Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

Art by Christopher Carter

Next up we have a couple video game inspired vehicles. I wanted to do a vehicle pertaining to the hero Link from The Legend of Zelda.

What I had in mind was very different from what this design (at the top and cover art) evolved into. Seems I have a knack, or better yet, a predilection for creating things out of a bunch of other stuff. Building a vehicle out of Link’s many tools, weapons, and items just kind of happened. I like what it turned into but it got way more complicated than I first originally envisioned. The back fender is supposed to be reminiscent of Link’s gauntlets but my brother thought it was a huge side of bacon. I can’t unsee that now.

Like many other video game characters, Link gradually collects a wide variety of useful items, some comically oversized, which he then inexplicably stores in what has been universally dubbed “Mallet Space”, that extra dimensional void from whence such characters retrieve impossibly gigantic items (such as huge mallets) to use and then just as quickly stow again, just like in cartoons.

Well, I asked the question, “If Link didn’t have access to the theorized ‘Mallet Space’ where does he keep all that crap he has to lug around?” He keeps it in the back of his Sports Utility Vehicle, of course!

If you look closely, you can see his bow with arrow, his Hylian shield, the Master Sword, two Spinners (front wheels), the Bombos Medallion, the Ball and Chain (back wheel), his fishing rod and sinker, the fire rod, the ice rod, the lens of truth, magic beans, bottle with red potion, bottle of Lon Lon Milk, boomerang, ocarina, a bomb, bottle with fairy, hammer, book of Mudora, cane of Somaria, cane of Byrna, a mushroom, bottle with green potion, a blue candle, a bug-catching net, and finally the hook-shot.

While I loved the way it turned out, it was very complicated and it didn’t satisfy my desire to create a more simplistic version pertaining to Link. This thought process is what led me to making a Toon Link version.

The Toon versions of Link, Zelda (above), and Sheik (below) were so much fun! I love their simplicity. I could start and finish these in a single drawing session. The two tone shading helped speed things along. The thick scratchy lines mimic the block printing style of illustrations in medieval tomes (yes, TOMES) and meant I didn’t have to be very precise. Plus it creates the illusion that these cars are tiny. Of course the scale of the sword and bomb add to that effect too. These are probably the closest to Hot Wheels Character Cars, where basically they turn a character INTO a car. I want to make more like these. They may not be Zelda themed but definitely more. They’re adorable!

The Sheik version (above) was particularly fun because there is no toon version of Sheik so I had to convert the more epic style of Sheik’s design into cartoon.

I wanted to do a Toon Tetra vehicle as well (The pirate alter ego of Princess Zelda) but I couldn’t think of a way to make it obvious enough to whom the design would pertain. Perhaps something will dawn on me eventually. I WILL be doing an epic Princess Zelda version and possibly a Gannon version.

From Zelda to Metroid. I love Metroid! He’s so cool when he shoots his morph balls. I’m joking! Thought I’d piss off all the Metroid fans for a minute. The protagonist of the Metroid games is Samus Aran, a heroINE! Not a “he”. and the morph ball is a something she can turn into because the original programmers couldn’t animate the 8-bit character to look as if she were crawling through small corridors.

I know some of the angles are a little wonky. Samus’ Chozo armor is a marvel of geometric complexity.

I wanted to experiment with glowing effects in the computer for this one. I didn’t go to great lengths to polish it up in the computer. This was just to see how it would look. I like it. Maybe I will do some more polishing later. I also did some quick color variations to mach different versions of Samus’ suit.

I had some other suit versions in mind that would require a complete redraw again but this one drained me and I wanted to switch gears afterward. I want to do Samus’ Fusion Suit (which has a more organic look to it), her Zero suit, possibly a Dark Samus and/or the SA-X (two sinister clones of Samus), and I have an idea for a Mother Brain version (Samus’ antagonist). That one is going to be disgusting! I can’t wait to get to it!

Finally, this one didn’t pertain to a video game but it’s dripping with nostalgia: The Super Soaker version. This is high on my list of favorites. I do wish that I had been more versed in the medium of alcohol markers. I think I could have done the shading a bit better with that option at hand. But it is what it is and I like it fine. It looks like something Larami would actually make. Anyone remember Super Soaker Man?

We’re coming close to the end of the vehicle portfolio but the ratio of Ideas on my list that I have not done yet far outweighs the ideas I have completed. Posting might slow down but there will be plenty’ more eventually. Plus I do have other art I can post.

Have a lovely day!