Site - FAQ

No, nobody really asked me any of these questions. But I have this section up anyway.

So, you drew this up?

More or less. I replaced most of the text with the Anime Ace font and some grayscale backgrounds you see every so often in the panels were probably done by my friend, who runs Ephemos. Either that or they're stock patterns from Photoshop or this site.

Can I use your artwork?

I don't really care if you use them, but I'd appreciate if you mangled them as little as possible (as in, don't manipulate them to make pornographic pictures or anything like that) and please credit me. While it's true that Zelda is copyright Nintendo, I took time to scribble these pictures down onto paper. Also, if you use them, please e-mail me; I'd like to see what you've done with them.

Why is it in black and white?

Although you'll find the rare color cover and title pages, I don't color very well (as seen in the rare color illustrations that appear every so often). Some color images were done by Kathy Tran and some color pages were done by Vin Lucentai. Neither of them have working websites anymore.

What are your art tools?

For regular comic pages I use a mechanical pencil with .7 mm lead and one of those nifty Math Sketcher rulers you find in elementary school classrooms (I "borrowed" mine and never returned it), but the Math Sketcher broke. I use a regular clear plastic ruler for it now. For inking and coloring I use Sanford fine ink pens and Prismacolor colored pencils.

Just how much of this story is actual "Zelda?"

Well, the current story (I have three in total planned out) is loosely based off of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask (both on the Nintendo 64). I basically started off with the idea of Seven Sages (although in Ocarina of Time there were only six and one more "special sage"), and turned it into a weird fantasy/adventure. You'll find a few videogame references here and there, but if you're hardcore Zelda, you probably won't appreciate or enjoy the story as much as I'd like you to. For anyone who's interested, the second story is based off of the Oracle games as well as Link's Awakening, and the third story is based somewhat off of Link to the Past and Four Swords. Call it a Trifecta (trilogy) in the making.

What possessed you to begin this and how long have you been working on this?

During my high school freshman year (2000-2001), my friend had a generic gaming site and I offered to make him a comic for his site. It was back then I began forming ideas and such. Back then I did the story, originally planning it to be around twelve chapters. However, the aforementioned friend lost interest in his site and let it die. In the winter of 2002 I decided to rebegin this project for my own benefit (and make it very much longer than twelve chapters), with somewhat improved artwork. However, the only obstacle to my happiness was that I couldn't find anybody to scan in the product because they all had some issue or another with something, until recently in the Winter of 2003 I found someone willing to do it for me, and I was able to edit it myself once it was scanned in. So, now I present to you something which I was waited for a very long time to present. Everything's peachy now since I have my own scanner though.

How often do you post new Levels?

Levels come out as erratically as I please, since this is my hobby, not a job. I'm not getting paid for this. Also, since I'm a college student now with a part time job, I don't have as much time as I'd like to devote to making new Levels.

How long do you plan to make this series?

I'm not really sure. I do have certain checkpoints in the story I have to see my progress through the entire plot, but I'm also making things up as I go along. Even though I've been working for a few years, I'm only about a half done with the checkpoints I've laid out for myself regarding the story. So, with any luck, the current story will run to be about 90-100 Levels. Also, like I've mentioned before, this is only the first story out of three. With any luck, the next two stories will be as long, if not longer, than the first.

You've changed around a lot of things, haven't you?

True. Hyrule, instead of being just a kingdom, is now a planet. Also, while Ruto is a zora, she appears Hylianoid, but there's a reason for that. Don't worry, the zora still look like zora. Darunia looks like a pretty boy, true, but there's a reason for that too when you read along. The Kokiri have changed in the fact that they have tails and they actually age. Now, the Skulltula have completely changed, but you'll find out more about that when the story moves along.

May I post your comic on my page?

I personally have no problem with that, but attaining the Levels and hosting them onto your own server is your responsibility, not mine. The only requirement is that you give me my credit and link back to me. Also, tell me so I can link back to you. If you want to translate my comic in other languages, you'll be hosting the translations yourself.

Okay, now this part is obviously influenced by (insert random anime and/or manga and/or television show and/or videogame title here).

Dude, everything I put out is influenced by what I take in, much like most people. That is all I have to say.

What is your comic rated?

I'd have to say it's more or less safe for almost everyone. I personally don't think there's too much, if any, questionable content in this comic.

Just who are you?

My name is Atelier Joh, formerly known as Love A. Riddle, formerly known as Pokedem. I write and draw a webcomic that nobody reads. Sometimes I eat instant ramen.

You're a freak.

If you have nothing nice to say, don't say it at all. If you think my comic is crap, then don't read it. If you're going to be immature and say "I'll create my own comic and it'll be better than yours ever will be," you're simply a sad little person who has way too much time on their hands (this has happened before, although I won't mention her name so she doesn't get any attention, which she seeks).

You have a typo.

After a while, I just stop caring.

Why do the characters have classes? Are you addicted to FFXI?

Nope, I never plan to touch that game in my life. Besides, FFXI isn't the first game to use classes, or even the first medium to do so. Those're there because I felt like it.

Do you want to become a professional mangaka?

Heck no. Do you have any idea what a professional mangaka's schedule is like?! They average about three hours of sleep a day, have to draw, ink, and print out nice text for their comic in about three days' time, their stories have to go under constant supervision of their editors, etc etc etc. I wouldn't be able to handle that kind of stress... not to mention that my coloring outright sucks, and looks completely unprofessional. Besides, I like the way I'm working now. I draw comics in pencil, making it up as I go. If I have to do any minor script changes, I do them on the computer. I have no deadlines. The story is completely under my jurisdiction, and I can do things the way I want.

How dare you molest my favoritest series in the entire universe?! I'll hunt you down to the ends of the Earth and administer super-holy punishment on you! MOON POWER TRANSFORM~!

Bite me.

Why are the Sages' attack names in Japanese?

They're not in Japanese. They sound like Japanese, but they're made up words. If they were written in Japanese, they'd be written in katakana, not hiragana or kanji. Even if they sound something that remotely sounds like Japanese, that's just your imagination.

May I e-mail you?

Sure, at love.a.riddle@gmail.com. It's nice to hear when people appreciate what I do, but I won't be very nice to unconstructive criticism or bashing. If you have AIM, my screenname's Atelier Joh. On Google Talk my username is my e-mail address.

You know, you could just remove all of the Zelda references and have a completely original series.

Thank you for pointing out the obvious. But still, this project started out as a Zelda project, and it's a little too late for me to go back and change everything. If some random publishing company wants to go and publish me, and wants me to change everything relating to Zelda and touch up some areas, then I'd do it. But I'm not getting paid or offered to be published. So this is staying a Zelda project.