READ THE ARTIST COMMENT BEFORE FAV-ING/COMMENTING!!!!!

At least read the first part of the comment, please...Thank you.

I colored the pic. Line art was done by *RogueRider

Sketch/Line-art by

Colored by me *atmos00000

Character; Gonzo the Sunbender ©

Avatar: The Last Airbender © Nickelodean

I'll be using this OC for *RogueRider's Earth Rumble VII tournament.
------------

Coloring done on "Paint Shop Pro X."

This is the first time I’ve ever did digital coloring. I’m confident to say it came out pretty good. But I immediately confess that shading and highlight were possibly the most difficult part. The highlighting especially drove me nuts.

Also the right plasma orb at his left hand. That's supposed to be a light trail, not a flame.

I’m happy how it turned out, but of course I still welcome any suggestions and critiques on it. (Even if you think it sucks, I don’t mind you telling me, I just ask that you please explain in deep detail why it does so, haha).

------------
A big thanks to and for their input in helping me with the shading/lighting.

Also thanks to who had many useful references in her gallery to help me get through with the shading around the muscles and such and to providing a tidbit with motion blur which I used for the light trail of the orb.

And thanks again to for doing the lineart commission for me!!

"Thank you ladies!"

Other references include screenshots from the actual avatar show.
Swapped the base colors from this pic: [link]
Used this pic of Zhao to help with the shading on Gonzo’s face. [link]

-----

About the character: Gonzo - the Sunbender.

Name: Gonzo
Age: 21
Element: Fire
Style: Northern Shoaling
Residence: Earth Kingdom
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Dark brown
Skin: Fair
Height: 6'3"

Info: Born in Earth Kingdom at an inland Fire Nation colony, Gonzo lived most his life with very little worries and struggles of the ongoing war. The location of the colony was always heavily occupied with Fire Nation militia throughout its borders and the only contact the colony normally made with the military were soldiers brought to the local infirmary or small groups as police.

It wasn’t until Gonzo was 10 that his colony was ambushed by a massive Earth Kingdom platoon. It was supposed to be a painless capture of the colony but it was during the process of capture that Fire Nation reinforcements rushed in, turning the scene into an all out battle; the civilians were right in the middle of the crossfire. In short Gonzo was separated from his parents and older sister and was left no choice but to flee into the woods.

After several days being lost in the woods, he was rescued by mysterious wild men who turned out to be the guardians of the infamous Fire Nation outlaw, Jeong Jeong. Knowing that it was too dangerous to go back to Gonzo’s home and look for his family, they took him in. Jeong Jeong quickly learned Gonzo was a firebender. Jeong Jeong knew that Gonzo would be using his ability somehow in the future so he (forcibly) insisted on training and guiding Gonzo; he not only taught Gonzo everything he knew of firebender but he taught him his philosophy, explained the responsibilities of a firebender and the mistake of the Fire Nation and the war. Gonzo head out on his own at the age of 17. He’s determined to help stop the war, promote peace among the remaining nations, and wants to cleanse the bad reputation of his element.

Gonzo is probably one of the most annoying people you’ll ever meet. He’s very loud, proud, and expressive about himself and his goals. He won’t hesitate to reveal himself as a firebender (which hasn’t helped him get along with many in Earth Kingdom territory), and will almost always mention the teacher who had trained him (which doesn’t help much when in Fire Nation territory). He always gives an excessive speech about his to duty to serve justice and help the needy yadda-yadda; he has an passionate hero mentality and is anything but modest. But what normally tends to blow other people’s lids is hearing him talk about the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom living together in peace; he has a natural gift of unintentionally disturbing the peace, not to mention blunt. (Pretty much think of how Rock Lee dramatically presents himself in a single moment and you got the picture).

Despite him not easy to get along with his exasperating exterior, Gonzo is a person very true to his word; he is a very courageous and selfless individual. By and by he has helped many in his travels through struggling towns; the epitome of the good Samaritan. He respects other equally no matter their origin or element. He also runs the line between ladies man and gentleman. Any woman he encounters who shares his similar views and ambitions captures his heart and would propose to her on the spot immediately pledging to be the ideal husband and father of their children. Out of the several times he done this he had always come too strong on either the proposed gal, or too strong on the father or boyfriend that always happened to make perfect timing on the scene. Other than that, he might express slightly inferior views toward the oppostie sex when it comes to fighting.

Gonzo is participating the Earth Rumble VII for the fame in hopes to get his goals and beliefs publicly known.

Special: Gonzo was introduced on how to produce lightning under Jeong Jeong’s apprenticeship however Gonzo simply didn't have the inheritance for it (Iroh did mention that only a select few firebenders have the ability to produce lightning).

Unlike his teacher, Jeong Jeong who was sometimes expressed grief towards his own element as a curse, Gonzo was much more optimistic of the use of his element. The biggest inspiration to Gonzo’s understanding of his element was the sun as Jeong Jeong explained was not only the greatest source of fire, but was in complete balance with nature; the sun was possibly the only entity with absolute control of its element. Gonzo planned on becoming the second - he wanted to figure a way he could have absolute control of the fire, not only the shape but its movements as well, to “tame the flame” as he would think of it. (Plus he wanted to find a way to make up for lacking the ability to produce lightning).

He started to train and experiment with this idea at the age of 16 and managed to finally master it at 19 thanks to his layers of patience. He had perfected, what Gonzo has called, “sun-bending.” It is an odd name for the bending technique considering it’s not a technique of actually bending the sun. He can retain the heated gases in single spheres while keeping its high temperature, in other words taking a flame and harnessing it as a ball of plasma.

Technical note: fire is nothing but a flow of molecules heating up into to a plasma state from the combustion reaction only to rise up and quickly cool back into a gas. What Gonzo does is retain that plasma while keeping it heated up. The challenge of the technique is holding the super-heated/super-excited molecules in place in a ball. Result of lack of control could lead to explosions.

Gonzo can produce several balls of plasma at once. He can either launch them as a projectile in which it would explode on impact, or rupture a point on the sphere (almost like popping a balloon with a pin in slow motion), firing the sphere as a laser beam.