PLEASE VIEW RIGHT TO LEFT

Well then. I suppose this is another piece along the same lines as the last, so I put it under the same title. This one takes place before the first actually, but I didn't come up with it till after I posted the first. But it's the second posing-wise, but oh well.
First off let me say that this was probably the most elaborate, detailed, and complicated picture I've ever posted. It took a LOT of time to do, so even if you don't like my message, or what I have to say, I hope you can appreciate the massive amount of effort that went into it.
Now I should probably explain because, unfortunately, it may be confusing at first.
EXPLANATION: This takes place before the previous piece. I'm thinking about writing a short describing what's happening, but I'm not sure if I should. Please give your opinion. I'd like to think I'm not too bad a writer, but anyway. Sokka, Toph, and Iroh have all fallen asleep, but Aang, Katara, and Zuko are still awake. Katara and Zuko have been talking for a while and Aang's just laying back across from them, close to drifting off. He'd tryed to jump in the conversation earlier but it was akward. Zuko and Iroh had just joined up with them, so there was still some tension there, but Katara and Zuko seemed to be getting along surprisingly well. So Aang just went and laid back across from them. The first panel shows that. The second panel is showing Aang, trying not to fall asleep, but just staring forward, trying to keep his eyes open. The third panel shows what he's seeing as his eyes start to close. Katara and Zuko are coming closer together. The fourth shows that he sees this and the fifth is completely black, to show that he succumbed and he went to sleep, but he nods back awake, presumably a few minutes later when he sees panel number six, where Katara and Zuko are kissing(Blurred to show he's having a hard time focusing his vision since he's tired. Panel seven show his reaction to this and a moment later in panel eight, he's gone to sleep, hoping that it was only a dream.

That's a summary of it, if anyone had trouble understanding or needed clarification. I could go into a lot more detail, which is what I'd do in a short fic of it, which I might, as I say.

This picture was directly inspired by the song "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers, which might put it in perspective more than I can. It's not exactly like the song, but many of the inspiring elements are there.

Technical: The first panel was EXTREMELY complicated. This comic is the reason I haven't posted anything the past few days. I've been working on this almost the whole time. I like how everyone turned out, except Zuko. He's just okay in that panel. They're sitting on a log if you weren't sure what that was. I got to use three shades again on Aang, Iroh, Toph, and Sokka, which was grand. Added some orange shade to everyone to reflect the fire. I like how Aang looks in the second panel. Not a lot of color difference because he's well-lit, right in front of the fire. I like Katara more than Zuko in panel 3 though I like them both. I blurred it slightly since it's in Tired Aang Vision. The shading on Aang's face in panel 4 is supposed to reflect the flames in front of him. Hope that came through well. You can see Zuko and Katara reflected in his eye if you look close. I love the way Zuko and Katara came out in panel 6. I still have the unblurred version, but I felt the blur was necessary. I really love the way panel 7 came out. In my opinion it shows just the right amount of anguish. You can see the Zutara reflected in his eyes again if you look closely.
What was harder than I thought at the end, was arranging the panel. I wasn's sure what layout to use, but I like the current one.

These are the statements I've made on Zutara art in large on DeviantArt in the first installment of this. I put it here so people who want to know what this is about can find out.

"Now, to explain myself. In search for Avatar art, I try to be unbiased, ship-wise, when I look, even though I'm Kataang, because good art is good art. So I've seen my fair share of Zutara. In some Zutara pics, though it's only a few that directly inspired this, it seems like Katara will kiss Zuko and Sokka will freak out about it or some such thing. And then Aang and Toph or somebody with be trying to revive him. But it just doesn't sit well with me that in these pictures, Aang doesn't even react at all to the Zutara in the picture. Certainly it's fan art and people can do what they want, but my point is that if they're saying that the Zutara in their picture is canon, then the reactions of those around should be in a manner that reflects what would really happen in the series. It could be from my perspective as a Kataang-shipper, but it just doesn't feel right when I see that. Of course if the picture takes place in the future or some sort of AU then it's understandable, since Aang could have changed by there. Personally, as facts go, Kataang seems more likely to me, canon-wise. I do see that there could be potential Zutara in the future, but it doesn't seem so likely to me. I try not to be biased when I say that and hope that I'm speaking from a neutral point of view. Though I may be a shipper, I try to view things as they are, as opposed to seeing them from a biased POV.

And so, in this picture, I wanted to show what I believe would happen, if Zutara were to happen in the show. I sought not to pull any punches or try to make it particularly happy because I don't think it would be, from Aang's point of view. Basically I didn't want to sugar-coat the pairing as I've seen done before. I'm not saying that Zutara couldn't be a happy ship, I'm just saying, canon-wise, I think people should view it from all angles, and I think this is an angle people would rather not look at. I could probably be accused of the same thing for my liking of NaruSaku and not putting Hinata in the picture. I don't mean to be hypocritical though, so I hope you'll all forgive me if I am. And that's what I have to say about it."

It's been several long nights of working on this, and I'm very proud of it. I hope you all enjoy it, no matter what your ship.
Respectfully,
S'rac

Part I: [link]
Part III: [link]
Part IV: [link]

Avatar the Last Airbender (c) Brian Konitzko and Michael DiMartino