she mentions her father having to close their armor shop after the Calamity, but we never learn his name or where he is now. Mysterious.

Mei is the oldest of the post-Calamity girls, born probably very shortly after it happened. She's therefore a bit older than her husband, but you wouldn't be able to tell with how she,,, behaves. Mei's unique teal scales and tall build build make her very attractive.

Chroma is here for no other reason that I wanted her to be young (given her rather childish behaviour), but not a teenager (she is on a diplomatic mission after all).

Marot is your standard young adult, starting to get involved in the family business. It seems that (possibly together with Dento) she owns the entirety of Marot Mart, which encompasses both the Coral Reef general store and the Hammerhead metal workshop. Living that girlboss life.

Tula doesn't seem to have any actual job, and I doubt being the president of Sidon's fan club counts as one. What exactly are you contributing to the economy, Tula?

Pinoa is the only Domain-native new Zora girl we got in TotK (sad). And, similarly to the guys, her personality is basically zero; all I could get from talking with her is "young and inexperienced". So I made her a small and somewhat shy Zora teenager.

Tona, just like Tula is another apparently jobless Sidon fan. The economy is in shambles, girl.

We know surprisingly little about Torfeau, despite her being one of the more popular Zora NPCs. All her lines are about having to practise, being diligent etc. She's often non-canonically considered to be Tottika's sister (or even twin) and I like this interpretation. Therefore I make her similarly very tall and lanky, and very young (70ish).

But the youngest adult Zora would be Dunma, Rivan's beloved daughter. I put her around the 60ish mark (she only says she's younger than 100), which corresponds more or less to 15-16 in our years, according to my very arbitrary and esoteric Zora aging math. (And yes, the logic of it makes Rivan a teenage father, which is a whole plot point in my Zora canon... but that's a whole separate thing). Similarly to her dad, Dunma is extremely attractive; tall, long-finned and with unique colored scales.

So that's it for the girls! Initially I wanted to finish here, but then I started drawing the elders... and it turned out to be way more fun than I expected. Old wrinkled man aesthetics amirite.

Therefore there will be at least one more post, with the elders and children (there's only like 5 of each anyway). For completion's sake I might finish the series with unique NPCs (Sidon, Mipha, Yona, Muzu and Dorephan), but I'm actually not too excited about them (they already have unique models ya know). We'll see.

#zora #botw #totk #tloz #gaddison #zora npcs #laflat #torfeau #kodah #khira #chroma #dunma #another reason i draw the zora women with no boob is that they're supposed to be almost identical to men #like even link is confused about zora gender at first #and since they have perfect gender parity in the guard #well they had before totk at least :/ #it looks like they also don't have set gender roles like rito or hylians #and it even seems like on average it's the women who are more impulsive and ready to fight (gaddison mei torfeau... even mipha) #maybe thats why we don't see any elder women #they were on the frontlines in the calamity

[gabelew]

I updated my Zora lineup from 2021 with the new TotK characters (and added the AoC guys too while I was at it).

To my knowledge these are all the named NPCs across the three games who use the generic adult male Zora model. I liked the idea of giving them more personality and trying to figure out unique features, all while staying faithful to the model (so no accessories, body modification etc).

female NPCs | elders and kids | unique characters

More details on each character (all 14) under the cut:

Ahrt Secro and Ettu are the merchants that exist only as character portraits, but I decided to count them as individual NPCs regardless. I made an exception in "no accessories" rule for Ahrt Secro here, because of his... unconventional name (and him living in Goponga instead of the Domain); he's justified in not following their fashion standards. Ettu's only character trait iirc is that he dislikes plants. Which make up most of his stock. Rip.

Kayden is the oldest non-elder Zora guy (140ish?), calm, responsible, etc. He's an another accessory exception, with the little belt attachment. He's married and it's the "zora armor" he got from Kodah. I like to imagine that non-royal Zora women also propose with "armor", just bit more budget friendly - a single accessory or a piece of jewelry.

Capelo has basically no personality, his only few lines point to him being older and somewhat responsible. So I put him here and made him... idk, look big and serious.

Bazz! He's perfectly average when it comes to height and looks, but visibly more buff than most Zora guys. Also on the older side.

Rivan's whole thing is being Very Tall and Very Pretty. In my canon he's basically the most handsome guy in the Domain, with his long fins, smooth features and warm brown colored scales.

Ledo is like, the most average guy you've ever seen. He looks younger than he is but has no special features otherwise. Surprisingly level headed. Not very fit (for Zora standards).

Tie is another one of the new undercharacterized TotK guards, his only thing being that he complains about being out of shape. I think I like his design the least, but come on, I had nothing to work with here.

Numien, the only new guy who actually had more than two lines, all of them making him the most annoying prick in my eyes. He's just... too enthusiastic and eager to praise his superiors. I like to imagine Bazz despises him for being such a kissass (Bazz is canonically pretty judgemental) but can't do much about it. The guy is competent enough to be put in charge of the Lookout Landing squad after all. Anyway, I did my best to make him look at least a bit unhinged.

Fronk, the only man in the domain whose eyebags could compete with Bazz's, courtesy of his airhead wife Mei. He's also wearing the "zora armor" she gave him.

Resco wins the prize for least characterization. His only single trait is that he admires Gaddison. That's it. So I made him try to emulate her energy in his lineup pose.

Cleff, the shopkeeper with crab obsession. One of the prettier younger guys, although the crab thing is not working in his favor. The last one of fully adult guys in the lineup (around 90ish).

Gruve is, amusingly, the one sole unemployed Zora guy. His occupation is therefore officially, A Problem. He's very much the tall lanky teenager type.

And Tottika, another tall lanky teenager (70ish), but this time with a job. It's not canon, but he's commonly considered a twin brother of Torfeau and I quite like this idea. He's not the smartest but tries his best.

That's it, thanks for reading if you did! Next up are the ladies, which I have sketched out but not colored yet. Also I'm still pondering if I want to do elders and kids, just for the sake of having all the Zora properly catalogued...

#zora #totk #botw #bazz #tloz #their heights and ages are very vibes based tbh #you can see which ones were drawn in 2021 and which in 2023 lol #the way i draw zoras changed very slightly over time #they got less skinny #the japanese names are mostly for myself #i need them once in a while and they arent properly catalogued anywhere

[gabelew]

i'd say this is more or less how I imagine Bazz to actually look like, outside his Generic Male Zora NPC model and also my usual, more cartoony version of him

like, there's this slight angularity in his features, and his scales are more dark grey with bluish undertones rather than black

he's also at least a bit roughed up around the edges

#bazz #zora #botw #totk #loz #bazz botw #legend of zelda #fun fact this is a one layer no reference default round brush kind of painting #i had a bazz in me and had to spit him out on the canvas #t+2h update: i already see so many things i want to fix oh i hate this #but the deed is done

[gabelew]

I don't have anything new, but I remembered i never posted this Exceptionally Tired Bazz here. So here he is! Being tired. Under the main boardwalks of the Domain for a change.

#bazz #zora #totk #botw #bazz botw #he is so good at looking miserable #perfect face structure for scowling #impressive eyebag capabilities #he has all the potential to look unnervingly attractive #but the catch is he has to get at least three full nights of sleep in a row #the potential remains thus in the distant realms of theoretical probability #i <3 domain mug #the mug is basically a recuring character by now #it deserves a tag

[gabelew]

i can't believe i never posted any of my pre-calamity Seggin sketches aaa such an oversight TToTT he's so fun to draw! the most unhinged old man!

#zora #seggin #bazz #botw #loz #im love this scary fish but he should not have been allowed to have kids #Bazz being Like That(tm) is a direct result of Seggin being Even Worse(tm) #smol bazz is holding a comically large spear because the zora don't really make child-sized weaponry #a zora soldier isnt expect to start spear training before reaching their growth spurt #child zora body is just so different from adult zora body #with its proportions and center of gravity #that its considered useless to teach them complex skills that they'll have to relearn in a few years anyway

[gabelew]

hmmm 🤔🤔...👀👀👀

#sidon #bazz #zora #botw #loz #what are the boys up to #we can only guess #my zora doodles mostly exist on a fairly consistent timeline #and the timeline can be roughly put together by looking at sidon's height and amount of accessories #or alternatively by the depth of bazz's eye bags

[gabelew]

A lil heads up, that my store, https://gabelew.bigcartel.com/ will only be open until the 12th December, and then return no earlier than mid-January!

So it's the last moment to grab some goodies (like those handsome sticker sheets for example) and /maybe/ have them delivered before the New Year's... if you're lucky and/or live within the EU...

I also have some discounted items, so if that's something you don't mind, it's a chance to grab some prints/stickers at a lower price

#merch store #store update

[gabelew]

That one time when Bazz was s h a king with excitement at having his friend back, while Link was just like huh?? whuh??? whomst?

#botw #botw bazz #bazz #loz #zora #sorry for not posting much life has been kicking my ass #end of the year rush blergh

[gabelew]

Bazz's captain office, that I finally sketched out and properly planned, after at least two years of rotating it in my brain.

Bazz doesn't have many personal belongings or hobbies besides *trying to make sure the Domain survives another day*, so the decor is pretty sparse. He dragged in a whole rack of spears and other never-to-be-used weaponry from the armory just to cover up the depressingly bare walls...

#zora #bazz #bazz botw #loz #botw #totk #i actually wanted to make it even bigger #but it resulted in lots of empty walls and started to look like a warehouse #i hesitated if i should put a pool in there #but in the end it fit my headcanon of the office being built by some very decadent guard captain from the past #and also it's just too good for power naps

[gabelew]

hey! wanted to say I absolutely adore your designs of link's ember/frostbite/charged armor they are so gorgeous (also I voted for frostbite)

if you don't mind (and haven't already; I've been looking but we all know how tumblr's search function is) I would love to know about your interpretation of link's scarring

aa, thank you! I'm pretty pleased with them! (and i see you're one of those frostbite stans... well you got what you wanted) I don't share my headcanons much in text form, so if you have a question it's more likely it's still just in my head so. As for Link's scars, canonically we just know he has lots, right. I don't have any precise headcanon for most of them, I usually just draw a bunch of scribbles that could pass for old battle damage. I don't think it's too important, and Link probably doesn't care or remember where each scar came from anyway. A bunch of them are from the Calamity battle, sure, but there must be so many from training, antagonizing a goose or falling off a tree.

The exception is of course the big scar on his torso which actually is consistent between all my (sufficiently disrobed) Link drawings. I don't *think* it's supported by canon? But I've seen many other artist do something similar, so I don't know anymore. It's basically the wound that killed him 100 years ago, probably a guardian beam that went straight through (that's why it shows both on his stomach and his back). It just makes sense that it had to be something really serious to finish him off, and then a scar so big and gruesome makes for very good angst material.

#ask #link #headcanons #not the most exciting answer i know #i'm pretty sure i read it in some fic and accepted into my set of beliefs #because it just made too much sense

[gabelew]

Reblogging bc I'm feeling Rivan lovin today

rivan <3

#reblog #rivan #zora #he seems to get the least love from the bbbb #and i just hate this injustice #he's literally a hot single dad in your area come on