bryankonietzko

[bryankonietzko]

Bryke is back at Nickelodeon in a big way.

⚡️💙⬇️💙⚡️

Mike and I are heading up a new studio dedicated to expanding the Avatarverse. Here’s our quote from EW.com (link for the full article):

“It’s hard to believe it’s been 19 years since we created Avatar: The Last Airbender. But even after all that time, there are still many stories and time periods in Aang’s world that we are eager to bring to life. We are fortunate to have an ever-growing community of passionate fans that enjoys exploring the Avatarverse as much as we do. And with this new Avatar Studios venture we have an unparalleled opportunity to develop our franchise and its storytelling on a vast scale, in myriad exciting ways and mediums. We are exceedingly grateful to Brian Robbins and Ramsey Naito for their enthusiasm and respect for the Avatar property and us as its stewards. From the start, they’ve supported our ambitious plans and created a positive, proactive environment for us. We’re excited to be back at Nickelodeon where Avatar began, doing what we do best in the biggest way possible. We can’t wait to build the great teams and productions to make all of this fantasy a reality.” – Bryan Konietzko & Michael DiMartino

#avatarstudios #nickelodeon #avatarthelastairbender #atla #thelegendofkorra #lok #bryke #michaeldimartino #bryankonietzko

[bryankonietzko]

Here’s the new cover Joaquim Dos Santos @2-cents drew and I colored for the upcoming 2nd edition of The Legend of Korra: Art of the Animated Series: Book One from @darkhorsecomics . It was SO MUCH FUN to collaborate with my old buddy Joaquim again. 🔥💙🔥

#the legend of korra #lok #korra #dark horse books #joaquim dos santos #bryan konietzko #artists on tumblr

[bryankonietzko]

Before I get to the crux of this statement, I would like to make it clear that I am very aware and appreciative of the fact that I am in an exceedingly fortunate position, and that the following issues are indeed good problems to have — even more so now that we are in the grips of a global pandemic and a cratering economy which have left millions unemployed. With that crucial context, here is the big news from my little world.

Michael DiMartino and I recently chose to leave Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the series he and I created together in 2002. We will have no involvement in the project moving forward. This is probably the most difficult decision I have ever made. But there is no doubt in my mind it was absolutely the right choice.

When Netflix brought me on board to run this series alongside Mike two years ago, they made a very public promise to support our vision. Unfortunately, there was no follow-through on that promise. Though I got to work with some great individuals, both on Netflix’s side and on our own small development team, the general handling of the project created what I felt was a negative and unsupportive environment.

To be clear, this was not a simple matter of us not getting our way. Mike and I are collaborative people; we did not need all of the ideas to come from us. As long as we felt those ideas were in line with the spirit and integrity of Avatar, we would have happily embraced them. However, we ultimately came to the belief that we would not be able to meaningfully guide the direction of the series.

Though I am profoundly disappointed by how things turned out, there are wonderfully talented people who are still working on the series, some of whom Mike and I personally hired and got to know well during our time on the project. We worked very hard together towards a shared dream of how special this adaptation could be. I want to see them employed, and I hope they get the chance to do their best work on the series. Perhaps the team that remains might still be able to make something fans of the original and an entirely new audience can enjoy.

By and large, I have an incredibly charmed career and I am very grateful for it. And I am enormously lucky for the amazing global community of fans that has grown around the shows Mike and I have created and run together. I will continue to be deeply involved in the Avatar universe, telling the stories my partner and I want to tell in the way we want to tell them. I will put my time, energy, and talents towards the projects that give me the most fulfilment, and where I am afforded trust and respect. Life is too short to do otherwise.

– Bryan Konietzko

#avatar: the last airbender #co-creators #Michael DiMartino #Bryan Konietzko #bryke #atla #live action series #netflix

[bryankonietzko]

I recently did this new cover for the second edition of Dark Horse’s Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Art of the Animated Series hardcover book, which will be released on November 24, 2020. This is a redo of a DVD cover I did ages ago. I always liked the drawing but was never happy with how cramped the composition was and how poorly I colored it. It was fun to take a crack at it again. The second edition will have a few new things in it. Hope you enjoy!

#avatar: the last airbender #dark horse comics #aang #avatar state

[bryankonietzko]

Navajo Nation Covid-19 Relief Avatarverse Charity Drawings. This week’s auction ends Saturday.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/avatar-navajo-covid-relief/

http://www.nndoh.org/donate.html

#navajo nation #covid19 relief fund #avatar the last airbender #aang #momo #appa #katara #sokka #charity auction #original drawing

[bryankonietzko]

Mike and I had lunch yesterday with Michaela Murphy @michaelamostly aka Jessie Flower aka MELON LORD ⚡️🍈⚡️ the legendary voice of Toph, Meng, and Young Suyin. We’ve known Michaela since she was a wee kid, and now she’s a full-grown adult person. It was really wonderful catching up. She had some great insights on being a child actor that will surely benefit our future cast. Keep an eye out for her as she TAKES OVER THE WORLD.

#toph

[bryankonietzko]

Mike and Brandon walking between meetings from a short while back... We’re moving into a new office space, transitioning into the next phase of production. Our core team is growing. We’re writing, planning, and testing. Though there’s plenty that’s new for us in this live action process, we’ve been on this long rollercoaster ride twice before and a lot of the climbs and twists and turns feel familiar. Right now, everything seems slow, and we’re itching to speed up; before we know it, everything will be moving too fast and happening all at once. For those who are eager to see this new series and are asking if we have a trailer yet: thank you for your enthusiasm, sincerely, but you wouldn’t want to see a version of this series that was made within 9 months. Too much Hollywood fare is fast-tracked and the results speak for themselves. Thankfully for us and this series, Netflix is committed to doing it right. We’re trying to make something special that will stand the test of time. A live action Avatar series is a daunting, incredibly complex thing to pull off — a fantasy travel show with tons of VFX, CG creatures, martial arts, etc. — and to do it right takes a ton of planning. On both the original series and Korra, when we were at this stage in the production the projects hadn’t even been announced yet. The difference with this Netflix series is that you all heard about it just a little bit after we started. So it will seem like a longer wait, but we can assure you that everyone is making good use of that time so we can craft something beautiful and emotionally powerful. Also so we can make sure Appa is cute. We’ll be starting the casting process before too long, so if you’re aspiring to be a part of this thing, keep taking acting lessons and some martial arts/movement classes. We’ll announce how, when, and where to audition soon-ish. Thanks! Love, Bryan ✨💙✨

#avatar the last airbender #netflix #live action series

[bryankonietzko]

TO EVERYONE INTERESTED IN AUDITIONING FOR THE LIVE-ACTION AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER SERIES ON NETFLIX: . We greatly appreciate your interest and enthusiasm, but we are not yet at that stage in the production. . There will be an OPEN CASTING CALL, likely sometime later this year. When that happens, we will publicly share the information for how to *officially* apply. . Until then, please refrain from tagging, commenting, DMing, etc. your auditions — I don’t check that stuff and no one else at Netflix does either. We’re not casting via social media and I don’t want anyone wasting their time and energy. Put it towards working on your audition instead. Good luck! . Thanks, Bryan

#avatar: the last airbender #live action series #casting #netflix

[bryankonietzko]

I am very sad to hear about the passing of Steve Hillenburg after a battle with ALS. SpongeBob was obviously a huge presence during my many years at Nickelodeon (all the way back to the Zim days), and throughout the American TV animation industry. I only had a few brief interactions with Steve over the years, but he was always humble, and very kind to Mike and me. The last time I saw him was a couple years ago at a nice group lunch with some mutual friends from the SpongeBob crew. I was a definite outsider in the bunch, but Steve graciously picked up the whole bill. When I was recruited by Eric Coleman to pitch a series in 2002, he told me he wasn’t looking for the “million dollar idea,” rather, he was looking for people like Steve Hillenburg — in their creative capacity, and also in how they could run a production and work in a positive, collaborative manner. I have great respect for Eric and he always spoke of Steve in the highest regard. My condolences to Steve’s family, friends, coworkers, and many fans. 💛

#Steve Hillenburg #SpongeBob

[bryankonietzko]

Lisa and I had to say farewell to Gunther last night. He outran his cancer longer than any vet or oncologist ever thought was possible, over 15 wonderful months. He went peacefully with the two of us by his side. I’ll have more words another day. For now, I just have a heavy heart struggling to let go of his amazing soul. 🖤

#gunther

[bryankonietzko]

I’ve been collaborating with my good friend Benjamin Wynn, aka electronic musician @deru (and sound designer from Avatar & Korra), on a series of three music videos for his incredible upcoming album, Torn In Two. I came up with these statue scenes, initially doing 2D concepts. During this process, I took a ZBrush class from @xandersmith_design at @conceptdesignacad so I ended up digitally sculpting and posing the figures. Xander helped out too with a bunch of technical stuff that is beyond my meager skill set, and he also posed the last scene in this clip based on my 2D version. EFFIXX did an awesome job texturing, lighting, and rendering the figures and environments, doing the camera moves, and dealing with my many nit-picky notes.

Go to www.deru.la to see the full video in 4K/2K and hear the rest of his powerful track. In it you’ll also see some great compositing from my other old friend, Andy Dill (who worked on the Avatar main title sequence), and vfx by Nico Sugleris. Ben shot some incredible drone footage and edited all three videos — the next 2 will be available on Vimeo & YouTube soon. Deru’s new album is a monumental achievement and I’m honored to have been a part in visualizing some of it. 🖤🖤🖤

#deru #torn in two #friends of friends #electronic music #zbrush #figurative art #digital sculpting

[bryankonietzko]

I wrote it yesterday and I’ll write it again (and again): it’s been an absolute pleasure working in the room with Mike again. @michaeldantedimartino We’re only in the *very early* stages of development on this live-action adaptation, and right now it’s just a crew of us two, with some great execs and staff at Netflix helping us formulate the production plan. This is a recent photo from my private studio I’ve rented since the end of Korra, but I’ve already started packing it up, moving my music gear home, and getting ready to move a bunch of my furniture and books into our new offices at Netflix very soon.

#avatar: the last airbender #netflix #live action #series #bryke

[bryankonietzko]

BIG NEWS. Very excited to be able to share this. And very excited to be working with Mike again on this simultaneously new and old adventure. Give him a follow too if you haven’t already, as we chronicle this journey: @michaeldantedimartino

Here’s our quote from the press release: "We're thrilled for the opportunity to helm this live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. We can't wait to realize Aang's world as cinematically as we always imagined it to be, and with a culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed cast. It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to build upon everyone's great work on the original animated series and go even deeper into the characters, story, action, and world-building. Netflix is wholly dedicated to manifesting our vision for this retelling, and we're incredibly grateful to be partnering with them." — Bryan Konietzko & Michael DiMartino

Huge thanks to John Staub for this beautiful concept art. https://www.artstation.com/dustsplat

More later, but for now: https://deadline.com/2018/09/avatar-the-last-airbender-live-action-series-netflix-1202467089/

Love, Bryan

💙

#avatar: the last airbender #netflix #live action #series #adaptation

[bryankonietzko]

Cropped Appa WIPs. I’m pretty much over the idea of ever trying to paint things in a “finished” manner. I just want to learn how to make my unfinished stuff look... well, finished. 🤔❓✔️ “You get the idea” shall be my mantra.

#appa #avatar: the last airbender #digital painting #sketch #artists on tumblr

[bryankonietzko]

Recent things on paper. 🗒🖊🖤

#appa #zuko #iroh #aang #mono #avatar: the last airbender

[bryankonietzko]

LA summer smog light/color study from a crappy iPhone pic and 20 years of accumulated memory.

#los angeles #smog #digital painting #study #artists on tumblr

[bryankonietzko]

#aang #avatar: the last airbender #sketch