General Info
| Name: | Shadsie |
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| Location: | Currently, I live in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. I grew up in southern Arizona and lived there until 2005. | |
| Category: | Writer/Artist | |
| Website: | deviantArt Gallery | |
| Contact: | shadsieblue@yahoo.com |
Biography
Although Shadsie is a relative newcomer to North Castle and the Zelda community in general she has already produced some excellent, varied work in a short space of time. Her writing and art covers quite a few Zelda titles, spanning from vintage to the modern TP era. She was referred to North Castle by an old mutual friend, Sailor Lilith_chan and I was really happy to see a Zelda fan with a fresh take on the series. My favourite piece of Shadsie's work is definitely the AoL inspired story Hero's Blood. Shadsie's other talents involve painting animal skulls in a myriad of gorgeous paints and designs. Shadsie is open to commissions, please email her if you are interested.
Current Works
Quick Q&A
1. So most importantly, how did you get into the Legend of Zelda?
Well, when I was a young girl of 10, my parents got me a Nintendo Entertainment System for my birthday. It came with Duck Hunt/Super Mario Brothers, but they got me an additional game to go with my present – you guessed it. I spent many hours of my childhood playing the Legend of Zelda. I scavenged a copy of The Adventure of Link from my sister’s family when they decided to get rid of their own NES, and spent many an hour playing that, as well. I’ve never considered myself a “real gamer” mostly because of the cost of upgrading systems and because I didn’t really like how obsessive I would get over a game when I got into it – scared me a little. I did not get into the “creative side” of Zelda until a 29th birthday gift from my fiance’ of a used GameCube and Twilight Princess. It kicked me in the pants and really got my creative juices flowing. You may blame TP for my being in the online Zelda fandom now. (The most recent Zelda game I’d played before TP was A Link to the Past, by the way, on the SNES). Currently, I’m playing through borrowed copies of many other Zelda games and getting obsessive and inspired.
2. And what's your favourite game in the series?
Twilight Princess. It got me creative. I also think that I relate really well to it, to the point where I’ve actually HAD LINK’S JOB in a couple of forms at different points in my life. I’ve done ranch-hand work (horse ranches) and I worked at a zoo for a year as the petting zoo keeper (taking care of goats). I grew up in a small country town (though not as tight knit as Ordon Village, I’m sorry to say). I also have a strong affinity for and connection to the “animal world.” It’s a major subject in my original fantasy writing. In fact, upon discovering TP, I’d just come off of writing and editing an original novel in which one of the main characters was a werewolf. I love the general dark and gritty tone of the game as well. You can say that Twilight Princess “came to me at the right time.”
I do have a special place in my heart for A Link to the Past, though. That game was very fun to play and I enjoyed the surreal nature of the Dark World. It ranks as my second favorite game.
3. Why did you choose The Legend of Zelda to devote so much of your creative energy to?
I just got ideas for it. It just happened, like any of the things I’m inspired to do art and writing for.
4. What are the main influences for your work?
Nature is a big influence on my work in general, original art and writing, fanart, fanfic, what have you. Childhood memories and life experiences seem to play a role in some of my stories. Other fandoms sometimes are an influence (most of my Zelda fan fictions to date have at least one minor reference to the anime/manga Trigun in them, just to be cute). I sometimes get inspiration from other writers and artists – oftentimes with fanfiction, I’ll read several, then decide “I’m going to do something different with this or that overused theme.”
5. What is your favourite piece of work you've done, and why?
Fan art-wise, I like the entirety of my “Linked Aspects” series (four artworks depicting various Links/versions of Link from different games and aspects of life, the universe and everything that each one is particularly connected to).
Fan fiction-wise, I’m not entirely sure. I think they all have strengths and weaknesses. I’m not sure what my favorite stories of mine are in my other fandoms, either – I only seem to know the works that I’m no longer proud of, but I think all my Zelda works are pretty decent, because I’ve had years of practice in writing for other fandoms.
6. Who is your favourite character to write/draw, and why?
Link. As far as writing, I’m drawn to courage. As far as drawing/painting – every version of Link is wonderfully complicated – it makes him both a challenge and pleasure to draw/paint. And I love Hylian ears.
7. Are there any fan writers/artists that you admire?
There are many Zelda fanartists whose work has blown me away and some writing of real brilliance. I really feel too new in this fandom to have gained any specific “loyalties” yet.
I’d say Sailor_Lilithchan, but the bulk of my admiration for her comes from her work in the Trigun fandom, where I met her and she became a good friend. I like her Zelda work, but it’s her Trigun works that I’ve really admired for a long time.
I really can’t “fangirl” anyone definitively in the Zelda fandom as yet.
8. How did you find North Castle?
Sailor_Liilthchan tipped me off. She told me it was a great little site with very nice webmasters and that the community was nice like a specific little Trigun fan community I go to. I was really hesitant to join in Zelda discussion or to post my Zelda work anywhere other than The Fanfiction Network and Deviant Art because Zelda is a big, big fandom and because of the “slings and arrows” I’ve suffered in the Trigun fandom at large communities and within the general fandom at different points before it got all small and quiet. I checked out the site and really liked it, swallowed my fear and decided to post at the community after browsing it.
9. Why did you decide to post your work at North Castle?
As said above, it’s a nice little site. I didn’t feel like my work would get completely lost there, and the people at the community forum all seemed so open and nice. I was relieved when I saw Twilight Princess work there (when I first found the site, that’s all I had under my belt). I was worried at first that NC was “only for vintage Zelda fanworks” but found that it’s vintage Zelda tribute, with room for fanworks of all games. And that’s nice. It’s also nice to have a place to post any vintage-game works I do where it will be appreciated.
10. Finally, any plans for the future regarding your work?
As of the moment, I’ve been dabbling in/trying to plan out a co-write multi-chaptered Zelda “original universe” story with Sailor_Lilithchan, something classic Zelda fantasy, but also with a sci-fi/western theme. At this point, I’m not sure how it will go, but I trust her strength as a writer and feel that doing a co-write will be a healing exercise for me (after having had a bad experience in co-writing with someone else). Maybe it help me to learn to work with another writer again.
Other than that, I’ll go wherever inspiration takes me.
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