Not sure what to call this…Face Inspirations, I guess? Just some collages I made of Inuit/Alaska Native/First Nation/Native American people that remind me of Water Tribe characters. Think of it as reference pictures for any realistic fanart you may want to do.

The Lomen Brothers had a photography business in Nome and I recognize two photos in this collage from their archives

The Univerity of Alaska Fairbanks’ online archives are also a good place to look. They even have some bits of footage on youtube if that’s of interest to anyone

Re-blogging, because I’m bad at citing my sources. Here are some names and sources for each collage. Here are the people used in Yue’s “Face Inspirations”:

This first picture is of Dayle Cole, who is of Gwich’in descent. This picture was taken in 2018, when she was 13-years-old. She can speak the Gwich’in language of Dinjii Zhu’ Ginjik and hails from Tsiigehtchic, the Gwichya Gwich'in First Nation located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community was formerly known as Arctic Red River until April 1st 1994.

This second picture is a famous photograph known as “Madonna of the North”. The photo was taken in 1912 in Nome, Alaska by H.G. Kaiser. Unfortunately, the woman photographed remains unidentified.

This picture if of Amber Midthunder. She is an actress of Hunkpapa Lakota, Hudeshabina Nakoda,  Sissiton Dakota, and Chinese ancestry.

This picture is a famous photograph known as “Obleka”. I’m not sure if Obleka is the woman’s name or if it’s an Inupiaq word describing the picture. The photo was taken in 1907 in Nome, Alaska by Frank H. Nowell.

The final picture is of Eva Akpalialuk. In 1981, GQ (Gentlemen’s Quarterly magazine) came to Pangnirting, Canada to model modern cold-weather clothing. On the last day, they did a shoot of Inuit in traditional caribou clothing. This lovely photo of Eva was taken by Nick Newberry.

Adding Quannah Chasinghorse to the face inspos! Quannah is an American model and activist. She is of Sicangu Lakota and Hän Gwich'in ancestry. She’s worked with huge brands such as Calvin Klein and uses her platform to bring attention to Indigenous issues and environmental conservation.

soooo guess who accidentally nuked herself

Aww, that stinks! Well, I'm glad you're doing okay. Here, have a meme:

Hopefully, Tumblr support pulls through.

Then we can all have a nice cave party to celebrate.

soooo guess who accidentally nuked herself

Aww, that stinks! Well, I'm glad you're doing okay. Here, have a meme:

sooo so happie to launch into space the art i did for this @zukkabigbang2024 for the beautiful fic

The Mercy of Magpies

written by the wonderful showstopping @ranilla-bean and betaed by the equally iconic @faux-fires. Featuring dilves, birdies, true love, war, crazy plans, dubious plastic surgery and a galaxy far, far away. Please check out the rebloggable fic post with its special cover art here (or jump directly to the fic, I can't blame you, it is That Good)

@ash-and-starlight always has such great designs! Katara's design is my favorite.

Katara in the South Pole!

I put off illustrating the ATLA cast for a long time. I tied myself into knots trying to figure out how I was going to pin down "historical" variations for everybody, which eras and weighing different cultural references in all three books and... I got super overwhelmed, shut the idea down for years. Especially with so many way more talented artists like @chiptrillino-art and @ash-and-starlight already knocking ATLA fanart into the stratosphere. (Go check out their stuff it will blow your mind)

What changed? The Netflix adaptation came out, simmered and the bar was lower again lol. Mostly the Water Tribe parkas were so...flat? baggy? They are supposed to be parkas right? Where's the fluff? Where's the puff? So I started sketching, and things snowballed... and here we are! This series will not be going for historical, I'm going to work mostly from the ATLA canon outfits and building out from there with details and a variety of inspirations. Fingers crossed you like what I've come up with for these characters I've loved for so long! (Also on a humorous note of COURSE I miss a big anniversary by a week. I have the best timing XD)

Katara's first design with her parka is of course inspired by Inuit traditional clothing and tattoos, along with Yakut and Indigenous (North American) references, just like the show.

(Reoccurring disclaimer for this art series: This is for fun, they are inspired by the show's costume designs and then extrapolated out with historical fashion or things I think will be fun to draw. These are not meant to be accurate, only inspired. I hope you like them!)

I am the artist! Do not post without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: instagram, tiktok or check out my coloring book available now \ („• ֊ •„) /

https://linktr.ee/ellen.artistic

@atlaculture look!!!

She looks so snug and cozy!!! I love it.

Cultural Weapons: Jet’s Hook Swords

Jet’s hook swords go by a variety of names:

Regardless of what you call them, they’re a fascinating choice of weapons for the roguish guerrilla fighter. For one, while hook swords are now used in a few different forms of kung fu, they’re traditionally associated with Northern Shaolin. Firebending is also based in Northern Shaolin Kung Fu. In other words, Jet’s fighting style is likely heavily inspired by firebending. This is both very appropriate and very tragic: On one hand, most of Jet’s worldly possessions are likely scavenged from violent encounters with the Fire Nation; on the other hand, considering all the hardship Jet has experienced as a result of firebending, it probably causes him more than a little strife that he has to defend himself using firebender-esque techniques.

If you’d like to see some amazing demonstrations of hook swords click here, here, and here.

The other aspect of Jet’s swords that’s so interesting are their historical context. Like Zuko’s broadswords, Jet’s hook swords are a relatively new kind of weapon from the Qing Dynasty, were created/used exclusively by civilians, and initially had a rather “low class” reputation. They’re fitting weapons for an orphaned freedom fighter who regularly takes on trained soldiers. Is it any wonder why Jet and Zuko worked so well together on the ferry to Ba Sing Se?

Like what I’m doing? Tips always appreciated, never expected. ^_^

https://ko-fi.com/atlaculture

A little baby Aang and Gyatso to start the week 👶🏻🥹

Happy Monday! 🩵

Find me here: Instagram | Website & Portfolio

There needs to be more Gyasto fanart in the world.

Cultural Anatomy: Water Tribe Boats Pt. 1

Hold on tight, because this is going to be a monster of a post.

The boat that Sokka and Katara were on before finding Aang is called an umiak or anyak. Umiak are traditional Inuit/Inupiat and Yupik open skin boats that are used throughout the arctic, from Siberia to Greenland. Here’s a short description of the traditional umiak-making process:

These details all match up perfectly with what we see of Sokka and Katara’s boat. For example, their vessel clearly uses a combination of bone and wood in its framework. The “spine” of the frame clearly uses some sort of bone— if I had to guess, I’d say it’s a part of a whale’s jawbone— while the ribbing, rim, and seats of the umiak are made of wood. You’ll also notice that there’s plentiful roping and tying on the boat (around the bone, along the rim of the boat, on the seat planks, etc.), as traditional umiaks are not put together using nails or bolts.

The meta of them hunting using an umiak is also interesting as well. In many Inuit cultures, primarily those residing in the Eastern Arctic (northeast Canada), the umiak is considered “a woman’s boat”. As the umiak was rarely used for fishing, its main purpose was to provide transportation for women and children, while the men primarily used kayaks. When a man was on board of an umiak, he was generally expected to do the steering.

When we first meet Sokka and Katara, they’re trying to spear fish aboard an umiak. This is not a traditional hunting arrangement. Under normal circumstances, Sokka would be hunting in a sleek and agile kayak alongside the men of his village. So where did the kayaks go? They were probably all taken by the men for the war effort. In turn, Sokka is forced to improvise and learn to hunt with neither the proper tools nor guidance; which builds on Avatar’s recurring theme of war forcing children to essentially raise themselves with less-than-stellar results.

Similarly, when the siblings run into some ice floes, Sokka is the one prepared to steer the boat by positioning himself at the front. He tries his best to guide the boat as his father would, but it really is unreasonable to expect an unsupervised 15-year-old to steer a boat with a passenger around such sharp turns.

The umiak being considered a “woman’s boat” also explains why Sokka even brought Katara fishing with him in the first place, despite his rather narrow idea of “women’s work”. It’s very likely that the umiak was sewn together by Katara and Gran-Gran to help transport the village’s women and children, meaning that Sokka was essentially borrowing Katara’s boat. It would also explain why the decorations on the boat look like designs Katara would think to put on it; the purple waves on the boat match the design on the front of her parka and the crescent moon is obviously in reference to her waterbending.

This also provides even more reason for Katara to be angry at him after his “leave it to a girl…” comment. Imagine your brother borrowing your car— which you designed and built with your grandmother— and then crashing it while you’re riding with him, only for him to turn around and blame it all on you!

I think anyone would be angry enough to break icebergs after that.

Like what I’m doing? Tips always appreciated, never expected. ^_^

https://ko-fi.com/atlaculture

I’m not sure if anyone’s pointed this out to you, op, but your point that umiaks are mainly used by women is kind of undercut by the photos you used. The crews in those umiaks are men, you can tell by their kuspuks. They’re plain white to camouflage them in the snow.

That said, i think it’s a little silly to insist on translating umiak as “women’s boat” when really we just use it to mean “boat” in general. The word “umiapak” literally translates to “big boat” and is used to mean ship. Umiaks are also associated with whaling. Our leaders we men who held the title Umialik. The -lik means something like “supplied with” so we didn’t say chief we said “the one with the umiak” (or more to the point, “the boat captain”), because he was the captain of the whaling crew and it was in his umiak that they went to sea.

But that could come around to your point about it being significant. In a very literal sense Sokka is supplied with an umiak. He’s only fishing instead of whaling for lack of men. No wonder he thinks he’s the boss.

I did not know that about the title of Umialik, that’s really interesting!

I am aware that umiaks are also used for whaling. While researching umiaks— here, here, and here— the impression I got was that, by the mid-1700s, the boat’s role as a hunting vehicle in the Eastern Arctic had been greatly diminished and it came to be associated with family transportation, hence why it got the nickname of “woman’s boat” in English. It seems like it retained its role as a hunting boat in the Western Arctic—as you pointed out, all the pictures I referenced were umiaks filled with men and they’re all Alaskan umiak photos.

I liked the idea of early sexist Sokka using a boat associated with women, so I just took it and ran with it in my headcanon. But I also like your theory that Sokka really took the idea of him being the Umialik to heart and then letting it go to his head. It’s a very Sokka thing to do.

You always have such a fresh take on ATLA so I really appreciate your input, Madamemoiselle Seraph. :)

Like what I’m doing? Tips always appreciated, never expected. ^_^

https://ko-fi.com/atlaculture

From ATLA to LOK to Seven Havens Pt. 1

So I'm sure you're all aware that Avatar Studios is currently working on a new series starring the new Earth Avatar immediately following Korra. It'll take place in a cyberpunk setting where the four nations no longer exist. To be honest, I don't see myself following this series unless it manages to generate a lot of positive feedback within the first few episodes. I like fantasy and I like cyberpunk, but I don't really want to see a show juggle both.

That said, from a behind-the-scenes perspective, the way the franchise has evolved provides us with unique insight into what Bryke initially wanted for ATLA.

Above is the very first sketch that Bryan ever did of Aang. As you can see, our protagonist was originally supposed to have a giant dog-bear sidekick and the setting was supposed to be futuristic. Hmm... Sounds familiar.

Katara originally had loosely-tied bundles of hair that framed her face. This hard-to-animate type of hair would get passed on to Korra.

Bryke initially wanted all bending to be based on only one style, specifically Northern Shaolin. It was Sifu Kisu that convinced them to have each nation practice a different type of kung fu. With Korra, they were able to integrate the four elements into one martial art as they had originally planned; this time, they used MMA, as it had gotten quite popular by the 2010s.

@teaandcrowns

#to be fair#MMA by virtue is a blend of various martial arts rather than a style its own#and it has its roots in brazilian jiu jitsu (which of course is from jiu jitsu)#since it was a response to trying to beat bjj (kind of by joining it)#atla meta#atla analysis#i get that MMA is its own beast these days but it's really not a singular martial art (though it is heavily bjj+boxing)

I'm actually not against the idea of Avatar addressing MMA in Korra, since both martial arts and cultural intermingling (both benign and not-so-benign) were the foundation of ATLA's setting. Arguably, Iroh was the progenitor of MMA in ATLA by incorporating waterbending forms into lightning bending.

My main issue with Pro-bending in Korra was that it was too clean and streamlined. This is a sport where impoverished street kids like Mako and Bolin barely scrape by on their winnings. It should have been underground and at least a little grimy. Maybe have it be reminiscent of UFC 1, showcasing every fighting style under the sun. Or have pro-bending be based on Jeet Kune Do, since it was literally Bruce Lee synthesizing different martial arts into one efficient style.

In fact, I think Season 1 would have been more interesting if Korra's Pro-bending team had a brash, Bruce Lee-inspired trainer who embodied the MMA side of the Traditional vs MMA debate. He could have been a rival and ideological foil to the traditionalist Tenzin. He could be a non-bender with Equalist sympathies.

My issue with Korra's setting wasn't that it made Avatar 1920s, but that it wasn't 1920s enough. At its core, Republic City showcased how urbanization and industrialization tears down the old divisions and social orders. It shouldn't have just been Benders vs Non-Benders. There should have been ethnic enclaves and racial tension; parts of the city with names like Little Omashu or Ember Town, where a turf war could break out if your eyes are the wrong color. A burgeoning women's movement existing alongside an Immigrants vs Nativists conflict. People wielding guns inspired by Chinese fire lances. There could have been speakeasies and flappers and 1920s Asian fashion! Also, "Eskimo" films were quite popular in the 1920s & 1930s, as well. We could've have had homages and "cameos" from Old Hollywood Asian and Indigenous performers:

Esther Eneutseak, Nancy "Columbia" Eneutseak, and Ray "Mala" Agnaqsiaq-Wise.

To end on a positive note, check out the Tumblr blog Audrey Does Karen, who archives and analyzes 19th and early 20th-century Chinese fashion. And enjoy some Chinese Folk-Jazz fusion as you scroll:

Culturally Inspired Fanart

Hey everyone! A follower of mine is working on an essay showcasing how Avatar's popularity has led to an increased interest in Indigenous cultures. Could you guys link your favorite culturally inspired Water Tribe fanart? You can link the fanart in the comments or reblogs of this post. ^_^

Just wanted to thank everyone for all the recommendations! I'm going to create a new tag called Water Tribe Wednesdays to showcase all this great artwork.

Hahah zuko and sokka in my culture outfit(khmer)

Khmer ATLA fanart will never not knock my socks off. Anyways, I'm imagining them dancing to this:

Not sure what to call this…Face Inspirations, I guess? Just some collages I made of Inuit/Alaska Native/First Nation/Native American people that remind me of Water Tribe characters. Think of it as reference pictures for any realistic fanart you may want to do.

Edit: Added Quannah Chasinghorse to Yue’s collage.

Woah

Wow! 30 new followers in one day!!! Did one of my posts get reblogged by someone popular in the fandom?

@cyrannus95