Being at a color correction session for Book 2 today reminded me that I kicked off this blog a year ago this week with a snapshot of Korra from a Book 1 color correction session. A year later and I’m still behind in all my work, you’re all still mad the show is not out yet (which, please understand, is akin to being mad at a tree for not growing apples fast enough), and Korra is still a beast.
Thanks for caring enough to be mad and for following this blog! Love, Bryan
Thanks to everyone who has followed this blog and supported my work this past year. I had no idea this would be the case when I took the Tumblr plunge, but making “personal” art pieces to post on here forced me to grow as an artist and has fed back into my “professional” work, and it has inspired me for the possibilities in my future endeavors. I deeply appreciate it, and hope you got something worthwhile out of this blog too. A huge thanks to all of the incredible artists I follow on here for the invaluable inspiration, and to the ATLA and LOK fans for all the spirited fanart, GIFs, cosplay, etc. You guys help to fuel us through the crazy process of bringing animation to life.
I wish you all the best in 2013. Happy New Year!
KATARA
This piece was inspired by the bewitching and bewildering work of Amei Zhao, aka seventypercentethanol, who consistently blows my mind here on Tumblr.
Driving home from work earlier this week, I saw this incredible cumulus cloud emerging from the twilight sky above the San Gabriel Mountains and I resolved to try to paint it. It seemed like the kind of moment in nature upon which Aang would meditate.
I worked on this between phases of design “homework” for Korra today. Man, I haven’t done a traditional self-portrait since my senior year at RISD, which was… ‘97/’98. Incidentally, this one is pretty much the same angle as the last one I did all those years ago, although that one was in oil. As I am trying to learn digital painting, it seemed like a good idea to go back to basics. Plus, I just learned what GPOY means.
![bryankonietzko:
ZUKO SKETCH
Happy ten years, buddy.
You’re so amazing Bryan :’]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8dj1tORWO1rptk5lo1_500.jpg)
I’m having fun looking through the roughs for these old DVD covers. This one is from October of 2005, and is a rare case where I am actually happy with the final version, even now. I like this sketch too, though. This piece always felt very serene to me.
More old stuff while I’m buried in new stuff. This was the rough for one of the last DVD covers I did in 2008. As usual, the rough was a lot cooler than the finished piece.
This is an update of sorts, based on a little concept I did almost exactly 10 years ago. I worked on it a few minutes at the end of each day this week. *Trying* to get better at digital painting. Hope you guys enjoy it. Have a great weekend!
