#hayleynfoster

[merruschka]

Tenderness

Katara giving soft kisses to Zuko to comfort him is my jam. I also got heavily inspired by a lovely  artist (*cough @hayleynfoster *cough*) to draw this. 

Wanted to color it properly first but then I felt so unsatified with it that I let it be.

#zutara #zuko #katara #avatar the last airbender #zuko and katara #zuko x katara #hayleynfoster

[markedmage]

Moontides

Pairing: Zutara

Rating: T

Summary: He smells like fire and feels like home. She smells like rain and feels like love.

Notes: Hi guys- I know it’s been ages since I’ve really show much activity on here lately, but I’ve risen from the dead to give you all my submission for Fanart Tuesday, for ZFAW. This fic is for the lovely @hayleynfoster, who’s animated storyboards for ZK week 2020 have utterly wrecked me in all the best ways possible. Those videos are stunning and gorgeous and breathtaking, and I feel so so so honored to have the opportunity to immortalize them into fics. Hayley, thank you so much for allowing me to express my love for you and your works, and thank you again for giving me this opportunity. I hope you enjoy it. 

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27638455

(excerpt below the cut)

He can sense her thoughts running rampant in her mind, just like his, but he waits for the right moment, waits for that perfect opportunity where she will finally belong to him.

(He doesn't know how long he waits— that's the thing about Katara. When he's with her, the world seems to freeze in its tracks, like a glacier in winter; everything slows down and the world tilts on its axis. It could be mere seconds or eons; cities could rise and fall, and all that matters is the way the blue of her eyes shift from sapphire to midnight.)

Then he sees his opportunity— the sun is kissing the horizon, and the first blush of dawn is spreading across the sky, baby pinks bleeding into the dark of night. He nudges Katara, and she jerks, looking up at him, and the light of the sun sparkles in her eyes. "Look," he murmurs and she turns her gaze to the horizon, where reds and pinks and golds light up the sky, wrangling the black from the horizon to welcome the first kisses of blue back into the atmosphere. The moon still shines overhead, not willing to relinquish her dominion, and for a brief moment, the sun and the moon meet in a stalemate of colors.

"It's like you and me," he nudges Katara, and she looks. Her eyes widen, and he can see the breath catching in her throat. "The sun and moon. When they meet—" his breath lowers into a gasping breath "— it's electrifying."

It's a beautiful homage to who they are— a child of the moon and a boy kissed by fire. The world was never prepared for the two of them, never prepared for fire and ice to meet in such harmony, but the beauty created from their union is nothing short of spectacular. He looks at the moon, looks at the sun, and, not for the first time, thanks the spirits for gifting her into his life.

#zutara #zutara fanfiction #hayleynfoster #zfaw #zutara fanwork appreciation week #zuko x katara #atla fanfiction

[rideboldlyride]

LOOK NO FURTHER

My novelization (?) of @hayleynfoster 's part 2 AMV has dropped!! The links will be in the reblog!!

A little taste, but read more on the link in the reblog...

---

A salty zephyr threads its way from the harbor, through emptying alleyways, across dirt-smeared children’s faces, up gold and red walls and dancing atop tiled roof peaks. By the time it reaches the summit and the young woman waiting there, it’s salty wisps are tinged with all the spices of Caldera City. She closes her eyes, breathing in deeply the complimentary blend of life. Here, in the center of fire, her ocean dances at the edges.

At the edge of her horizon, a molten sun is melting into the waves.

Slowly, the last few years unwind from her shoulders, and she leans blindly out against the railing, arms crossed upon the banister.

It’s here that Zuko finds her, as he stretches away the past few hours of meetings. The view is one he is familiar with, having spent many nights at that very spot. And many of those nights, he would admit only to himself, would be spent imagining a singular ship emerging from the horizon, bearing a certain water bender to his city. So when he joins her at the edge, his eyes are on her, as if concerned that looking away would dissolve the illusion.

As he leans forward, he can sense her warmth, smell the water lilies, feel the ever so gentle brush of the fur at her shoulders against the silk of his robe. He can't stop the smile that pulls at his lips. Watching her breathe in the twilight, it’s almost like his daydreams

#zutara #hayleynfoster #based off her amv #all links in the reblog #god i hope this makes it into the tags... #atla

[zkfanworkweek]

ZFAW Fan Content Creator Interviews: HayleyNFoster

Hey everyone! We hope you’re all excited for ZFAW, and to honor (ha!) ZFAW’s commitment to supporting and celebrating fan content creators in the Zutara fandom, we’re going to be rolling out a series of interviews with well-known and widely-beloved content creators over the next few weeks. We’ve got artists and fanfiction authors, some names you recognize as well as a few phenomenal up-and-coming talents, and we can’t wait for you to meet them all!

For the second interview in this cycle, we have our best propaganda creator and this fandom’s hottest new artist/undisputed queen of the animatic, @hayleynfoster!

1. Tell us about how you came to ship Zutara. What does this ship mean to you?

When I was around 14 or 15 and caught Avatar: The Last Airbender on television, I was drawn in by the art style, the humor, and the wonderful characters. I caught the episodes out of order, and the first one I saw and wasn’t prepared to be sucked in by was The Waterbending Scroll. It intrigued me at that age, and the line “I’ll save you from the pirates” combined with the tension between Katara and Zuko in that whole scene was electrifying. I remember my teenage self thinking these two have so much chemistry! And when I saw a commercial on Nickelodeon that featured fanart submitted by fellow Avatar fans, I realized that I could do that to! So I set about making Zutara fanart for myself. I stumbled onto Youtube, practically in its infancy, and discovered that people set clips of Zuko and Katara set to music (And this was still in season 1 days… so people who made these amvs were the real mvps because they were able to make compelling narratives in their amvs with like practically nothing to work with!). The AMVs really spurred my interest in this couple, I remember distinctly one Zutara AMV using the Dido song White Flag utterly capturing my imagination. I found fandom shortly after, getting into deviantart and forums. But the ship really began to mean something to me when, as I was working on my drawings in the computer lab at school, a buoyant presence hovered over my shoulder noticing my Zutara art on the computer screen. The girl was someone I had never really talked to and had only seen from afar but she immediately started excitedly saying she shipped Zuko and Katara too! In this simple shared obsession, I made one of the best friends I’ve ever had and we’re still friends to this day. We would theorize and fangirl over Avatar like it was nobody’s business; we poured over bootleg San Diego Comic Con footage that showed spoilers for season 2 before it aired; we lost our freaking minds when we finally saw The Crossroads of Destiny. We had watch parties every week as Season 3 of A:TLA aired, and comforted each other when the show ended as it did (much ranting was shared). Those are some of my happiest memories from high school… all because this one pairing from this wonderful show. Even though Zutara didn’t happen, we still chat every now and then about it. Zutara will probably be a lifelong obsession, always bubbling under the surface. And without it, I would have never realized that animation was a viable career path. It really did inspire everything including the work I’m doing to this day in the animation industry. I owe a lot to this ship and to Avatar: the Last Airbender.

2. What inspires you to create zutara fanworks?

The resurgence of Avatar: The Last Airbender this year really helped sort of spark that dormant love I had for Zutara. The show’s ending still disappointed me on the rewatch, but Zuko and Katara’s relationship arc was as captivating as ever, so I turned to some fanfiction and looking at people’s pretty Zutara art and AMVs to just revel in fanon instead of getting to hung up on the actual ending of the show. But then I realized, with quarantine and my work load being pretty light, I had time to actually make all new Zutara art for myself, art I was never fully capable of making as a kid, but now could do with my 7 years of industry experience and just… life experience. And I was inspired to do some corrective animatics to satisfy my own desire for a different ending. I just really like exploring these two characters, doing different and interesting things with them, and frankly I’m inspired to make cute, fluffy, romantic art simply by virtue of living in a really sad and depressing world. Things are so crazy right now, creating art about two characters I love being in love, is comforting. And it helps to have inspiring music and amazing Zutara amvs to just sort of stir up my emotions and imagery in my head to make into animatics and art.

3. Be selfish - if you could request one fanwork based on your own art/fanfic, what would it be? What would you absolutely love to see someone create?

Ohhhh… Well, It’s always nice to have people write fanfiction that puts words to my animatics. I am not that great at coming up with dialog myself, so I’ve just chosen to indulge in visuals and emotions for my boards. But when I read things like RideBoldlyRide’s take on my Reunion Animatic, it makes me pretty giddy. (They finally have voices!) :) And this is the MOST selfish thing I could request, but I’m not shy about saying how much I love well done amvs, so I will literally kill for someone to make Zutara AMVs to songs I like… Like, most of AURORA’s songs but especially Exist for Love, Sunseeker by The Naked and Famous, Promises or Take Me by Aly & AJ, Adore You by Harry Styles, Human Enough by ONR, Never Let Me Go by Florence + The Machine, and/or Almost (Sweet Music) by Hozier just… I can see the AMVs so clearly to any of these songs in my head, but I don’t have the tools or skill set at my disposal to make a compelling fan video. When I was in high school, I originally thought I wanted to go into video editing simply because I loved making very crappy AMVs (they were so bad you guys), but I figured out being a storyboard artist was more in my wheelhouse. haha

4. Any words for people who are new to the fandom and/or nervous about sharing their work for the first time?

If you’re new to the Zutara fandom, just have a good time! Don’t waste too much time arguing with people over your shipping preferences. I wasted so much of my teen years having pointless shipping wars with people on DeviantArt, and I’m just so much happier nowadays because I’m just making Zutara art in my little corner of the internet, and honestly, in the politest of ways, I don’t give a shit if people don’t like my art or Zutara. haha I think that’s sort of a key thing for people thinking of posting creative works here in the fandom, just make art for yourself, satisfy your own desires for the pairing, get your creative sparks flying, and create just for the joy of creating. It’s always nice to get comments and such, but simply making the art should be what spurs you on, not the external validation. And have a good time, don’t worry too much - I say as someone who worries about EVERYTHING. But honestly, making art for A:TLA is some of the most relaxed I’ve been because I make it just for me. I’m lucky others seem to like it too!

5. What’s an idea for a fanwork that you have but haven't gotten around to making?

I have an idea for a second generation storyline with my Zutara kids that involves Kya (the eldest firebending daughter) falling in love with an airbender boy (tentatively named Gora in my headcanon who’s a bit of a rabble rouser and one of Aang’s kids he had with a Kyoshi Warrior), and then they start a socialist revolution in the Fire Nation in order to dismantle all of the hierarchical societies across the Avatar world… Together Kya and Gora Fan the Flames of revolution… ehhhhh... Get it?? Oh! Oh, and then Katara, who had put in legit liberal reforms in her time as Fire Lady listens to her daughter after resisting in the first part of the story, but then realizes she can actually play a part in the dissolution of the royalty and is also active in the revolution realizing that moderate liberal reforms are no substitute for a society free of serving royalty (which she had always been uncomfortable with but had rationalized with herself that she was doing good in her capacity as Fire Lady.) I just feel like there’s a lot of cool potential for discussing these ideas and also having some aspirational change in the Avatar world. lol For aesthetics and just happy fluffy times, I can indulge in Fire Lady and Fire Lord Zuko stuff, but really at the end of the day, I take issue with the structures in a society that have to exist for monarchies to exist. Soooo, I kind of want to do my own corrective story for that… if I ever have the time or guts. On a less ambitious note, I would love to do a Zutara sparring animatic to practice doing action, but I need a good story; I am not good at doing fights just for fighting’s sake. Those are just some things I have rattling around in my head.  

6. Are you participating in ZFAW? If so want to give us a hint as to your plans?

Yes! The most I can say is I have one animatic almost finished and one that’s still being thumbnailed. The rest are probably going to be comics or emotive single pieces based on the fanfics I really like right now. :)

#interviews #zutara fanworks appreciation week #zfaw #hayleynfoster #zutara

[zutarasecrettunnel]

I think the best thing about the animatic that Hayley posted today is that it's a metaphor for Bryke trying to kill the Zutara fandom and the fans just continuing to bring it back by using our immense power and talent.

#anti-Bryke #zutara #hayleynfoster #zutara fanwork appreciation week #thank you to hayley dante and owedbetter for this piece of wonderfulness #zutara shit posting

[firelxdykatara]

Can you explain who Haley Foster is and why she’s so famous in the Zutara fandom? I see that name a lot but I don’t really know who she is.

@hayleynfoster (i hope you don’t mind the tag and me gushing a bit <333) is a zutara shipper here on tumblr! she also happens to be a storyboard artist for disney, working on The Owl House, which I haven’t personally watched, but I’ve seen enough on tumblr to know the art style is gorgeous, and I’ve heard a lot of good things about the story!

She’s fairly well known for having created some zutara animatics (little animated scenes) during Zutara Week earlier this year, and more recently, for ZKFAW, she did two more, and got dante basco himself to read some lines for zuko in them! This one was from angst wednesday, a scene from i’m still here (which is one of my favorite fanfics and that scene in particular destroyed me, so getting to see it animated and hearing dante’s voice was just........a fucking spiritual experience ok), and this one was from something brewing, which I haven’t read but is absolutely on my list.

Also she’s done some amazing fanart and is in general just a sweet person and a lovely positive force in the fandom, we stan an absolute legend <333

#atla #zutara #zuko #katara #hayleynfoster #asked #Anonymous #excuse me while i gush #does this count as fanwork appreciation #anyway thank you for being you and for existing

[stardust948]

It's good to see @hayleynfoster's videos all over my dashboard again.

#dashboard #hayleynfoster #zutara #zutara videos

[sukkadeservedbetter]

good day to hayley foster and haley foster only

#hayleynfoster #i love your work so much have a magnificent day #y’all have seen her new video right? #i’m floored #zutara

[glorrrydayyys]

i think i almost cried hearing dante basco in @hayleynfoster newest zutara animation. god is great. and in this world hayleyn is god.

#zutara #dante basco #katara #zuko #hayleynfoster #im AMAZED #i love zutara #with all my heart #uwu

[soufflegirl]

I love when Hayley drops a new animatic and suddenly my entire dashboard is just people going crazy

#zutara #I'm the first in line #hayleynfoster

[ifyouwereamelodymeg]

Hello!

There have been a few people asking about whether Where the Water Flows was going to be put onto Spotify, and I just had the email in saying that it’s now live.

Hope everyone’s had a great start to the week! <3

(The original post with the SoundCloud link and post-production artwork by the awesome @doodleladi, @hayleynfoster, and @favlie can be found here)

#zutara #zutara ep #zutara songs #zutara fanart #where the water flows #doodleladi #hayleynfoster #favlie

[soopersara]

I'M SO EMOTIONAL ABOUT THIS 🥺 I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU KEPT IT A SECRET YOU'RE EVIL 😭

😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

YOU KNOW WHAT I JUST REMEMBERED, DEE?

I did say something almost immediately after @hayleynfoster approached me about doing the voice acting for the animatic.

You mean you couldn't figure out what I was talking about from that? 🤣

I think I also posted a picture of the blanket fort I built for recording Katara's lines but that's not exactly unusual, coming from me. Record enough podfics inside of elaborate blanket forts, and you're bound to end up with a few pictures of them.

It was so hard not to say anything, but I was sworn to secrecy, so I just kept starting conversations about ZKFAW and how we all knew Hayley was going to be creating some animatics for the event and then boiling on the inside while I watched other people speculate. I also didn't know Dante Basco was going to be voicing Zuko—it occurred to me as a possibility and I thought about asking, but eventually l decided that I wanted to just wait and see. I'm so glad I did, even if I COMPLETELY lost the ability to function at work after seeing the finished animatic!!!!!!

#zutara #antarcticasx #hayleynfoster #my brain melted into a puddle today #and it was glorious #I may have also lost all self control and sent the animatic link to my mom? #she was... a little confused #she's never seen ATLA before #she just knows that I write nerdy stories based on a TV show

[starry-nights12]

Has this been done yet?

#zutara #anti bryke #atla #avatar the last airbender #my post #hayleynfoster #was gonna tag them but chicked out adfgh #HAYLEY IF YOU SEE THIS THANKS FOR THE ZUTARA CONTENT #We are truly blessed ;w; #im usually dead inside but your art/animatics have me LIVING

[jily-lover]

Can I just say, as a fan of other ships, it's so shocking that other ships don't have a @hayleynfoster, a @soopersara, a @rufiozuko, or a Draco_sollicitus. Like we're so luck/blessed to have tgese wonderful, creative people in this ship. And what other ship can say their king shipper is famous and actually voiced one part of the ship in the show.

Like, I was just going through the jily tag, and nothing out of the ordinary is happening. But the zutara tag is full of zutarians freaking out (justifiably).

We're just so fortunate to be part of a ship that has such amazing, talented, and creative people. Thank you to everyone involved. You guys are amazing.

#zutara #hayleynfoster #dante basco #soopersara #draco_sollicitus #we really don't deserve these guys #so amazing #i love this ship

[rideboldlyride]

Hey guys!

So, do you remember when I said I was going to do @hayleynfoster part 2 AMV?

And then I didn't?

Well, I actually did. But I was very dissatisfied, and didn't feel like it did it justice. However, I've now since rewritten it. Expect to see it up this evening on Ao3 and Tumblr! I hope it does it justice this time... 👀👀👀 Keep an eye on this Tumblr, in case it decides to keep my post from the tags....

#zutara #hayleynfoster #zutara week ish? #Zuko #Katara #zuko x katara #it's going to be up tonight #when i get home.

[kaligraphy]

I AM GOING TO SCREAM ABOUT THIS FOREVER 🥺🥺😭😭😭💖💖💖💖

#hayleynfoster liked my meme 😭😭😭 #i am emotional #omg