North Air Temple

Avatar Season 1, episode 17.  The Northern Air Temple on the cusp of a mountain.  The script called this setting "The Air Above", so we went with a super wideshot overlooking the panorama.  I colored it for my portfolio this year.  If you look closely, you can read the note that says "windmills" on the side pointing to a helix....It looks cute (if you can call my handwriting cute).

Teeeechnically, I toned it first, then colorised it & added textures & painted highlights. I wouldnt start a painting like that from scratch, but I had little time....This is in the back of some of my presentation cards :) the other half have the mountain view of the castle from the first posting in this blog.

Avatar finale - Mysterious island forest

Avatar finale! Season 3 Episode 19... Fantastic finale, fantastic sequences, fantastic music!! The mysterious island top where Aang meditates before his final battle. First is the line drawing in separate layers, as designed for the board shot.

Then the I montaged the images AND toned for my portfolio since there was too much info on the foliage with the images combined ( I had to break the planes) . I pretty much based it on the morning lighting from the episode sequence where Aang reaches the top. I think I gave it a little more haze in my value version... I like chilly, hazy forests, kinda dreamy I think (since I grew up in a desert). Makes you think magical little creatures are going to come out & talk to you..

Avatar Press Art

This one was press art for season one. I just did the line drawing and toned it for myself this year (I dont think the values or the light source match the end product, which I didn't color). Appa & the kids stand in the foreground for those who remember this piece ( hence the big open space right in front). It's a little rougher than my other cleanups, so you can see some perspective lines here & there. I left 'em ... I like 'em...

Avatar Season 3 - Beach Episode

Season 3 Episode 5....the beach episode. Based on thai architecture. The funny story here is that before this episode started I was in Mike & Bryan's office on my weekly design meeting with Bryan going over designs for an episode. Mike was out of the office but his laptop was on his desk. It was turned off but the screen was up, and from my point of view I could see a very thin layer of dust because the light hit it at an angle (the kind of dust you never see from a straight on angle). The thing is that the keyboard had made impressions on the dust that created "window patterns" in my appreciation. So I sketched that and saved it for later... Couple of episodes later, the Beach appears...and with that and a little bit of thai flavor & Bryan's volcanic mountain reference from iceland, these were the results. The house outline & the row of windows on the first drawing were drawn from what I thought I saw on the keyboard.

So the main house for Lo & Li (Azula's advisors) ended up being super tiny and these exterior sketches became the standard residences in firenation beachtown (as you can see in the episode). But the interior concepts you see here were in real scale to the house. Idea was that it was tiny & overdecorated with all kinds of trinkets and patterns.

Ruins - Early Fire Civilization - Avatar

Avatar Season 3 Episode 13. Creator Bryan Konietzko wanted the ruins of the Ancient Fire Civilization to be inspired by Mesopotamia, Ur & stepped pyramids (Ziggurats). The city was designed to step down gradually as we move away from the main temple at the center. This was fun because all of us had input here, and I like coordinating efforts to create a brainchild.

Venice

Shots created from Venice reference, cuz these particular settings don't exist. Also, these layouts were personal work from a while back too ( art school). The top one has remained a rough layout. I enjoy the marker roughness with col-erase & marker values. If I clean it up it'll lose its particular energy, shmaybe later....Recognize the bridge at the bottom drawing?

Episode 308 - The Puppetmaster

Avatar Season 3 Episode 8. Concepts and finished pieces from the mysterious village by the mountain. The top were my concepts for the show. The middle drawing was developed from Lauren Montgomery's shot from her board sequence.

The kitchen at the bottom is developed from the bottom lil' rough from the concepts at the top (from meeee). I added value to the kitchen based on a morning scene from the show for my portfolio... too many BW drawings were leaving me blind. Plus its fun, fun, fun :)....as long as it ends up looking decent, though..

Avatar Season 3 - Mine town

These are my concept sketch & finished piece for the Mining town for Episode 7 Season 3

Avatar Season 2

Avatar season two Background Layouts. The Bison Hall was developed from Director Giancarlo Volpe's sketch from his board sequence. The the Ba Sing Se Tea Shop's developed from Dean Kelly's sketches from his sequence. I added value to the Bison Hall later for my portfolio based on the end colored BG from the episode (since the columns were designed to create long shadows). There were too many line drawings altogether in my portfolio so I had to break 'em up since too much white paper will blind you ("bliiinded by the liight" like Manfred Mann says)

Mountain City - Tonals

My industrial Mountain City...this ones are still a tonal. They were "colored" with various blue pencils, but mainly col-erase, for easy smudging & lift-out that took forever. The upshot is an apartment complex in a residential ara. People lived stacked up in this town. The Warehouse interior was my favorite....I might add extra views and add real people, not just pinheaded little phantoms. Time to unearth those drawings

Mountain City - Palace View

One of my earliest layouts from some years back. It is a set of tonal drawings about a vertical industrial city in a mountain range with a palace at the top. Its just a premise with some ideas for characters here & there...I might revisit it & make an outline, so the look may change a bit now that I have new inspirations & Im all grown up now ;)

I colored this one earlier this year...I should revisit them all...