Coloring Commission - CallMePo - WolfboySpike21 - Harley, Korra and Rogue

One of the newest of my coloring commissions came from WolfboySpike21 who had a few linearts done by CallMePo for this set it involves three women:  Harley Quinn (Batman), Korra (Legend of Korra) and Rogue (90′s X-men Verion).  I do admit that I do like this version of Rogue mainly because it was the version that I grew up with.  And let’s face it, we tend to like the versions we grow up with rather than most other versions that are made, am I right? 

Original Lineart here:  Inked Korra, Rogue and Harley

I will say this for the record that coloring Harley was a real pain in the ass.  Mainly given the level of detail and all the different nooks and crannies involved and the continuous switching between black, red and white.  Makes me miss the original Harley suit.  Nice and simple from a coloring perspective. 
Compared to that, everything else was easy.  But the result was worth it and my commissioner loved it. 

© Harley Quinn - Batman - DC Comics - Warner Bros

© Korra - Legend of Korra - Nickelodeon

© Rogue - X-men - Marvel Comics
Note:  All character(s) depicted here are 18 years of age or older

Coloring Commission - Camp Woody On Call

This is a commission made to me by DaCommissioner of a lineart that CallMePo had done.

Original seen here: Korra Katara Beta Squad
When I saw it and read what DaCommissioner wanted me to do with it, I knew that I really had my work cut out for me.  For one, the background that was asked for was to be an alleyway at night.  But the biggest challenge that I saw was in the holographic displays that Katara and Korra had.   In my mind I knew that they had to have a glowing quality to it like any kind of computer screen.  But because I didn’t have the font or any way to find out what the font was, I tried a technique of my own on it.   The technique I had in mind was to use the font in the upper corners, copy them and try to manipulate them so that they fit behind the ones in the holographic displays.  Then changing their colors to something bright and adding an outer glow effect would give the desired visual aspect that I had in mind.

Unfortunately, that part didn’t pan out as well as I had hoped.  So, I reverted back to my old polygon lasso tool that I used for everything else and simply clicked and selected around the white spaces between the black circle and the text itself.   Then I gave it the bright color and outer glow and that seemed to work as I had originally intended.

Compared to that, the work on the background was easy.  All I did was lay down some brick colors, and use a “star brush” and set my scattering pretty far apart and did some splattering to give it the brick textured look.  The same was done with the mortar part of the bricks.

Finally I did a black and a dark blue overlay to give it a nighttime appearance.  However I did like how the daytime one came out so I’m posting that one as well. 

And I’m certainly glad that DaCommissioner enjoyed it as much as I did in the challenge of it.

© Katara - Avatar the Last Airbender - Nickelodeon

© Korra - Avatar: THe Legend of Korra - Nickelodeon

Zimmay - Tokka - Engagement

This is the colored version of the Engagement drawn by Zimmay that I had commissioned.

I know that this one is very similar to the picture Betrothal by Thephoebster but I had a different idea of how I wanted this moment to look. Especially with the betrothal necklace that Sokka would make for Toph. One of the big differences is that this would be a little after the end of the series and Sokka realizes that he loves Toph over Suki.

The necklace is based on the pic in my gallery: Toph Necklace Design

Since people liked the little scene I had for Tokka Height Difference I think I’ll do the same for this one.

The war with the Fire Nation was over and it seemed like Team Avatar was about to head back to their homes at the different parts of the world. Zuko and Mai were about to head back to the Fire Nation. Iroh was going to stay behind in Ba Sing Se. Katara and Aang were going to settle down in the Southern Air Temple.

However, Sokka had the hardest trouble with what to do with himself. He had something in his pocket that he painstakingly carved over the last few days. It wasn’t like any other carving that he had attempted. This one he had chopped from a crystal within the catacombs of Ba Sing Se. A green crystal that he knew would be perfect for what he had in mind. He worked on it while all were celebrating. He may not have done well in many artistic endeavors such as painting, drawing, or carving but there was something different about this.

It was done and now for the moment.

He went to find Toph who was standing near the balcony of Iroh’s Tea Shop looking out blankly into nothingness.

“I can hear you coming, Sokka.” She said with a smile.

“I know you could.” Sokka smiled back.

“You’ve got something on your mind, don’t you?” She asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“I’m that obvious, huh?”

“I can feel your heart beat from all the way over here, you know.”

“Toph,” Sokka began, “There’s something I wanted to ask you.”

“Go ahead.” She said as she turned her back towards him and her hands were behind her head in that same blase attitude that she would have about anything and everything.

Sokka came up behind Toph with the thing that he had been working on so hard for so long. He pulled at the band and wrapped it around Toph’s neck.

“What is this, Sokka?” She asked reaching up to touch the round surface of the green gem.

“It’s a betrothal necklace.” Sokka whispered. “It may not be a tradition in my tribe but…I wanted to do this for you.”

Toph could feel it’s surface and could see through her fingers that Sokka had carved in the round coin of the Earth Kingdom and the waves of the Water Tribe. If she could see the colors she would see the creamy green shade of the crystal and the blue of the band that wrapped around her neck.

“Sokka…” Toph exhaled amazed by the things’ beauty. She then smiled saying, “I think you know what my answer is already, don’t you.”

“Yes, I do.” Sokka said fastening the necklace. “My wife.”

With that, Sokka wrapped his arms around Toph and she placed her hands onto his forearms and laid her head back against his chest.

© Sokka and Toph Bei Fong - Nickelodeon

Zimmay - Tokka - Height Difference

This is the colored version of the Height Difference drawn by Zimmay that I had commissioned.

I had seen similar pictures to this one before where it was Sokka and Toph kissing and Toph had earthbended a platform for herself to kiss Sokka. When you think about it, it rather is empowering in a way that she uses her talents to get close to him.

The biggest problem that I had with this was what to do with the background. Originally I thought of putting a wall there something like the walls of Ba Sing Se but then I thought of something more like the ocean and when I did that there seemed to be this mixture and fusion of Earth and Water. Such as the earth that they’re standing on and the ocean in the background. So it’s a nice meeting of Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe.

But with a picture like this I think I’ll write something as a setup.

Toph came up to Sokka.

“Can I talk to you alone, Sokka?” She asked.

“Sure, Toph.”

She had taken him to the edge of the island where they were hiding out before the time of the invasion. It was a nice spot as far as the view of the ocean but Sokka understood that Toph couldn’t see it.

“What’d you want to talk to me about?”

“Would you mind trying something with me?” She asked and Sokka could already tell that she was blushing underneath the bangs of black hair.

“Is it anew attack or something?”

“You could say that.”

“Okay sure.”

Toph moved forward towards Sokka. She stamped her foot on the ground and earthbended a platform for herself which brought her face towards the neck level of Sokka.

“What’re you doing Toph?” He asked.

She didn’t answer but instead leaned forward, pushing herself up onto her toes, and pressing her lips against Sokka’s.

The shock was so much that he could feel the heat flash through his body as if he were ice in the middle of a frying pan. He had kissed girls before. There was Suki and Princess Yue but with Toph there was something very different about it. He wasn’t sure and frankly he didn’t care anymore. He simply allowed it to happen as if he were a boat being carried out to sea.


© Sokka and Toph Bei Fong - Nickelodeon

Zimmay - Kataang: Love is Eternal

This is my colored version of Zimmay Kataan Kiss Lineart

Avatar: That Last Airbender © Nickelodeon

Katara and Toph in Love

This piece is something that I did for Avatar-fan’s Non-Cannon Contest.  The idea behind the contest is to make artwork of non-cannon pairings.

Sorry Zutarian and Kataang fans but those pairings are ruled out as spelled out in the rules of the contest.

As far as the technical aspects of this particular piece, I used some of the commission pieces done for me by DarkDP who did a few for the Avatar series at my request.  Using the skin-tones that he used, I applied them to this piece, which is why the skin-tones of Katara and Toph look a little different (for those of you who have been following my work closely).

For the pose, it was something that I decided to experiment with, so I needed a pose where two people are in a tender moment of intimacy that is non-sexual in anyway.  So, I found a picture from an anime series called “Glamour” and using that pose I set about my task of making it for Toph and Katara.

Also if you look closely you’ll see that Toph is wearing a Watertribe necklace like Katara’s.  This is from an earlier work I did called KaToph Necklace.  Within the pendant itself are the flat lines and coin symbols of the Earth Kingdom, while there are the rolling waves of the Water Tribe.   Put that on a green collar and there you have a necklace that Katara would give to Toph.

As for the time that it took to make this, I think the drawing by hand took about 2 hours, the outlining in Photoshop took about 2 ½, and the final coloring took about 8 hours.   So it was a full 12 ½ hour project.

© Katara and Toph Befong - Avatar the Last Airbender – Nickelodeon – Michael DiMartino and Tim Hedrick

Kataang Necklace

Just like the Tokka necklace that I designed, I wanted to design a similar betrothal necklace for Katara and Aang.

The way I designed it in my head is that it had to be a different color from Katara’s and it had to reflect a fusion of the Water Tribe and Air Nomads.

So I used the colors of the air nomads - yellow and orange.

And the basic design of a water tribe necklace.

Though I fused the symbols - the waves and the air swirls.

© Avatar the Last Airbender - Katara and Aang - Nickelodeon