[ image description: a digital drawing of Suki from Avatar: the Last Airbender in my style. She is walking towards the viewer but looking to the right/her left and hiding her face behind a dark green and gold fan. She has brown hair held back in a low bun with red peonies. She is wearing a light green kimono with a dark obi belt and shoes. Everything except her shoes had gold embroidery of peonies and apricot blossoms. She is standing in front of a brown Earth Kingdom sign ]
prints ✨ commissions
If Suki had brown eyes, she would look so much like me ;) I actually considered using this as my profile picture for a while. As usual, the influences and inspiration are under the cut, but there's obviously nuance missing, since there's so many years and miles of culture to cover:
A Bit of Background:
As Iroh says, the Earth Kingdom is very large and diverse, which is similar to China. Many of the different towns within the Earth Kingdom draw influence from different elements of Asian cultures, such as China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and India. For example: the Earth Kingdom's cuisine, such as roast duck and jook, draws from Chinese food; one of the most popular hairstyles in the Earth Kingdom is the top knot, which originated in China and was in fact mandatory before the Qing dinasty; the Kyoshi warriors uniform is similar to that of kabuki actors and geisha; the farming village that Song lives in has distinctive Korean influences, and Song and her mother wear hanbok, the traditional Korean dress; the Earth Kingdom's army wears a uniform similar to traditional Chinese armour, particularly the armies of the Song and Ming dynasties; and Ba Sing Se draws considerable influence from the Qing dynasty of China, especially the ring structure and Forbidden City of Beijing, its use of a secret police, and the popular queue hairstyle.
Earth Kingdom Clothing:
The clothing of the Earth Kingdom resembles a lot of East Asian clothing. For example, Song and her mother wear hanbok, the Kyoshi warriors wear clothing similar to the kabuki actors and geisha of Japan, and the Foggy Swamp Tribe have Vietnamese influences. The clothing of Ba Sing Se draws from Qing dynasty China.
However, Kyoshi Island draws mostly from Japan both visually and culturally (for example, their food, buildings and names are all Japanese-inspired). In terms of clothing, their armour is reminiscent of ancient Japanese armour, the warriors' face paint draws on traditional kabuki theatre, and their clothing resembles the Ainu attush. The warriors wear headbands that resemble the maetengan (前天冠) and maedate (前立) seen in depictions of Tomoe Gozen.
My Design:
Since Kyoshi Island is so influenced by Japan, I decided to draw Suki in a kimono (着物). The kimono is perhaps the most iconic and recognisable outfit of Japanese traditional clothing and is usually worn with a wide sash called an obi (帯). Dating back to the Kofun period (300–538 CE), many different rules have developed regarding when and how the kimono can be worn in different settings.
I decided to embellish Suki's obi with peonies, which symbolise bravery and honour in Japan, and her fan and kimono with apricot blossoms, which symbolise faithfulness, elegance and purity of heart in Japan. I think these all sum up Suki's character nicely (and as I was drawing, I kept thinking of the scene where Suki explained the symbolism of the Kyoshi Warriors' uniform to Sokka).
