I wanted to do an Avatar related piece for a very long time, visited the original series again and it was very inspiring to see how relevant this animated series is in terms of politics and general wisdom, it aged well to say the least!

The piece is based on a landscape painting by Johann Wilhelm Schirmer from 1855. I have chosen this piece because of the elevated view that allowed for this composition in which the group of flying Bisons closes an elliptical shape to lead the viewers eye around.

The group around a younger Bison on the lower right side is reminiscent of the Totoro piece I did a few years back and these two match very well together.

There is a video to show some of the composition techniques I used to strengthen the composition by building up on the existing piece instead of subtracting from it.
There is a lot more to it, like color choices, contrasts, depth, but overall it shows what shapes to watch out to get an idea what makes a great composition.

The process timelapse shows the transformation but not exactly how much work went into repainting of the landscape for a stronger foundation. Because what you can't see is that it went from a 1200 x 900 px image to a 12000 x 9000 px repainting, barely visible in the close ups.
I learned a lot to say the least and it was a lot of fun working on this for around 70 hours while revisiting the series. It may seem strange to someone not familiar with my work but it is always a lecture in humility that makes me appreciate the classical art even more.

So ultimately these landscapes are a dedication, a tribute to both, the original artist and the franchise it depicts. My work is done right when it appears as if the original artist would have painted it.