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Description
I have struggled with EVERY aspect of this piece!!! D8 And I'm not even sure I like the finished product... but here we go! XD

[edit: I drew this during Zutara week because, although I hadn't planned on participating, everyone's zeal pulled me in. Unfortunately, I don't think my chosen theme matches any of the given prompts.... :/ ]

ABOUT THE SERIES:
Read the gallery description here.

ABOUT THIS PIECE:
Zuko & Katara

Duality
I ran into a horrible inspiration block with these two. The rest of the couples in this series of mine are canonish enough to have some serious multilayered deliciousness to analyse and break down into a single word. But something about Zutara stumped me. Not that they don't have plenty of fun things to run with in the last several episodes. (^w^) But probably because I have a hard time seeing these two as the lovey-dovey romance that they're portrayed as in a lot of fanart (as fun as it might be to picture, sometimes).

Instead, I wanted to explore something more basic, more true... what was it that ties Zuko and Katara together in such a dynamic match? At first I thought of "trust," since that was the element in the series which defined much of the growth in their relationship. But somehow it wasn't enough. It didn't explain why even the writers started playing with Zutara from the beginning; why the scenes with just the two of them were always some of the most intense...

Then it hit me.

Duality. These two are charged for each other -- romantically or otherwise. Good & Evil, Trust & Betrayal, United & Isolated, Prejudice & Understanding, (not to mention Yin & Yang, Water & Fire)... they are each other's opposite theme in so many respects. But not only is Zutara defined by a duality between them, but also by a duality within them.

Zuko is the most dynamic character of the entire series. I really don't think I need to explain where his internal duality comes from. But Katara's on the other hand, is more subtle (in a way). Zuko created Katara's duality -- he inspired, in her, the strongest hate and distrust she had ever displayed. Never was she so outlandishly spiteful toward anyone as much as she was toward him upon his joining Gaang. Katara -- who had been defined as the mother figure of the group -- was continuously vicious with someone everyone else had accepted. As a viewer, I was absolutely shocked at how drastically she changed at that point.

And yet he also was able to regain her trust, in what I believe climaxed at the Agni Kai -- the crown jewel to their parallel as fire and water saved each other's lives.

Symbols
Like my Darcy/Elizabeth piece, this one also lacks all manner of symbols. Most of anything is unoriginal color balancing and logo usage. The pose I tried to go for in this was something sort of tsundere, less romance, more awesome got-each-other's-back-because-we're-sexy-as-hell-like-that.

MORE IN THE SERIES

CREDITS
Paper textures ~Knald
Floral Pattern ~crazy-alice
Lily graphic
Avatar & all related characters and concepts (c) Nickelodeon Animation Studios
art (c) anifanatical

Description
I have struggled with EVERY aspect of this piece!!! D8 And I'm not even sure I like the finished product... but here we go! XD

[edit: I drew this during Zutara week because, although I hadn't planned on participating, everyone's zeal pulled me in. Unfortunately, I don't think my chosen theme matches any of the given prompts.... :/ ]

ABOUT THE SERIES:
Read the gallery description here.

ABOUT THIS PIECE:
Zuko & Katara

Duality
I ran into a horrible inspiration block with these two. The rest of the couples in this series of mine are canonish enough to have some serious multilayered deliciousness to analyse and break down into a single word. But something about Zutara stumped me. Not that they don't have plenty of fun things to run with in the last several episodes. (^w^) But probably because I have a hard time seeing these two as the lovey-dovey romance that they're portrayed as in a lot of fanart (as fun as it might be to picture, sometimes).

Instead, I wanted to explore something more basic, more true... what was it that ties Zuko and Katara together in such a dynamic match? At first I thought of "trust," since that was the element in the series which defined much of the growth in their relationship. But somehow it wasn't enough. It didn't explain why even the writers started playing with Zutara from the beginning; why the scenes with just the two of them were always some of the most intense...

Then it hit me.

Duality. These two are charged for each other -- romantically or otherwise. Good & Evil, Trust & Betrayal, United & Isolated, Prejudice & Understanding, (not to mention Yin & Yang, Water & Fire)... they are each other's opposite theme in so many respects. But not only is Zutara defined by a duality between them, but also by a duality within them.

Zuko is the most dynamic character of the entire series. I really don't think I need to explain where his internal duality comes from. But Katara's on the other hand, is more subtle (in a way). Zuko created Katara's duality -- he inspired, in her, the strongest hate and distrust she had ever displayed. Never was she so outlandishly spiteful toward anyone as much as she was toward him upon his joining Gaang. Katara -- who had been defined as the mother figure of the group -- was continuously vicious with someone everyone else had accepted. As a viewer, I was absolutely shocked at how drastically she changed at that point.

And yet he also was able to regain her trust, in what I believe climaxed at the Agni Kai -- the crown jewel to their parallel as fire and water saved each other's lives.

Symbols
Like my Darcy/Elizabeth piece, this one also lacks all manner of symbols. Most of anything is unoriginal color balancing and logo usage. The pose I tried to go for in this was something sort of tsundere, less romance, more awesome got-each-other's-back-because-we're-sexy-as-hell-like-that.

MORE IN THE SERIES

CREDITS
Paper textures ~Knald
Floral Pattern ~crazy-alice
Lily graphic
Avatar & all related characters and concepts (c) Nickelodeon Animation Studios
art (c) anifanatical