PN Featured Artist: Dzoan Ho

This weeks PN featured artist is Dzoan Ho (@DzoHo). He creates beautiful artwork inspired by some of our favorite video games. Including one of my all time favorites ‘The Legend of Zelda’ series. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to show off some of his amazing creations. At the bottom of this interview there will be a link where you can check out more of Dzoan’s awesome art. Enjoy!

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KD: Do you use any specific programs to create your art or do you prefer using simple tools like a pencil and paper?

DH: I mostly use Photoshop for digital art but I also do traditional art. I love using pencils, markers, inks and watercolors. It’s a shame I haven’t been doing a lot of elaborate traditional art lately.

KD: Do you doodle your ideas a lot throughout the day and then work on them later? Or do you prefer being in your own space when you work?

DH: It depends. Usually it doesn’t really matter where I’m drawing as long as I have enough space to make my mess. I guess it says a lot that I carry around my laptop, pen tablet and sketchbook pretty often. But for more complicated traditional art, I’d rather be in my own space with all of my tools. I also take notes of ideas that I put in a text file that just keeps growing.

KD: What’s your favorite Nintendo game to draw from or play?

DH: That’s a tough one… But I think it would be The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time whether it’s drawing or playing. That game rocked my world back in the N64 days and it holds a special place in my gamer’s heart. At that time I thought it was such a milestone for the video game industry. I remember having that promotional VHS for N64 games with a magazine and it ended with a trailer of TLoZ:OoT. It was still in early stages of development since Link had a design very similar to A Link to the Past. It made me nuts, I was like 11 or 12 and watched that trailer countless times.

KD: I love the ‘Legend of Zelda’ WiiU ‘Link’ piece, its gorgeous! Did you start this piece immediately after watching the recent Nintendo digital event?

DH: Thank you very much! The idea of drawing it came at that moment yes. But I was busy and only started a week after, and now I have to buy a WiiU…

KD: How long does it take you to finish an average piece?

DH: Well, I do different types of drawings so the time it takes also varies. On one hand the WiiU Link piece you mentioned took me overall about 8 to 10 hours. That’s also counting tests, corrections and other tweaks. On the other hand the Wind Waker Link that you selected, took me no more than an hour. Of course there are pieces that take me a lot more (or less) time.

KD: What are some recent projects or art contest you’ve worked on?

DH: I’m currently working on some t-shirt designs for TheYetee.com. Actually I already did 3 designs for them the past year, all video game related. They were made for charity events: Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ), Crystals for Life (C4L) and a couple of weeks ago Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ). Those are week long speedrunning video game marathons recurring each year. Each t-shirt was sold for $11 and $3 of that went to the selected charity. The latest art contest I took part in was the Square Enix DeviantArt Lightning Returns Design contest 5 months ago. I didn’t even come close to the winners but it was a very good exercice. I was also planning on doing the Drakengard 3 contest at siliconera.com last May but I got too busy and missed it. But if you happen to hear about video game art contests, let me know ;)!

KD: Do you ever create custom pieces for people who are interested in your work?

DH: I do when I have the time. The past 3 or 4 years were pretty eventful for me so it’s been a bit hard to do commissions. But you never know, you can always contact me if you’re interested.

KD: Thanks for the interview! Where can our readers checkout some more of your artwork?

DH: Thanks for having me. You can checkout my artwork at http://dzo-ho.blogspot.com or http://dzoan.deviantart.com . You can also follow me on twitter @DzoHo. I’ve been tweeting a lot of doodles lately and that’s also where I announce any updates related to my artwork.

 

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Any artist interested in having their artwork on PureNintendo.com or in PNM can contact me at Kaelyn@purenintendo.com. We love to see anything Nintendo themed from fan art to sculptures to baked goods. You could be the next Pure Nintendo featured artist! Also to see artwork from artists featured in our magazine, PNM, please head to PureNintendo.com/magazine to subscribe!  Thanks for reading.