(upbeat music)
Water.
Earth.
Fire.
Air.
- We're here at Nickelodeon in Burbank
and we are celebrating
the 15th anniversary of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
This gallery is a tribute gallery,
people focus on different elements,
showing the details that spoke to them from the show.
It's mind-blowing.
So my piece is based off of the Avatar team,
I really wanted to capture like,
the fun of Aang like flying through the sky
with all of his friends.
And so I decided I wanted to do like paper cut-out.
With this piece I just really wanted to highlight
like the relationship between Aang and Appa because
I feel that relationship with your pet is really special,
I love sleeping and snuggling with my boy
so I really wanted to capture that.
- I love drama and sadness.
So I had to draw my sad anime OTP like pairing
of Yue and Sokka,
overall I just really wanted to draw the moment
that I really engaged with Avatar
and the moment that I really wanted to make
in television again.
- I think it was really eye-opening
just knowing that there's
different kinds of narratives out there
when there's people with disabilities,
different ethnicities and background.
And they really bring it cohesively together.
- It was one of the first few shows I watched growing up
that featured like a brown character like Katara
and instantly I was like,
"Oh my gosh there's a brown girl like me!"
And she's like soft, but she's also a little spicy.
- No way am I apologizing to a sour old man like you!
(ice cracks)
So I have two pieces,
one's digital, one's traditional.
Both of them have Appa in it because Appa's like,
really cuddly and friendly
and I've always loved watching him.
My piece is the Jasmine Dragon.
I've always been really inspired
and passionate really about tea and tea culture.
And I was really excited to see that in the show Avatar
when Uncle Iroh and Zuko work at that vending shop.
- The Jasmine Dragon will be the best tea shop in the city.
- My piece is called "Turtle Ducks"
and it's inspired by Zuko
and his softer side
and kinda how he grows throughout the series
and kind of learning to become in tune with
the balance of who he is as a person,
and not just the aggressive side of the firebender.
- I mean I think like Zuko
and I would definitely be a firebender.
- I would be an earthbender.
I'm an Earth sign, I'm a Virgo.
Waterbender.
'Cause I'm not very good at swimming.
(laughs)
- I would definitely be an airbender.
I love the idea of a nomadic lifestyle
and also just the idea of being able to fly.
For my piece, I did Melon Lord's revenge.
- I am Melon Lord!
(laughs)
- Melon Lord has come back in vast numbers
and here's to take out the original boomerang.
- So this is like a mixed media painting
but I started off by sketching it out first,
the composition
and then I went ahead and started like,
color blocking with acrylic.
The pieces that I did
were kind of inspired by alebrije,
which are little carved wooden animals
that are painted in elaborate patterns and colors.
I kinda wanted to dig a little bit into my latinx heritage
to come up with something that
was reminiscent of Avatar
but also kind of unique on its own.
When I was little I wanted to become a writer
but after seeing the show
that made me realize that I could write through animation
and through my art.
I'm Zuko for life, I love him so much.
We love a redemption arc
and we love some, like great teen angst.
- I loved Sokka growing up, maybe everyone does
but I loved how I was so klutzy and fumbly and awkward
and so was he.
- I really love Toph because
she's just so small but so tough
and she doesn't let like her disabilities get her at all.
- Uncle Iroh just like is kind of the guardian
that we all wish we had.
- Perfection and power are overrated.
- I feel like I hated tea for the longest time,
I was not a tea drinker.
And I picked up tea drinking in college,
I was like, there's gotta be something to this,
Uncle Iroh teach me the ways.
- Every time I think about somebody
who like says something like mean to me,
I'm just like, just redirect like Uncle Iroh told you to!
- It's crazy 'cause I worked on this show
I guess 15 years ago.
And now I'm back here 15 years later
and there's this art show
and people are still talking about it which is insane,
so go Avatar!
I grew up with this
and now I get to actually be apart of it after 15 years,
like it's really cool
and I think it's bringing together
like different generations of artists in the industry
and also celebrates a really cool show.
- You know we all work on different shows
that have different styles,
it's really awesome to connect with
the media that we grew up with
and get to share that passion
and show our work as a love letter to the shows
that kinda made us.
- Appa, yip yip!
- [All] Appa, yip yip!
(upbeat music)