The Legend of Linktober...

In the beginning (before 2015)
The couple of years before 2015 I (Joel) had attempted a popular ink based drawing challenge once or twice with no luck at completing the entire month. Not for lack of artistic skills but for lack of inspiration, devotion, or motivation. In other words I thought I couldn't do it. Then in 2015 everything changed...

2015

The ink drawing challenge of 2015 approached and I decided to try it again to see if I could actually push myself through but I used the Drawlloween 2015 prompts. The very first day I did a drawing of Beetlejuice for "Ghost" and shared it on social media. As I went through my Instagram and Facebook feeds filled with artwork I realized maybe I was attempting this from the wrong angle and that I needed to fully theme my entire month in order to motivate myself through it. It dawned on me to try and take the Drawlloween prompts and stretch them to fit something else I love; The Legend of Zelda. This meant I was going to draw Zelda art all month long. Upon day 2 I did my first "Linktober" drawing and shared it on social media with the hashtag of #linktober because it seemed both logical and funny to combine “Link”, “ink”, and “october”. Following the hashtag back on Instagram I found out I was one of 3 total artists doing their ink challenges themed to Zelda, and each of us in a different way. The other two artists in 2015 were jmacdakid (J. Michael Trautmann) and alonsomolinaillustrations (Alonso Molina). We each did our daily drawings and got through most if not all of the whole month. This was it...I did it. I finished my first ever full ink challenge just by using Zelda as my motivation. It felt great and I had seen growth in my own art skills and style. I had to do it again next year.

November 2015 - September 2016

After completing my first ink challenge themed to Zelda I realized this is something that could and should inspire others, so I set to work...I got the social media accounts, the website, the email address, and so on set up and ready. Designing each element as I went along including the logo, the look and feel of this site, the social media profiles, the newsletters, and the calendar. I sat down and wrote out all the non-game specific ideas for the series that I could come up with, grouped some together, and wrote 50 of them on little slips of paper. I pulled 30 out of a hat randomly and voila we had the first "Linktober" calendar. I then took to social media and the internet and released the calendar. I even sent it to some of the Zelda fan sites and they reposted and wrote articles about Linktober (and me), which really helped get it out there.

October 2016 (the first official Linktober)

Finally it began...art came flooding onto Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all hashtagged with #linktober and #linktober2016...it...was...incredible!  Over the course of the entire month I learned that there were somewhere between 300-400 participants in Linktober WORLDWIDE!  It had grown into something big.  This included people that did only 1 day or a few days or even the whole challenge. I was floored! The social media accounts had taken off and people were incredibly happy to have done so much art.  Making it public to use Legend of Zelda as the motivation through Inktober worked, and it worked well.  Numerous artists budding or experienced have new accomplishments of completing the challenge.  This now meant that it had to grow more and become even bigger still.

November 2016 - September 2017

As the time between Linktobers wore on I took to planning, organizing, surveying, and coordinating.  I created a survey for people to take in regards to Linktober 2016 and then I analyzed the data.  This helped me understand where most of the artists were, what daily prompts they liked or didn't like, comments and feedback from them, as well as where to follow them for their art throughout the year.  There were also participants that showed an active interest in the growth and change of Linktober.  I sifted through those and reached out to a handful of them to become helpers and all of them said yes then we suddenly had a team formed...I dubbed them the Linktober Rangers.  Learn more about them on the Rangers page.  Their jobs have been anything from helping come up with ideas for the days of the calendar, populating our resources on Pinterest, and even sharing/commenting/posting with the Linktober social media accounts.  One of the Rangers even surprised us all when he proposed a second calendar; now known as the Quest Calendar.  We finished getting everything ready including the Pinterest boards, the newsletters, the social media, and then we got it on the internet.  Once we put the calendars on the internet we started building the interest in Linktober again.

October 2017 (official year 2)

In the second official year of Linktober it grew bigger than ever.  Zelda fan sites helped share the calendars again and the number of participating artists grew to over 1,000 worldwide.  Linktober also showed up on Tumblr and DeviantArt as well as the other main social media outlets still.  The Rangers helped share posts and reply to comments , messages, and questions, and continued to be busy around the clock with art including their own. 

November 2017 - September 2018

Once Linktober year 2 finished myself and the Rangers set to work on some of the planning of year 3.  Again, we sent out surveys to participants to gain feedback and study what worked and what didn't.  Once the surveys came back we selected 3 new Rangers to add to the team and then proceeded to start deciding the days for the calendars for 2018.  While deliberating on days we accidentally came up with one more calendar...the Chance calendar where vague prompts are given and a dice roll dictates specifics.  In late March of 2018 Linktober made an appearance at C2E2 and was the leader of the Legend of Zelda Fan Meetup at the con (videos soon). At C2E2 Joel also had his table in the Artist Alley at which he was selling his 3 Linktober sketchbooks, original Linktober pieces, logo stickers, enamel pins, and charms/keychains. These items will be listed online for sale soon (check back often).  Later on in mid July Joel was invited by Zelda Dungeon to compete in their Zelda Marathon. Watch the video of Joel playing Minish Cap here.  Then on August 12th we released the 3 calendars for this coming Linktober in an effort to give participants a large lead time to plan and coordinate.  That leave us at now!

October 2018 (official year 3)

For our third official year word spread of Linktober quickly even reaching over 30K people organically on social media!  That meant the calendars got in front of more fans than ever before all with the help of Zelda Dungeon, Zelda Universe, our own Linktober Rangers, and fans like you sharing it everywhere.  We also added the Linktober Chance calendar to the mix which brought about a table top gaming aspect into Linktober.  The Chance calendar has vague prompts and requires dice to play that when rolled dictate what the rest of the daily prompt is, thus it is all by chance.  All three calendars saw many participants both daily and intermixed for the whole month.  Our appeal grew so much that we had over 2,000 participants worldwide for Linktober 2018!

November 2018 - September 2019

After the very successful Linktober 2018 it became clear that artists out there still wanted to be making Zelda art year-round and sharing it.  Our team decided that we would help with that and we created an off-season calendar called Linktober Legacy.  For Linktober Legacy instead of daily prompts there is just one vague prompt and artists can make as much or as little art as they want.  We still reshare art relating to that throughout the year so we can keep the Linktober momentum going.  It wasn't only a new calendar in our off-season, but many of our Rangers (we added 3 new ones) represented Linktober at conventions around the world.  This includes our Captain Joel that lead a fan meetup at C2E2 2019 as well as panel called "Art, Creativity, and The Legend of Zelda" which packed the panel room.  The panelists for it were Okami.ink, OddlyCosplay, Raz Ortiz Illustration, and Mases the head of Zelda Dungeon.  The panel can be viewed on our YouTube channel and our Instagram.  Joel also participated in the Zelda Dungeon Zelda Marathon for a second time; competing in a Minish Cap Race and drawing a piece for charity.  Some of the other Rangers even made art for charity too! Surveys were sent and filled and the team set to work on the new calendars that we just released!!

October 2019 (official year 4)

We released our 2019 calendars in mid-August to a more viewers than any prior year.  On Facebook alone our main calendar had a 100K organic reach!  That means over 100,000 people around the world saw it without us paying to boost or advertise it.  Our calendars on Twitter reached around 30K as they had the year before.  Ultimately this meant that our span across the internet and globe grew!  We did have a lot of help from our friends at both Zelda Universe and Zelda Dungeon with sharing.  All 3 of the calendars had participants.  The main calendar is our usual mix of Zelda prompts, the Quest calendar is the create-a-character linear adventure one, and the Chance calendar is a gaming calendar where a roll of the die dictates what the artist makes.  Multiple calendars seem to help us get a great variety of talent and interest. October 2019 brought us 3,000 participants and more!!

November 2019 - September 2020

After Linktober 2019 we added another few Rangers to the team and continued to try to get artists to participate in our Linktober Legacy calendars.  Many of the Rangers continued to work shows and conventions around the world as we started planning our next moves for Linktober's future.  We also launched a Ko-Fi page where we can post some of our art and people can freely donate small amounts of money (or cups of coffee) to us to help us keep going.  Once January came around I also launched a small Kickstarter to get some of the Linktober merchandise made.  This campaign was fully funded and the rewards we fulfilled.  We even made a page thanking the backers here on the site!  On top of that Joel was able to work his table at C2E2 again as it happened over Leap weekend and was one of the last big conventions before the pandemic really closed everything stateside.  It was another successful weekend and there were many great friends and fans at the table as well as cosplayers for the cosplay photos!  For most of 2020 our participants and team sheltered in place staying safe and healthy, and also doing lots of artwork. This got Joel thinking how we could help.  In mid June this website held the very first "Linktober's Zelda Creator Con" to much success with over 150 participating creators showcasing their works, services, talents, and abilities.  Many people attended (virtually, of course) through our site, Discord, and our full weekend line up of panels and live art and gaming!  Creator Con was a huge success with a ton of well-known talent even from the actual Zelda games!!

October 2020 (official year 5)

Linktober 2020 lead us into new frontiers as per usual. Many new artists joined of all ages and skill level and had as much fun as possible too. We introduced another new calendar Linktober Shadow comprised of all sorts of villainous characters and evil things. This meant we were up to 4 regular calendars and our usual Linktober Legacy of October; Koroktober. Our reach continued to expand and in our 5th official year we had as many as 5,000 participants worldwide! That includes if anyone even only did one day. Nonetheless, Linktober 2020 was another huge success and didn't miss a beat leading into our very next project!

November 2020 - September 2021

Even before Linktober 2020 wrapped up our Ranger Mimi was hot on the trail of research for our next endeavor...a zine! She brought forth the idea and laid everything out so we could begin the process and so some of the Rangers joined together and we started down a long path of making a zine. Our interest check was popular enough that we opened applications, had over 400 applicants, and made our difficult choices on which creators to accept. Since then most of our focus has been on building the whole zine which is now in preorders and should hopefully ship by the end of the year! The zine hasn't been the only project during the 35th Anniversary of the entire series! Our off-season challenge Linktober Legacy has been themed to the separate games each month as a means to get everyone in on the celebration and we have seen some amazing art come out of it! Since Linktober's Zelda Creator Con was a success in 2020; Joel decided to host it again this summer! An even bigger hit than in the first year we had over 200 creators in the show including voice actors from the games, musicians, live streamers, cosplayers, podcasts, and so much more. If you missed it then be sure to check it out again in 2022!

October 2021 (official year 6)

November 2021 - September 2022

October 2022 (official year 7)

November 2022 - September 2023

THE FUTURE
The future for Linktober continues to stay bright.  As long as people love the Legend of Zelda and it inspires them to create; we will be around for it.  Stay tuned for more from Linktober as we continue to grow!  Make sure to follow our social media and sign up for the newsletter for the latest happenings!