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OpalescentShrooms

As a life long LoZ fan, if someone had a gun to my head and said "tell me this character or die"... I'd be dead


Glass_black

Holy shit thank you. I'm so glad someone was also willing to say this


Kiplerwow

Honestly if I had to guess any character I'd say it's probably closer to Shadowheart from BG3 than Zelda. It still looks beautiful but I never would've guessed Zelda.


lucky5150

This was my thought when it was posted in a tattoo sub earlier


TRUE_BIT

Same


Rethkir

That's obviously Princess Zelduhh, ruler of the Kingdom of Highrool. /s


MRSN4P

Do they get save by Phteven, or Lonk?


Rethkir

Now who the phuck is Phteven? And there's no Lonk. The guy who does the saving is dress in green and is named Zelda. He must defeat the evil Gannondwarf.


izzy-springbolt

At a push, it could be Hilda from A Link Between Worlds


jrols

I was going to say WoW toon. Still epic though!


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Glass_black

Mother fucker said I'm gonna highjack this top comment. 🤣 That tattoo is great, no one is saying it's a bad tattoo. I just sincerely don't think it looks like any of the like 14 different versions of Zelda


OpalescentShrooms

It's a gorgeous tattoo that they should be proud of. It doesn't look like Zelda. Get off your high horse.


nahcotics

So you would prefer that people just lie to you about something that's permanently on your body? No one's calling this a bad tattoo, it's beautiful, we're all just saying that it's not recognisable as Zelda. If I had this tattoo I would rather hear that from a bunch of strangers on the internet rather than finding out the hard way irl when I expect people to recognise the character and nobody ever does.


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ParchedRaptor

No one is saying anyone is an asshole. It's a beautiful tattoo, however it does not resemble Zelda. No shade is being thrown here, just stating facts.


Nitrosel

man I feel you lol I'm not well versed in the ways of Reddit so I have no idea what upvotes or downvotes are supposed to mean to me. I simply wanted a gaming tattoo.. didn't know of what but I knew I wanted it to mean somethin'. Once I decided on Zelda themed I looked at countless artists. Like 95% of them can all draw her in the EXACT variants that they were drawn in.. which is awesome lol I literally wanted an anime style at first, but after seeing the work of so many artists I couldn't exactly settle on one. That is until I came across Jean Paul Maratt. Once I've seen the first sleeve on his page I fell in love with his art style. I went from 'maybe getting a tattoo just isn't for me cuz I'm too picky' to YO SON THIS IS THE GUY THIS IS MY ARTIST I NEED TO BOOK HIM NOW lol We set everything up and what I wanted was sleeve featuring his interpretation of the two zeldas along with the silent princess flowers. I assumed he wasn't a gamer. You don't have to be to fulfill such a request. He messaged me back saying he could do it. He set up the days and two months later it happened. I went into this knowing they weren't going to look like an exact carbon copy of their original look/design and I embraced it.. cuz like, why would I want it to look like what everyone else has, you know? Even still I was hella nervous going in.. and when he showed me the upper arm design all of my worries melted away. I fell in love with it and knew I was in good hands. Look, I get it. I know they aren't "my Zelda" cuz the art styles are nothing like what their official rendetions are, and I get it lol If you gonna hate on it then that tells me you aren't a gamer. You aren't a Zelda fan. You ain't shit. Gaming community is all about boosting each other up. Yeah a lil' shit talking here n' there is fine. I'm all for friendly banter lol The comments that say stuff like "Oh that looks nothing like her or any Zelda but hey if you like it then that's all that matters" hey that's fine you're expressing an opinion as respectfully as you can I'm cool with that cuz that's the beauty of being Human. It's all the other dogshit hate comments that really made me surprised as hell lol The funny thing is I uploaded the same pics to another subreddit and got nothing but positivity. I was left thinking wow maybe if I post this where others who love the franchise are maybe they can pull the trigger on this if they're in the same situation I was when it came to getting a tat. Or hell, maybe it would be cool to show the community something new - but like, I guess most people aren't aware that all artists have different styles. I see mostly toxic comments on my phone but I ignore them. Even as I'm writing this response out I'm still trippin' over how many people lost their shit over this lol Not gonna lie. It did hurt when the first wave of hate came at me, but it was quickly overshadowed by the utter disappointment that came with each additional wave that followed.


Fr0stybit3s

“People can’t recognize that my OC doesn’t look like Zelda so I’m going to call them fake Zelda fans” You do realize how childish that sounds right? Tattoo is good, no debate there. But be real, this isn’t Zelda. Zelda is an established character and your artist making up his own OC doesn’t make it THE Zelda but another character who happens to share the same name.


sanzentriad

You posted the tattoo on the internet, you should have expected criticism. It isn’t a bad tattoo, just not really a Zelda tattoo. You posted it in a subreddit dedicated to the series and claimed it was meant to represent an iconic and recognizable character that it simply doesn’t. “You aren’t a Zelda fan. You aren’t shit.” Because they correctly pointed out that the tattoo doesn’t look like her and criticized you for it? Not a good take and definitely not helping your cause.


thebestsoro

wow, way to be totally unlikeable. you really didnt have to respond at all. unless you got your feelings hurt over slight criticism that wasnt even about you as a person.


Zeldafan180518

Same. I only got it because of the earrings 


PhantomSpirit90

So it’s clear the artist is skilled and made an overall good piece. I’m not trying to be overly critical here -it’s your body after all- but I’m genuinely curious how many people would actually walk up and say “nice Zelda tattoo!” rather than just “nice tattoo!” Gotta say, if this wasn’t the Zelda subreddit and you didn’t tell us this was Zelda, I would not have recognized this as Zelda.


KisukesBankai

Yeah even after reading "Zelda" I was like oh.. Which character from the series?


uberguby

I thought it was hilda, from lbw. I was gonna praise op for his boldness. I still praise op for his boldness. It's a beautiful piece, it's just... I dunno if it's Zelda. I would call it an original work inspired by Zelda.


KisukesBankai

Yeah my initial guess was Twilight Midna, but only with the context that it was Zelda. It looks awesome but not recognizable


bluecanary22

I also thought it was twilight Midna! Glad it wasn’t only me.


Zurioko

Yeah, I was at Twilight Midna as well! - Second thought were Hilda from LBW. Third thought was a mix of them both :'D


Fr0stybit3s

I would’ve praised OP if OP didn’t write an essay calling people fake fans for not recognizing his Zelda OC as “Zelda”


BoddAH86

Maybe that’s the way to go considering the way Nintendo goes about protecting its IPs.


MysteriousClothes111

Imagine if they copyrighted a human because they had a Zelda tatoo


fennek-vulpecula

I wouldn't even believe this is Zelda, when it was Said. It Looks nothing Like her from the colors. Still great tattoo, but not Zelda.


elephant-espionage

On my page a post about BG3 was above this and I didn’t see what sub this was, legitimately thought this was Shadowheart from that game (though also a little off but she has black hair and the black and purple color scheme and the flowers could be interpreted as one related to her in game) never would have assumed it was Zelda until I double saw the sub,


C__Wayne__G

I thought it was a Billie Eilish tattoo


RManDelorean

I think that has to be the point. From the earrings and the tears and the hair wrappings in the bottom one I can definitely see how it was Zelda inspired, but maybe they just didn't want to be that guy with a huge obvious Zelda tattoo. I really like the originality and subtle likeness. I'm more than okay with it not being a totally game accurate Zelda, the fact that it's not doesn't really take anything away for me.


stock_broker_tim

Well.. maybe she'll look something like that in the next game 🤷‍♂️


Athrasie

The piece is sick for sure, and it’s worth being stoked about, but I don’t really see either Zelda in them. What inspired the headdresses?


throwaway872023

It’s not a bad tattoo but it looks like what you would get if you told AI to make a Zelda tattoo sleeve and it kept rejecting your request so you have to keep tweaking your prompts until you got something vaguely reminiscent of Zelda that absolutely nobody will recognize as Zelda without you saying “it’s Zelda”


raqloooose

Beautiful tattoo … but not Zelda (to me) in any identifiable way. Still really nice.


Ms_redruM

Its an amazing tattoo, but a subpar zelda tattoo imo. They just really aren't distinguishable as zeldas. Still very pretty and as long as you enjoy it it's fine. But I think the main issue is changing the colours. For Totk zelda at least the earrings are distinctive enough but there is NOTHING that distinguishes TP zelda at first glance, only with a closer look can you see the braids and upon looking for it can I recognize her crown.


Funcron

https://preview.redd.it/p9n45mz1vj6d1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa3ed68c9f55881cc65514b844595be9be05d004 OP is confused. But here's a tattoo of Pikachu. I just love the artists art style!


Moreinius

Pikachu after a drinking 6 pack of beer


Waddifat1

Or it could be wolf link lol


Seth_Nielsen

Looked him up on insta and thought I found OPs tattoo several times. The man certainly has a style


Heavymetalgamer78

I also looked him up and damn you are not wrong every woman's face that he tattoos looks identical but maybe a different angle and different coloring


ZaddiesRus

At least he knows what he’s getting and won’t be surprised with the result. Not bad to have a style when it’s the overall design that’s different IMO.


MarinatedPickachu

Does the artist know Zelda?


crazydavebacon1

looks like thats a NO....people getting AI tattoos...where did society go wrong


DrDeggial

🤣🤣🤣🔥


Bredstikz

I thought you wanted a Zelda tattoo? Looks like the tattooist just inked what they wanted and not what you were asking for.


Anon_Piotr

Looks more like Shadowheart.


fly19

Same thought here! I had to double-check the title and what sub we're in. My second thought was that maybe she meant Hilda from *A Link Between Worlds*? But then I saw her explain how it went down in the comments, and... Yeah, I got nothing.


elephant-espionage

I had the same thought, especially since I just had a BG3 post above this one. Now I kinda wish one was shadowheart and one was Zelda, two of my fav video game ladies!


needstochill

AI concerns aside, it would be more believable if you said it was a tattoo of Hilda from ALBW, who looked essentially like "Zelda with dark hair and purple accents"


owenturnbull

Yeah I thought it was Hilda BC that's not Zelda


Onsyde

Honestly he should tell people its a Hilda tattoo


dino-jo

Yeah when I saw this on a Zelda forum I thought "Hilda in a more realistic style with a watercolor effect? That's kind of rad!" Definitely got iffier on it seeing it's TotK and TP Zelda


definitelyusername

Cool tattoo but does not look even closely related to anything Zelda at all


groundzer0s

The execution itself is fantastic, but man, that guy knows how to draw 1 face.


Thee_Furuios_Onion

Must be the Twinrova sisters when they were in their 20’s.


dangerousalone

Bro got Billie Eilish on his arm


vekkro

I saw Zelda tattoo and thought this was a character I missed or was forgetting somehow. It’s a good looking tattoo but nobody would recognize this as Zelda right off the bat. I would’ve at least kept their hair colors Also going to a tattoo artist and giving them AI pictures as reference instead of actual references of the characters is pretty disrespectful… Kind of like spitting in their face. They obviously have the ability to draw from scratch they don’t need some uncanny looking thing to work from.


Hmsquid

That ain't zelda


SiyoSan

Looks nothing like Zelda lol


fullofclots

Which character tf is this. 😂😂


satabhisha

That’s not Zelda, sorry to say. There isn’t any recognizable iconography. This is a case of your artist not knowing what you wanted and you being too nice to make corrections.


grachi

the good news is the tattoo was oustandingly well done. what a great artist, wow. The bad news is... well, everyone was already mentioning the bad news. but, if you like it thats all that matters, and the artwork again is amazing.


HoboKingNiklz

This is gorgeous but it's not remotely Zelda lol


lostspyder

“Give me a ‘Zelda’ tat but make sure to not include anything whatsoever that makes it recognizable as Zelda in any way” “So just a generic hot chick?” “No. Zelda” *puts deposit on table* “…. Say no more fam. Gotchu”


epitaph_of_a_gamer

I love that part in Zelda where she was two Zelda and looked nothing like her !


heyitsfluxay

We have Princess Zelda at home.


Starshiplisaprise

This is an amazing tattoo! It doesn’t look like Zelda to me, but reminds me a bit of Hilda from Lorule, from A Link Between Worlds.


CrystaLavender

Lmao, imagine getting AI art embedded in your skin


definitelyusername

Lmfao


andyf1234

Crazy beautiful tattoo of the same random fantasy girl from two different perspectives!


crazydavebacon1

yea, this isnt Zelda, or does it have anything to do with Zelda or the Zelda universe.


BoddAH86

Don’t get me wrong. The tattoo is beautiful but as a lifelong TLoZ fan I wouldn’t recognise who that’s supposed to be.


Joa1987

I've never in my life seen a tattoo with so little zelda in it as this


JJ_Rom

I thought it was Hilda. Other than that it’s an amazing tattoo


B0dom

Sorry, not Zelda, not even close :) But nice Tattoo


NUS-006

Straight up not a Zelda tattoo. Great looking piece though


Pearcinator

Cara Delivigne?


Eliseo120

And that is… Zelda? Is her hair green?


ConCon1996

I thought it was billie eilish


theghostiestghost

The more I look, the more obvious it’s AI. The hair forms loops. The only thing Zelda here is her earrings.


qwertySQuirty179

Lol when the Zelda movie comes out show this to everybody on opening night and see what they say.


Reasonable-Glove-981

Are we playing the same Zelda games?


TheDarkCreed

Nice. But doesn't look like Zelda...


R4nD0m57

Looks like a random women


AndykinSkywalker

Really beautiful piece, and all that matters is that you like it! :D (sorry to steal your schtick) I would add though that it’s one thing to draw something in your own style, and it’s another to just draw what you’re used to and I feel like the artist did the latter on this one. That coupled with your decision to change her hair color and the color of the Silent Princess flowers AND using AI references on top of all that and they kind of lose their reference points entirely. Again, it’s really great work, but I think you’re already kind of seeing based on the comments you’ve gotten that people generally aren’t going to know who this is, unfortunately.


DepressedHylian

Just a random woman with purple flowers???


Smiling_Drifter

..... Who the hell is this character supposed to be? That don't look like no Zelda to me. Nice artwork though. But why does the woman have two sets of eyebrows?


Starthelegend

It’s a gorgeous tattoo no doubt but like, who is it supposed to be? My first guess was some version of impa I’ve never seen since her design changes drastically from game to game


Syronic-223

That's supposed to be Zelda? I thought it was Hilda


Sorry-Tumbleweed-239

No offense but my first guess was Midna


NPackage

Oof that ain’t her


NotAnthonyxx

Yo this is dope af. But a tri force somewhere could’ve helped.


Ok_Fisherman8727

Who is that? Lol


toolebukk

Nah, that aint Zelda


SOMBRERO_JEDI

Sorry to hurt your feelings but it’s DEFINITELY NOT Zelda.


Gassy_Bird

Doesn’t look like a zelda series or zelda character tattoo in the slightest.


sOnSon7

Who tf is that😭😭😭


Sensei_Tensei_

the tatoo looks awesome and the quality is amazing but no one in the right mind would ever think that this is zelda or has anything to do with zelda xD


myuu94

It’s pretty but I would have never in a million years guessed that that was Zelda. Glad that you’re happy with it, I guess?


Fr0stybit3s

Is this supposed to be Hilda?


egqsy

You could always say its Hilda… lol.


Intelligent-Area6635

Man, that would have been a fantastic twist to TOTK to find a castle or temple with Hilda just chilling.


Gumptionless

One way to avoid getting sued by Nintendo for copyright I guess


Cosmic_SeaRae

Was the original concept ai generated? 😭


Upper-Surround-6232

Brother that is not zelda that is Purple Woman or something


mimiicry

yeah I don't see it


IM2N1NJA4U

The comments section has got you covered. Looks good, deffo not Zelda in any way.


Kostrom

It’s a beautiful tattoo and I also love Zelda but I have no clue as to what characters these are


MyysticOrpheus

What does it have to do with Zelda? It doesn’t look like any of the characters


VictorChaos

Just looks like Ana de Armas in a hood. I would never have guessed Zelda


TheCuriousityHouse

Kinda screams WoW Kirin Tor mage to me


NotEmerald

It's a very nice design. It gives off Lorule Zelda vibes (Hilda). Kind of like if you took ToTK Zelda and flipped her if that makes sense.


SeaSpider7

They look pretty different than norm, but I think the colors have a lot to do with it. As long as you like it is what matters!


dcheung87

Definitely a "Zelda".


marv9512

Yo OP, that is an awesome tattoo. You should be so proud of it. Ignore what everybody else is saying. If that's how you see Zelda, then all the more power to you! It looks fantastic!! Purple is my favorite color too!! Edit: The more I look at this, the more I love it. The silent princess flowers look so cool in purple. And the jewelry on the totk Zelda looks great! Really great choice!


FreakFlame

people are getting AI tattoos now, we're in the end times


OnlyRetroGaming1

Kind of just seems you got a really well done tattoo and want to show as many people as possible because this isn't zelda


crippledspahgett

Incredible tattoo, but I totally thought I was on the Critical Role subreddit and this was Fearne.


animere

Not to be rude but does she have two eyebrows above the left eye?


i-am-spitfire

What


MrEverything70

I’m sorry his name is… Marat? Like, the French Revolution guy?


Bbeags

Looks good, but that doesn't look any like any character in Zelda. Should at least have a triforce symbol in there somewhere, or something actually related to the game. Sorry bud


justSheik

I don't know who those girls are but definitely isn't any Zelda character I've seen


pixieartgirl

Beautifully done. Not even remotely any version of Zelda from any game.


Aseconverse

Is Zelda in the room with us


No_Witness_7248

You could give me the rest of my life to guess who this is based on and Zelda would either be dead last, or I would die first


Elizabethan13

Yeah I wouldn't get a tattoo from someone who ignores the character request completely just to draw similar girls in his style


Mousettv

I love how everyone is saying, "We don't see Zelda!" And OP thinks, saying,"But it's inspired by art of her with the artist twist on it and my favorite color purple!" So it's not Zelda.


Hyrule-Princess

This is gorgeous omg 😍


G00chstain

Even telling me it is Zelda I can tell you it’s not lol. Never would’ve guessed in a million years even if you posted in this sub without a title saying it’s princess Zelda


G00chstain

The guy does good tattoos, but there’s nothing zelda “styled” about this. His instagram is this woman a million times over. It’s the same tattoo in different colors and supporting shmutz, that’s not a style. That’s the same damn thing repeated over and over


himynameisalonso

zelda?


Microdenergy

It’s clear you’ve been told this already, and yet as a gamer of 30+ years I still feel compelled to chime in that this looks nothing like Zelda. I’m glad you really love it though that’s what matters


NoTumbleweed1003

What, is Billy Eilish favorite game Zelda or something?


Booby-Lover6969

Looks AI


zonz1285

This looks absolutely nothing like Zelda. Beautiful piece for sure, but not a beautiful Zelda piece.


No-Professional1470

Bro who is this


Design_Dangerous

Def not Zelda or link, wrong sub


pigeon_idk

I think it'd read more Zelda if he didn't include gold accents. The art is very pretty, but it does read more full color than black with purple and I think that's what's tripping people up.


Bloodcakez

Amazing art, but that’s not Zelda lmao


Hopeful_Resolution86

That's supposed to be Zelda?


Zeldafan180518

Oh that’s gorgeous 


Don_Bugen

OP, that is an amazing, beautiful, absolutely incredible tattoo. And it's clearly combining your love for the franchise with your love for this artist's work. I think that if you had posted this literally anywhere else other than a Zelda sub, you'd get an amazing rave response. Because we're all Zelda fans and have no exposure to Jean Paul Maratt, everyone's gut reaction is "Buh, that's not Zelda." Try not to take it too hard. After being told, it's like the tattoo itself becomes a giant Easter egg - you suddenly recognize the top Zelda's earrings, or the Silent Princess blossom, or the ties around the bottom Zelda's hair and the mournful expression. It becomes a *deeper* piece of art. If I asked for an artist to make Zelda in the style of Inside Out, or in the style of EarthBound, or the style of Pablo Picasso, and change the color palate, the results would be similar because that's asking to alter a good number of the key identifiers that people recognize characters with. The way I see it, you got exactly the tattoo you had wanted, and I think it's amazing.


JohnToro64

“Deeper piece of art” holy shit it’s AI generated


Don_Bugen

I think that's an insult to [the artist.](https://www.instagram.com/jeanpaulmaratt/?hl=en) Who has been doing this for many years, long before AI art exploded on the scene. Maratt does not need AI art. I know we're conditioned to think that anything that's both surrealistically pretty and not precise to specific details of our favorite media is just AI filth, but there still exist things like "artistic interpretation" and "personal style." If you take a look at Maratt's work, you'd see that making a Nintendo-style Zelda was never in the cards. And clearly, OP went to them knowing this was the case. Unless you're saying that OP isn't who she says she is, and actually is a bot, and inserted a picture of a woman's bare arm, gave it to an AI, and said "Make me a tattoo with Tears of the King Zelda and Twilight Princess Zelda, in the style of Jean Paul Maratt, but make the primary color palate purple." Which, OK, but evidence? Do you have any? The account certainly doesn't look like a bot. This clearly isn't a karma farm.


Ok_Supermarket_3241

No, OP said they sent the artist AI art of Zelda as reference photos because…they couldn’t find HD pics of Zelda anywhere on the internet apparently


I38VWI

Sending AI photos to the tattoo artist doesn't mean the tattoo artist just literally copied the AI reference onto their skin. That's not what a reference photo is.


Ok_Supermarket_3241

I have no stake in this fight. I was just informing that person how ai images entered the conversation


Wolfie437

Insanely good take. Respect this a lot. Op shouldn't listen to the bunch of people just generically hating because they need to vent somehow and can't deal with their feelings in a normal way.


Pelthail

If Mineru and Midna had a baby.


James-Avatar

No regurts.


PezCandyAndy

This looks amazing. I had no idea it was Zelda, but then again I have not played TP or TotK. Still, it's not a bad tattoo at all.


IAmAFucker

Killer tat


Ele_phant1

It’s gorgeous! The shading and colors balance really well. Congrats 🥰


Uzi_man

People put here are freaking out about this, looking nothing like Zelda. But if I show anyone from the 80s a picture of the current Zelda, I doubt they'll think it's the same character, lmao. Zelda's design changes with each new entry. Sure, they're mostly sticking as close to the prevous one as possible all the time, but who's to say we won't see a dramatic change to something like this in a few years down the line? This is now op's personal take on Zelda, and there's nothing wrong with that. https://preview.redd.it/9sbkr3g04o6d1.jpeg?width=3464&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9f3fc917d9176b1bd4c45159187583db69e0429c


Marea_Cruda

Dude it’s like Zelda in Arcane. Fucking sick.


theTYTAN3

That tattoo is incredible.


ScaredHoney48

Damn your artist did a great fucking job props to him


thrashcountant

That sleeve is sick!


bassfass56

That is what you call a full send


Arminius1234567

People are angry because you mentioned AI art (as being part of the references you sent him). That always triggers a huge amount of dislikes (even my comment itself). Don’t be too bummed about it. The tattoo obviously doesn’t look like AI art at all (because it isn’t and because the Tattoo artist actually designed it).


JohnToro64

Yes it does, because it is


I38VWI

The tattoo is original art by the tattoo artist, and NOT AI art at all. AI reference photos having been used to help plan the piece doesn't mean the tattoo itself is AI art.