Avatar-The Last Airbender book one sketches

Woah, look at all these! I really went off an Avatar binge during my winter break. It all started when my best friend lent me her art book of the Last Airbender, then I found out the library in my hometown has the first season (Book Water) on DVD to rent, and I just went crazy with sketches. I couldn't draw every cool pose from the season; that would basically be every frame. So, I paused the DVD every once in a while to draw a sketch or two... or three... or a zillion.
Aang was fairly easy for me to draw since I sketch using circles, and he's basically made of circles. I don't think I've got enough Sokka, but If I continue on with the series, there are way more episodes that come later that feature him doing cool stuff. I'll also post some of the sketches I did while looking through the art book, and the onse I did while watching the pilot of Avatar.
I want to point out that I drew these while looking at things. While they are technically copies, I didn't trace any thing. I'm not dissing people who do trace; as long as you admit it, and try to improve your talent and eventually surpass tracing, it is fine. I traced stuff when I was 12, but now I can either look at something to draw it, or just pull it out of my head. If I'm doing fan-art sketches like this, I don't hide it. Really, drawing cartoons can help people improve. A show like Avatar let's you see how muscles, arms, and legs work. I consider all this practice. Inspiration comes from everywhere, too. So drawing sketches helps me come up with poses.
Anyway, these were fun to do, but a little tricky. Especially when I was trying to sketch a character who had a lot of clothes on that hid the body shape. Re-watching these also brought back fond memories for me. Ironically, when the first episode aired, I thought I was going to hate it. I made fun of it, nit-picked at the animation, called it wanna-be anime, compared it to other shows and stories that were similar, and generally just put it down. I was a mean critique. Then, less than a year later, it was one of my favorite shows. I loved the characters, stopped calling Zuko "that bad-guy with the scar" and actually learned his name, and looked forward to each new episode. By the time the series ended, it had become one of my favorite shows of all time. I remember being so impressed with Katara; she came a long from trying to master the Water Whip. Sokka went from an inexperienced warrior and sexist, to a real leader and a guy who knows how tough girls can be. Zuko finally stopped jerking us around, going back and forth from bad to good, and had a tearful reunion with Uncle Iroh. Toph just plain ROCKED. I need say no more. Aang seemed like an unlikely hero at first, being so kind and goofy, but I don't think anyone questioned him being a hero after the battle with Ozai. Great show.

Well, enough blah-blah-blahing. Pleasant days to you all.

Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to Nick.