What made you create Uli? Is he inspired by anyone or anything in particular? How long has it been since you created him? Was he your first OC?
So, Uli is actually the product of a 26 year long love affair with the Legend of Zelda. I have loved the series ever since I was old enough to hold the Nintendo 64 controllers, I adored The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of time, I was 4 when it was first released in the U.S., I would play it (badly) until I was 5 or 6, this grew with every new Zelda game, I was 8 when Wind Waker released on the Gamecube and 12 when Twilight Princess released, That game would change something in my brain, and turn a childhood favorite into a permanent fixture in my life. Uli's namesake is from Twilight princess!
Uli is the mother of Collin one of the characters I saw a lot of myself in, I wound up really liking the name Uli, and when I was naming him, Uli came to mind! And well, He's also inspired by the link from that game! as well as all of the links! He takes after Twilight Princess and BOTW link the most Design wise though.
Uli is also a lot of recycled parts of Kimii my first real OC who has been retired for about 13 years (or more) now.
I honestly don't have any artwork of her older than the ones below from like, 2017
Uli Is about 7 years old! the thing that pushed me into creating him was the release of Breath of the Wild, and meeting Cheese again after a bunch of years! She got me into Hetalia, and me being the goblin I am can't do anything without my comfort Zelda, Wound up making a Crossover between BOTW and Hetalia. We played with the idea of the nations winding up in Hyrule, adventuring with Link for a while, and then I started wondering what Hyrule would look like as a nation. I looked up a ton of references of what other folks thought, and after running the Original HylianCommonwealth blog I drew as many of the other Hyrule Representatives I could find!
The original blog was deleted in a depression accident, but I recall at least one of the creators stepped forward and claimed their OC I hope they are doing well!
Thank you for this ask! It's probs waaay too long!
TL;DR
I love the Legend of Zelda, Dating Cheese caused his creation. He's inspired by every link and Zelda in the franchise and Uli, collin's mom Twilight princess. He's not my first OC but uses assets I liked from my First real OC! Uli is 7 years old this year!