The Nintendo Museum's Zelda Art and Updates From the Past Few Months

First, real quick: I keep forgetting to update here but Bluesky, the gallery, and Archive.org have all been getting pretty frequent updates for the past few months. I've also done another podcast, a book with an interview with me and a bunch of my map scans came out, I helped contribute to another, I've been helping with some fan projects, and I've been doing a lot of searching and research to make sure lost publications can be scanned. I plan on making better posts about all of that in the future.

Anyway, this is old, but I never posted about it here and don't want to lose track of it. The Nintendo Museum opened a new exhibit that includes Zelda art. Here's my breakdown of the older stuff on the wall. I didn't see a need to do the OoT+ art because I figure more fans would know it all. I can if you guys want me to though.

Here's the link to my bluesky post about it. Here's the image I made. Ignore the top middle one I wasn't sure of, it's discussed below:

Here's the original image. It's not very big:

Photos aren't allowed in the exhibit space so that's why we haven't seen any yet.

Regardless, except for the cases, we can see what most of them are but 2 on the wall are "new." As in they haven't been published in a book, magazine, or on merch before. The one on the side is easily, visibly, identifiable as an illustration of Hyrule though because of the colors and shapes. Max Nichols first alerted me to all this and pointed out it was probably new . 

The one I couldn't identify at the top, I figured it was a Kotabe based on the color scheme, but this below was a huge surprise and opens up a lot of new thoughts on the art of the series:

Bombosmedalion on Bluesky saw the show in person and reported back on it.:
"Ok so the top mystery art at the museum is the original hand drawn w pencil and water colored version of this" ↓

BM also noted: "And the map was a hand drawn one that I've never seen before that said Hyrule fantasy on it"

Me: Incredible!! Thank you so much!! I hope I'm able to see it one day but I'm so thankful to just know. What was in the cases?

BM: "A lot of stuff including original map designs for Zelda 1 to TotK concept art. For reference the Nintendo museum vol 1 book contains the contents of what was in the case for the Mario display so there's a good chance vol 2 next year has the Zelda art." "Yeah this is all the stuff in one of the two Mario cases"

VGDensetsu noted this Kotabe interview:

VGD: "By the way, Kotabe mentioned working on Zelda II. He only talked about the characters AFAIK so I assumed Maeda or someone else did the box art at the time." "I drew a few pictures of the characters for "Link no bouken". www.famitsu.com/news/201810/...

Max Nichols of Hyrule Interviews noted:
"I believe he joined Nintendo in 1985, so he was definitely there early enough to have worked on Zelda 2 art"

I must note that Dom of VGD is an incredible video game art and artist researcher and historian and is one of the most knowledgeable people I've come across. And Max is one of the most knowledgeable people out there when it comes to Zelda development and dev knowledge and history.

Here is a drawing of Link in the Goddess Collection books and now I'm thinking it might be a Kotabe that was a sketch close to the watercolor BM saw on the wall. In fact, if you zoom into the art on the wall, knowing the shapes now, you can just barely make this out from the potato-pixels.

VGDensetsu:
"I'm not a graphologist, but I noticed that the '8' was written in a particular way on this sketch – you can see the connection at the top right, which is also visible in Kotabe's handwriting."

So, of note, here is some art I assume is Kotabe's. These all come from some of the Goddess Collection books (I don't remember which was in Art and Artifacts, Zelda Encyclopedia, and Hyrule Historia. Without checking I think these were from A&A and the ones below this set were from the tZE) 

I'm now thinking that maybe all the sketches like this, with the numbers, are Kotabe's as well. I wouldn't doubt they were passed off to another animator, because the style is a little different than his, but he was a very experienced animator so its not like he couldn't have done them too. Anyway, this is all speculation, but it's the kind of thing I'm tucking into my head as Very Likely. (To be clear the books rarely credit the artists in a specific way.)

So anyway, that's all incredibly interesting!

Okay, going back to the earlier posts: This is the museum book with Mario art that was mentioned. You were able to buy them on Otaku Pop Mall (Thanks Max!) but I think they're sold out now. I grabbed the Japanese one if anyone needs a photo of the text for more direct translations, just email me. Since they're new I wont be scanning them though. (I wait until something hasn't been in print for 10 years or is a special edition that wasn't sold as a stand-alone and is inaccessible.) I'm sure they wont be hard to find on Japanese auction sites. 

Then circling back around again, for fun, here's some guides in cases from the Museum that BombosMedallion also posted. (These are in a different area that allows photography.) I love how the stickers on the binging imply an internal library. Rad.

The ones that can't really be seen? The bindings are really sun-bleached but I know which they are so I grabbed them so you all could see what else was up there- they're these:

I am in the process of scanning all these guides. I just finished Zelda 1, there's not too many for Zelda 2, and then I'll be on to these, which are all for Zelda 3: LttP. So it wont be long before you'll have good scans of the insides of all of these.

Old 600dpi Scans of the Anvil Artbooks by Nobuteru Yuki

I've had these on my site forever but there's a problem with one of the files and they're also not easy to flip through. So after a bunch of people asked I finally got around to just uploading them to Internet Archive. 

• Volume 1 is here.
• Volume 2 is here.
• Volume 3 is here.

They're my old scans though. There's bad bleed-through. I need to do better scans one day.


THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, Volume 1-3
Nobuteruki rough-drawings
Nobuteru Yuki, Yuuki, Nobuteru Yūki, 結城 信輝
These were self-published so there is no ISBN


They contain art for things like: Record of Lodoss War, Vaelber Saga, X by Clamp, Battle Angel Alita, Gunnm, Angel Cop, Wizardry, Escaflowne, Chinese Ghost Story, Kaiser Knuckle, Galaxy Express 999, Beauty and the Beast, Evangellion, Trigun, Street Fighter II, Samurai Spirits, Original Characters, and a bunch of things I'm probably forgetting or simply don't know.

Missing BotW Concept Art of Link's Family from Master Works

I'm still catching up on stuff I forgot to post to blogger that I was posting on Bluesky.

Find the 2400dpi scans of the full pages here.

Find these 2 pieces of art here, cleaned art of "Link's Family," and here, cleaned art of "Link and a cape-clad girl, possibly his sister."

In the Japanese artbook for Breath of the Wild, Master Works, there's art on the back pages of the book that doesn't appear on the English version. Two of the more prominent sketches are this first one, labeled "Family" and then the one below it that appears to show the same girl. Or the same concept of there being a girl possibly being something like Link's sister. These pieces were posted online before, in fact that's how I realized they were in one book but not the other, but I wanted to make higher res scans and then also edit the levels so the yellow was less distracting. These aren't the only missing pieces, there's a bunch of other cool little sketches on those pages, unfortunately most are covered by other images or had a blur applied to them. 

I'm in a Book! Video Game Maps: Volume 2

Retro Game Books is releasing their 2nd volume of video game maps soon, and I'm in it! Which is so exciting, I never imagined being in a book! Be sure to buy it here! It's currently a pre-order and should be released later in the Spring.

 

The Book's Description:

In video games, maps have always played a crucial role, serving as guide, world builder, and interactive element. A single image can add incredible depth to the story and lore of a digital universe.

With Video Game Maps: SNES - Volume 2, experience the beauty and wonder of some of the most iconic Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Famicom maps. From the farmlands of Harvest Moon to the dual worlds of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, this book showcases the stunning artwork that captured the imagination of gamers around the world. Discover hidden secrets and intricate details within the maps, and marvel at the art styles and design choices that brought these virtual worlds to life.

Inside you’ll find maps spanning over 65 games — including Japanese exclusives — that originated from guides, posters, instruction manuals, advertisements, magazines, and so much more. Plus, quotes from 30 artists, writers, game developers, podcasters, comedians, and journalists.

Perfect for both casual gamers and art aficionados, this book is a must-have for anyone interested in the artistic side of video game design and cartography.Created by Brian Riggsbee

• Cover by Mary Anne Kluth
• Logos by Shibuya-K
• Edited by Riley MacLeod
• Foreword by Fabien Sanglard
• Interview with Melora Hart
• Article by Brian Riggsbee
• Words by Alex Juel, Adam Engels, Andre M., Andrew Elmore, Brett Martin, Brian Riggsbee, Chris Modica, Christian Hammond, Cole Marshall, Darren Hupke, David Lasby, David Teixeira, Fabien Sanglard, George J. S. Smith, Heather Anne Campbell, Ian Southwell, John Riggs, Jonathan Leung, Kurt Kalata, Matt (Stormageddon), Max Nichols, Mike Sholars, Peter Tieryas, Rod Lloyd, Salvatore Pane, Stephen Frost, Tegan, Travis Nicholas, and VGCartography
• Art by Craig Tait, Jeff Retro, Brian Riggsbee, and Pipeur

Information:

• Limited bundle includes: Book — 300 full-color pages, 8.5"x11", hardcover
• Notebook — 144 pages, 5.25”x8.25”, dot grid
• Art print — By Craig Tait, 8.25"x6"
• Bookmark — 2"x6"
• Sticker — 2"x2.5"
• Hardcover includes: Book — 300 full-color pages, 8.5"x11", hardcover
• ISBN: 978-1-966009-01-6
• This book is not affiliated with Nintendo.

If you would like to buy volume 1, the physical copy is currently out of stock but you can purchase the ebook and 

First time ever: A high resolution full set of the rare Zelda 1 artwork by Macross artist Haruhiko Mikimoto

 

I love this art so much. I had so many of Haruhiko Mikimoto's wall scrolls and posters all over my dorm. He's such a pinnacle of retro anime. I am so glad I was able to collect the source material and get good scans online so it could be preserved.

The full color pieces are from the June 1986 issue of Newtype magazine and I scanned them at at 2400dpi (because the print quality is so good it made sense to do so.) I will scan the whole spread when I get a better large format scanner. (Newtype has giant pages.) I learned about this art being in that issue thanks to Blacotaku1's tumblr post ages ago, as did most of us who have seen the small versions before. (Which I cleaned up and got into the community so they ended up on Zelda wiki etc)

The line work pieces are from Mikimoto's 1989 "Cellu Works" artbook, and I scanned the whole thing at 1200dpi here: https://archive.org/details/artbook_haruhiko_mikimoto_celluworks_1989 I didn't do it at 2400 because honestly the print quality in that book didn't warrant it. I learned about this art being in that artbook when doing auction searches and found a twitter thread with it by animarchive

Other Keywords: The Legend of Zelda, The Hyrule Fantasy, Artbook, ゼルダの伝説, 美樹本 晴彦 , 美樹本晴彦 セル・ワークス, LoZ, tLoZ, ppi, RAW, RAWS, scan, scans, high res, high rez, high resolution, Link, Princess Zelda, Hyrule, Nintendo, NES, Famicom, Family Computer, book, videogame, artbook, art book, cell work, cel work, cel works, Publisher: Tokuma Shoten 徳間書店, ISBN4-19-669607-4, Date Published: February 2, 1989

Archival Scans of the Link to the Past Nintendo Player's Guide

Scans for this aren't new, but this is the best quality you'll find online. I scanned this at 1200dpi and you can find both the cleaned up images and pure raw scans on my archive.com page, here

It was published by Nintendo of America in conjunction with Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co. 1992

If you've never flipped through this, do so! It doubles as a story book & production art book- which was so rare

ZeldaLegends.net still has the original downloads released by Nintendo. The images are small but they have great color. Find those here

Other Keywords: The Legend of Zelda, Link to the Past, Strategy Guide, Nintendo Power, Zelda, tLoZ, LoZ, aLttP, Lttp, A Link to the Past, The Legend of Zelda, SNES, 600ppi, 1200ppi, RAW, RAWS, scan, scans, high res, high rez, high resolution, Link, Ganon, Princess Zelda, Hyrule, Nintendo, book, videogame, Nintendo Power, Strategy Guide, Game Guide, Player's Guide, Katsuya Terada,

New High Res Scans: Link's Awakening Dreamer Artbook

The out of print 2019 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening had a 120 page bonus artbook that I've finally fully scanned in high resolution at 600dpi. It mainly contains some really adorable concept art with my favorite piece being the Oracle style character sheet and sketches of Link. I believe the US version is hardback, pictured here, but I purchased and scanned the Japanese version because it's a lot cheaper to obtain and, being softcover, I felt less guilty about removing the pages to get perfectly flat images. 

You can find all of the pages at the flickr gallery here.

Also, apologies, I realized that my scanner is scanning slightly crooked. It doesn't affect the images quality it just means that the pages aren't perfectly horizontal. Looks like I need a new scanner. 

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Remake) -Dreamer Artbook

I have a copy of this ordered and on the way so I can get images for it into the gallery but if you know of a digital download, please let me know. Scans are great for linework and sketches, but digital downloads are better for the scene pictures, which often scan pretty dark.

These were posted by the amazing account, Videogame Art And Tidbits and can be found here and here

I found those thanks to this page on Zelda wiki, thank you for crediting sources, GrandmaYahoo!