Thanks to all of my new watchers, and to those who favorited/commented on my piece (I wasn't expecting the sudden rush -- I thought, after uploading so many images of link, people had just become tired of it... how dead wrong I was), I have a difficult time thanking everyone individually, so this should do.

I'm still working on my original character, and Toon Link.  I haven't started the stylized Adult Link quite yet, and I don't think I'll be starting for an extremely long time.

I enjoy my Young Link, even though I feel I could do better with the experience I've gained within the past year.  I think today was the first time I had put on a blank smile, out of sheer pride, just looking at it.  Even though this would appear to be arrogance, it's more of me realising that, last year, I was dealing with an obsession to finish a young link that was of, at least, professional caliber.  I remember the day I finished his current face.  I had been going through about 5 or 6 different faceplates, trying to get the most accurate appearance for him.  I tested some little half assed casting methods: I made a very blank face resembling the shape of OoT3D link's face, casted it, then threw some super sculpey into the cast, using it as a base to sculpt in.  Every single face was based off of it (including the current) -- the intent, at the time, wasn't to necessarily make several different faces for accuracy, but make different expressions.  The last effort I made was a face to resemble the angry look of Link in the MM piece of him holding the razor sword.  This didn't take very long, and wasn't meant to be anything but a test.  When it came out, and I painted it, I absolutely loved it, and decided to make it the default.  I have this sort of "I'd rather not know what's better if I'm already content" sort of a mentality, allowing myself to enjoy a lot more of what's considerably mediocre.  I remember thinking the next day, it looked a bit bland with such a straight paintjob, so I went ahead and added in the pink around his eyes, a long with basic red-pinkish all over it.  I wanted that touch of realism represented in the artwork.  However, not that many people liked it, and it certainly looks better without it (as shown in the Accessories photo).  Once I had the face, I went ahead and started sculpting around it like there was no god damn tomorrow.  Once I had come to nicely proportioned headshape, I literally stopped for over a month.  I felt content with what I thought would be the most difficult part, so I thought.. how the hell COULDN'T I finish it now?  turns out, I needed to motivate myself either way.  After the long, soothing break, I went all out.  I spent more hours sculpting than I think I ever have before.  I spent every day testing new joints, painting separate pieces while sculpting new ones... living a truely wonderful nightmare.  I had finished a arm first.  I was using one of the larger sized revoltech-shaped joints (hobby base), which limited the articulation a significant amount.  I scrapped the arm because of proportioning issues (I tried making the Goron's Bracelet with a rubber cylinder -- paint on what's almost straight rubber doesn't work out too well).  I finished the upper portion of his tunic afterward, back when I still didn't know what the hell it was that I was going to do with the torso joint.  I spent a while still using the larger shoulder joints, then realized... his shoulders aren't that large, and this could really use a figuarts-type inner ball joint.  So, I did just that, and that's why he can pull off the dynamic poses without looking goofy as all hell.  The feet came next, and the idea came from several Halo Mcfarlane figures.  I had originally planned on having the giant gap covered by that rubber I mentioned earlier, but realised it could possibly look worse, and would restrict the hell out of the movement.  After the limb planning was done, and I was content with the engineering, I went to his lower tunic.. this was a really, really big issue.  I was, again, going to use that rubbery material at first.  That didn't work.  It didn't matter how I tried using it, it just wouldn't comply.  Now, I usually don't like trying new things immediately or taking risks, so this was a pretty big leap for me.  I want out, bought some plastidip, and immediately used it.  The first attempt failed miserably.  The second was what you see now.  I still don't know if I used it properly, but it certainly worked out how I wanted it to.  I have no way of concluding this without sounding ridiculous, so I think I'll end it there.

Why did I write this?  No clue.  I think I'm trying to kill time, but I really don't know what for.