Minuet of Forest

So I didn't really intend for this to be such a somber scene, but it just sort of happened as I was working on it. I just really wanted to do a very detailed scene where Sheik teaches Link the Minuet of Forest. However, I had Link kneeling down to touch the tree stump and I really liked how that pose worked in the scene, which made the whole scene feel more sad.

The scene set up was pretty easy. I did my best to recreate the area from the game while trying to add more details. I used @Shinteo's model for Link, as usual. As for Sheik, I used the OOT 3D model since they were in the background and be blurred enough to not make the model stand out as being significantly lower quality.

The majority of the work was in Photoshop. Most obviously, I had to paint in Link's hair again, although this time it was tough to get the colors right. I ended up having to adjust the colors and brightness after I had finished painting the hair. I think the end result blends decently well enough with the scene. I also added a bunch of the floating particles that can tend to show up in the forest as well as some fog. Lastly, I added some extra highlights around the edges of Link to enhance the details and help him stand out even more.