seyaryminamoto:

In my life I decide and it turns me on
How I am, how I live, who I love
In my way, I feel strong, and it turns me on
In my life, I decide, I decide

Countdown: 3 days to Gladiator’s Fifth Anniversary

When it came to the Slate, I actually had no song in mind. I confess… I mostly wrote it listening to Two Steps From Hell, and of course, they don’t usually do songs with lyrics so I had to go browse my music library. After a few rounds here and there, I figure this is the best fit.

While I could have split the Slate with the Festivals/Ball, I couldn’t bring myself to do it when it really came down to it. Making a full one for the Slate was only right and fair, as it’s one of Sokka’s biggest challenges and achievements to date.

Of course, I did not feel confident enough to pull off the platform properly, so I settled for… the bars, really. Sorry to disappoint. But hey, you guys get to see the Millennium Dragon now! His body looks weird-ish but I kinda like how his face turned out. As for Sokka… I’m really enjoying all these angry action Sokkas. Can’t lie, they make me a happy fangirl. It’s so much fun to draw him like that. And this time he gets to wield Wolf’s Bane, another must because this is the fight where its skills with firebending were discovered.  

Ceremony Azula was a lot of fun too. Finally I’ve drawn her bending her gold fire, though admittedly making her bend blue and gold simultaneously is just an artistic liberty, as she can’t really do both at the same time. But you guys know that, just as you also know I just had to make her look as graceful as I could :’D I’m pleased enough with how she turned out.

Zuko and Suki’s intense heart-to-heart was nice to draw too, I particularly like how Suki turned out in this one. After all these years I finally feel like I’m doing the girl some justice! But I also… am really proud of Mai and Ty Lee here. I feel like I’ve made them look enough like themselves, while giving them what was needed so they’d look more aged up… and heh, Ty Lee’s hands. I… had never drawn someone in that position before. I am patting myself in the back for it, sorry not sorry.

There’s still three more artworks to go, so wait for ‘em!

seyaryminamoto:

“What will save us?”
And the sky opened up
Everybody wants to change the world
Everybody wants to change the world
But no one, no one wants to die

Countdown: 4 days to Gladiator’s Fifth Anniversary

And another major highlight arc in Gladiator, the Pairs Tournament arc! I still love the fact that this arc came out of a simple ask back in Gladiator’s very first review party… it was merely a suggestion, asking if I’d ever consider getting these four to work together. At the moment I thought it’d be fine, but I wasn’t entirely sure how to get it to work… and as things started to fall into place it became one of the most fun and complicated arcs to plot for Part 1. 

I know, I know, if you’re keeping up with the story you may look at this and feel sad/mad because of recent events, but believe it or not, I genuinely enjoyed making these four work together when I did. Things fell apart later, namely between Azula and Iroh, but for a short time they managed to get along, be friends, save Toph from a chaotic situation that could have potentially ruined her life… and of course, the positive, long-lasting consequence is that Toph became good friends with Sokka and Azula after this 😀

The song chosen this time around is a little bit insane and choosing the right lyrics I wanted for the artwork was… complicated. But the thing is, I listen to that song and all I can think of is Toph wreaking havoc all over the place xD It served as inspiration back during the Scavenger Hunt arc (which, sadly, I couldn’t add to the previous artworks because it didn’t really fit…), and it inspired me here too. It’s strange, but what can you do. This weird song suits Toph a bit too well.

So, alas, our villain of the arc is at the top with his hypnotized gladiators, along with the rest of the Dai Li squad, who are ready to do whatever Long Feng wants them to. Drawing him was surprisingly fun…

The center piece is just the group at the arc’s earliest stages, when Toph liked trolling everyone, Iroh liked laughing at how she trolled them, Azula was pissed at everyone and Sokka just wanted it all to be over ASAP. But as things progressed they all bonded, and while I didn’t draw any of the crazier scenes from later on in the arc, I wanted to draw the train ride and the visit to Lu Ten’s grave. The train was just a sweet little moment where Azula had a chance to laugh at Sokka’s antics after being conflicted about him for a while, and the idea of Toph and Iroh resting against each other like that was just too endearing to pass up. Finally, Lu Ten’s grave is the smallest bit… but yep, it really did have to happen. The one person who could get Azula and Iroh to get along was him, even from the afterlife. So yep, give Lu Ten all the credit for that one.

Alas, I did end up too proud of this one so here you go. It kicked my ass in every way it could, and I was almost crying of despair by the time I was almost finished (and then I realized I’d forgotten a few things so I had to get back to it! :’D), but I look at it now and… yeah, it was worth it. Torturing myself works sometimes (?)

Wait for the next one tomorrow!

seyaryminamoto:

After a short kiss, you were hesitating,
Strongly, weakly.
We’ll force a new beginning this time,
I don’t want to regret anything.

Countdown: 5 days to Gladiator’s Fifth Anniversary

Here we go with today’s round, hopefully putting behind the nonsense from yesterday…

This one’s a mix of the Ember Island arc (as must be obvious with the two scenes at the tp and the one at the center), the Notorious Stingray chapter/arc (bottom right) and Azula’s Birthday arc (bottom left). Trying to cram plenty of content into a single place. The chosen song is another of those songs I had always loved, but that became absolutely essential to my plotting of the Ember Island story arc. Listening to it was the best way to visualize what would happen there…

As I mentioned, the top pictures are from the famous Ember Island arc that made one too many readers cry. Zuko’s covering up his wound with his hand, that jaw was certainly sore for a few days :’) as for Baby Azula fleeing from her mother… I’m still pretty shocked it came out decent. Seriously. I’ve lost all touch with drawing children and I keep doing it wrong, but I think it’s not that bad for once.

Of course, the center piece is what everyone remembers the most about this arc, including me, and what made it so memorable. I’d never been able to draw anything from this scene successfully… lucky me that it paid off for once. Just in time, too. But yep, this is right after Azula’s mild breakdown, Sokka comforts her and manages to assuage some of her worst fears. Her problems weren’t  gone after this, everyone ought to know as much, but knowing she’d have Sokka by her side certainly helped her feel a little better about life. Poor girl has been lonely for too damn long and never had a genuine confidante she could trust the way she can with Sokka. He’s stuck it out with her through her best and her worst, and she finally embraced her feelings here (just like Sokka in the previous artwork). So… yep. I have so many feels about this still.

The two bottom pictures were also really important to me. I’d always wanted to draw Azula comforting Sokka after his disastrous fight against the Notorious Stingray, but it never worked either xD so yay! Success at last! And then there’s also that kiss on the ridges of the Capital’s crater, from her birthday… I think that’s a decent rendition of her birthday dress, but alas, as I didn’t have to show much of it, that’s as good as it gets (?)

… I’m proud of this one. Can’t deny it. But I also am proud of the next one, so I hope you’ll check it out tomorrow.

seyaryminamoto:

Right now, there are many things I don’t understand
But I’ll keep moving forward on the path I believe in
Regardless of what kind of foe or friend I face
There’s no way I’ll let go of your hand, it’s a crimson oath

Countdown: 6 days until Gladiator’s Fifth Anniversary

And things begin to look nicer for our two main leads once we reach the Emerald Rockman and the White Lotus Attack arcs! This artwork’s a bit crazy, blending multiple scenes this way, but I hope it works for you guys anyhow.

The song I chose really feels like the perfect song for Sokka at this point in his life. The determination to succeed and find his path, the hesitation when his reality seems to crumble apart around him, and the urge to protect that which he loves… that last thing is the reason why I decided to finish the artwork with that scene at the bottom. As some of you may recall, that’s when Sokka finally comes to terms with how he feels, which was a HUGE step forward in our slow burn affair xD

I’m rather proud of how Haru’s crystal/glassbending looks. I’ve always thought it’s interesting how there was crystal bending in the show, but no one ever went in depth with it over there. Because of that I figured it’d be fun to give Haru an extra ability, one he hadn’t demonstrated in the show but that the show itself had demonstrated as a possibility. I figured Haru has been fighting as a gladiator for quite a long time, and all those battles in sand rings allowed him to develop crystal/glassbending little by little. But, as we know, his lack of subtlety in most other regards got him into trouble with his old sponsor anyhow. Safe to say he’s better off now with someone who likes him just as he is.

Zuko and Suki were a must here, too. Their first proper encounter happened in this arc, subtle as it was. As they’re a prominent subplot throughout Part 1, they deserved their spotlight.

But the main fun thing I decided to do was have several scenes interacting with each other… which is, Azula’s last gambit when fighting the White Lotus mixed with Sokka fighting in the Royal Dome. Their lighting rod attack thing has always been a fun skill I’ve wanted to use more often in the story, and who knows, maybe I’ll get to use it again sometime :’D but as it’s something they discovered/developed in the White Lotus Attack arc, it had to be in here. It just had to! xD

Keep an eye out for the next one tomorrow! 😀 I really love that one…

seyaryminamoto:

Velvet Heart,
Poison reaches my veins when you caress me
I’m not alone,
A deadly kiss in the dark
Your velvet heart
The ashes of love buried in the past
A masquerade of the lonely torn-apart souls 

Countdown: 7 days to Gladiator’s Anniversary

From the moment I was plotting this arc, it began to take shape around that specific song by Leaves’ Eyes. Gosh, I don’t know what is it about it that it ALWAYS makes me think about this arc. It never fails.

Anyways, this one’s the artwork that caused my 911 post the other day, if you were wondering :’D I seriously felt awful after finishing Xin Long xD and it’s only his head! But yep, my hand told me to stop it so I had to stop…

Admittedly, this is one of my favorites of the whole batch. I didn’t really think I’d ever draw the Rough Rhinos, and I certainly didn’t draw all of them, but heck, I guess they don’t look that bad xD and there’s Rui Shi too, I took off his helmet so you’d all know who it was! But yeah, he’d normally keep that helmet on, we all know that…

Azula’s fire offering for Xin Long still makes me giddy even after all this time. Truthfully I’m very astounded that I could draw not only another version of it, but to draw it from such an angle? Boggles the mind! But heck, it worked, so I’ll happily take it as a good thing xD Sokka’s panicked expression is enhanced by the marks of sleeplessness, I tried to draw both him and Azula slightly unkempt as to show the toll the forest was taking on them. But granted, Azula still had to look graceful or else… (?)

Alrighty, hope you enjoyed it! Keep an eye out for the next one tomorrow!

i-draw-azula:

“Azula… Please, wake up… please. It’s over now. You’re safe, you won, everything’s good… so please, open your eyes.” Ch.55

@seyaryminamoto – more art so you can finally cry xD

Sokka and Azula heroic night. I should do art for it! This scene was too emotional and the entire intense situation deepned their bond.

(I added some dirt on their clothes due to the battles they fought)

PS: Sorry this is not well-drawn, I used my finger to draw on my phone instead of my favorite pencil on my sketch. It wasn’t as good as I wanted but a little better than I expected.

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