Grandmaster Earthbender

The Grandmaster Earthbender Revisited... in color! Yeah, it sucks--my coloring is subpar by a long shot, but hey, I tried.

Tried to get this done for the contest, but no go. My line art ended up remaining for the contest, which is all right as far as I'm concerned. I don't mind at all, considering the coloring probably ends up taking away from the image.

Done over several days on Photoshop with some help from ~Cei-Ellem

This is an adult Toph, living up on the mountains in the Earth Kingdom, basically as a hermit, as the Grandmaster Earthbender. Many come from far and wide to be her apprentice or to learn from her and in most cases, she just knocks them off her mountain. After all, she trained the Avatar. Kind of hard to compete with that.

Background on the small thing that seems to stand out: the necklace. Being a Toko fan (TophxZuko) I wrote a fan fiction that I never finished (and yet drew several images for) about how over the years their friendship grew into something much deeper. During the course of ten plus years, Zuko traveled over the world trying to make amends and reestablish trade and trust between kingdoms with Toph as his usual companion (working as bodyguard as well as a good contrast to Zuko's tact--with Toph acting as one without tact and just laying down the facts), while Aang and Katara, and Suki and Sokka did something to similar to help Zuko along the way. Iroh stayed in the Fire Nation managing things while Zuko played diplomat. Zuko and Mai (due to his long absences and general growing up) eventually outgrew each other and moved on relationship-wise but remained good friends. Zuko was with Toph when she finally confronted her parents on her way of life as she became an adult, and as a parting gift, Zuko gave her the necklace, letting her know that just being herself was all that mattered and that she would always have a home in the Fire Nation, should she get tired of traveling or living on her mountain.

Hence. Necklace.

Line art: [link]