linkedbytime

[linkedbytime]

What Now Then?

So I shared what happened, so the next question is definitely what happens next.

Honestly... I don't know.

I do still care about this project. I think about it infrequently even while immersed in other things. I had a lot planned out, a story with arcs and character arcs, and I spent a good bit of time figuring out who each of these guys are in my interpretation of things.

But I think, if I did come back to this, that I'd need to do some revamping.

I really like a lot of the designs, but I might want to reexamine them again.

I also really need to toss out the first comic I did. It didn't make me happy. I don't like how it starts. I thought of that opening scene a long time ago, but I don't know if it works as a starting point anymore.

I would want to start fresh, new, actually put some more thoughtful planning into the beginning of things.

I'm also not sure I want to jump right in with all of the Links at once. While I want them to interact immediately, it is a bit overwhelming, and definitely far too ambitious. I'd probably split them up in groups of 3 to start, take some time to flesh out some dynamics more, see who'd be interesting to group up.

Also? Grayscale. Complex grayscale. I know why I wanted to do things in full color, but it is NOT my strong suit, and I don't think I should try and force it to be. Maybe do color for fun special things or certain parts of the comic for emphasis.

In any case, this isn't anything I'd be able to start anytime soon. SAD season has hit hard this year, and I'm at a different job than the one I was at when I last worked on it. It's definitely a job I enjoy more, but it involves interacting with people all day and is a lot more draining.

All things said, I would like to come back to this and take my time with it. I want to do more comic work, and I feel like this would be a good way to play around with it more.

(Also I need to go way more self-indulgent with this instead of worrying about how closely things fit to standard canon and what not. I'm not a LoZ scholar and I don't intend to be. I'm just here to have fun.)

[linkedbytime]

What Happened?

So... it's been like a year and a half.

The long and short of it is pretty simple tbh.

The first comic didn't turn out at all how I wanted. I had high hopes and big ambitions, and I'd already spent a year planning, and I didn't want my interest to wane, so I charged into it, doing some stuff I wasn't used to, and it didn't go as planned.

I didn't spend as long on the backgrounds as I should have. The coloring was weird, because I was determined to do the comic in color (I should have gone with a complex grayscale in retrospect). The pacing felt rushed and kind of clunky. I honestly wasn't super happy with most of it except for like 1 background and a handful of panels.

Honestly, I think I rushed it because I really wanted to get it out. I was trying really hard to follow the advice of "just do it," but in all honestly, I think I should have spent more time actually considering that comic and planning it.

Then I started working on the second comic.

I had a plan. I knew how I wanted it to go. I wanted to get into a rhythm of one comic a month. I refused to post it page by page because I really dislike reading comics that way, and I got it into my head that I had to follow these rules regarding "engagement" and "content" and kinda garbage stuff not really suited for someone who just does this as a hobby and not a career.

I was rushing again, and by the time I began lining the 3rd page (out of 12-14), I knew I'd messed up.

The line width was wrong, but the idea of redoing it all was too much. I'd also made the mistake of choosing a very clean line art that took a lot of time, and maybe that did make it easier to color fill, but it wasn't my style and not my preference, and it didn't really make me happy to look at.

Then Tears of the Kingdom was getting more news, and more than anything, it was all the negativity from the fandom surrounding the game before it'd even released that started draining on me. I felt like the joy was slowly getting sucked out of me. I was getting anxious, especially since this was a sequel to a game I'd really enjoyed, a game that had made me fall in love with the series again and had brought me a lot of joy.

I was stressed out by how long the second comic was taking. I wasn't enjoying the process. Everything in the fandom and surrounding TOTK was comic out so negative. And I was suffering a lot for it.

I lost a lot of steam for LoZ and Linked By Time really fast.

Then an old fandom reentered by life, brought me some dopamine, and I kind of dipped.

So here we are. A year and a half later with one comic, some designs, and several doodles under our belt.

Do I still care about this project?

Oh yeah, definitely. I had a lot of plans for this, and I became really fond of my versions of these guys.

What now?

Honestly... probably going to make a separate post for that. I have some thoughts.

For now, that's the long and short of it. Nothing really exciting or interesting. Just a bunch of stress and anxiety tbh.

[linkedbytime]

I'm back with another version of the "Zelda multi verse" see part one here

Engie from @monstrous-fusion

Timie from @a-memory-of-younger-days

Ravio from @limited-hero

Divinity from @divine-gemstones

Hyrule from @heroesspirit

Alttp Link from @linkedbytime

Artisant from @echoes-of-courage

Wind from @linkedspirit-fanartfunart

I know, I know. I said I wouldn't do Ravio, but I could not resist ;-; I just have this un controllable love for him.

Please tell me if I missed any of your beloved zelda fics! I will gladly fill another page with them ^^ Also, tell me if I messed a part of one's design

Don't forget to go support the artists :D

[linkedbytime]

Do I give up my stubborn desire to post each comic in full and just start posting in 3 page batches? Has my hubris gotten the best of me?

[linkedbytime]

It’s slowly coming together...

[linkedbytime]

🧍my hubris……..

BRO THERES 69 OF YOU EYYYYYYYY 😎

[linkedbytime]

BRO THERES 69 OF YOU EYYYYYYYY 😎

[linkedbytime]

Re: BOTW 2 Tears of the Kingdom & Linked By Time…

I’m not gonna worry about it.

I was worried about canon compliance at first, but I also knew this was a possibility back when I conceived this project over a year ago, when we only had teasers for the game. I decided I didn’t want to wait, that maybe I’d see if I could loosely tie stuff in/reference it (see: BOTW Link’s Sheikah tech arm in LBT), but ultimately I was going to tell my story the way I wanted to tell it.

There’s more Links than just BOTW with their own stories, and I’d already decided to take my own liberties with the LoZ lore anyway. If TotK gives me something I’m really excited about and I can work it in, maybe I will! But I’m not going to stress about it.

The goal of this project has always been to tell a story, to explore these characters, more than to tie myself in knots trying to unravel the lore of Hyrule. I hope you guys will still enjoy what I have to share, regardless of how much it complies with canon.

[linkedbytime]

Was warming up for the next Linked By Time comic with some Minish Cap Links and it somehow turned into different painting practices. I chose him partly because his hair gives me the most trouble and partly because he might be one of my favorites. (Shh don’t tell the others...)

[linkedbytime]

Thumbnails for Linked By Time comic 2 are done! I know there’s been quite a delay, but call it some of the growing pains of creating a comic in a more serious capacity. I had a little trouble with my scripting and thumbnail process, but I believe I’ve ironed that out for a much better end product!

I don’t have plans at this moment to redo the first comic, but I might spruce it up further down the line, just to improve the pacing. It’s a little rough to me now, but thank you for your patience! I look forward to sharing more of this comic with you.

[linkedbytime]

It’s so hard not to share thumbnails b/c I desperately don’t want to risk spoiling any jokes

[linkedbytime]

I know I haven’t done anything on this blog recently, but I have not been able to stop thinking about this project recently. Got some life stuff going on, but once I revise the second comic outline, I really want to work on the next comic.

[linkedbytime]

Oof I need to redo the lineup for these guys. Some proportions and heights are uhhhhh a little out of whack

Linked By Time - Character Designs

I finally decided to line the crew up! Will these be final designs? Who knows! But they’re what I’ve got right now. I might tweak some heights, but I’m feeling pretty good about the palettes and the basic vibes of each of them.

The main work left to be done is hammering out the big plot points and an outline and then I think we’ll be about ready for the comic! I love Legend of Zelda, and I’m really looking forward to telling a story with this Chain of Links. (plus Ravio)

[linkedbytime]

Update

Hey, wow, sorry for the lack of activity in like... 3 months?? Wild...

I’m not uninterested in this project, but a few things have come up:

1) For the first time since age 9, I am having a Pokemon phase. I’ve never had a strong interest in Pokemon before, except for a rabid consumption of the anime when I could rent it from the VHS store (showing my age here), and I found it pretty difficult to get into games. Turn-based strategy games aren’t really my thing--but Pokemon Legends Arceus came out, and through the open world exploration and the mostly side-quest and cataloguing nature of the game, I fell in love. So I’ve basically been on Pokemon wave these past 3 months. (If you’re interested, my pokemon blog is @jellimon. I post art sometimes.)

2) I got stuck on the comic. Okay, further explanation: I had some stuff written out. IN fact, I have a bunch of comic ideas written out. I had the next comic planned and thumbnailed--but I wasn’t happy with it. I was trying to get from Point A to Point B, while also working some other stuff in, and it came out sounding really unnatural. I’m... a little bit of a perfectionist, so I got frustrated and then caught up on needing to make sure it was “right” before doing anything with it. The new script has been kind of sitting and waiting for me to review it and tweak my thumbnails. Yeah... Executive dysfunction hits hard sometimes.

3) Life stuff is happening. I’m not really going to get that in-depth on this, because it’s personal, but rest assured, it’s nothing bad. There’s just a lot of things happening that I find a bit more important at the moment, and while I am interested in the comic creation of this project, it’s not my top priority at this time.

I think that’s the main chunk of it. If you read this, thanks! We’ll see how things kind of progress going forward, but right now, the winds of fate determine which way my life and hyperfixations go. I’ll update again when I’m able to work on this more, but I’m still very uninterested in doing a single page update format. I just don’t particularly enjoy that when I consume comics, so I’m not very interested in it myself.

Maybe I’ll do some silly comics or art in the meantime, but we’ll see! Thanks for sticking around.

[linkedbytime]

Hey guys, here’s the link to Webtoons and Tapas! I just try not to put it in the original post because then Tumblr won’t show them in tags or searches (I think)

Webtoons Link

Tapas Link

Linked By Time - Hey. Listen.

At long last, it’s finally here! Unfortunately, the first comic is a bit too long for Tumblr, so to read it in full, please visit WebToons or Tapas! The links are at the top of the page in the pinned post. Please enjoy.

[linkedbytime]

Linked By Time - Hey. Listen.

At long last, it’s finally here! Unfortunately, the first comic is a bit too long for Tumblr, so to read it in full, please visit WebToons or Tapas! The links are at the top of the blog. There’s a pinned post that should have the links.

[linkedbytime]

A Sneak Peak at Linked by Time so far! I’m pretty deep into coloring at the moment--4 pages in!--but here’s the first page, an establishing shot to set the scene. It’s probably going to get some changes before the final product, but for now here it is!

You can thank you spouse, @beeofthewild, for the base colors! Environments are not my strong suit, and they’re VERY good at them. This is the joy of marrying someone who actually paints

I hope you’re looking forward to Linked by Time as much as I am! It’s feeling so close now...