(Close-up detail of the face)

(Updated 07-01-2009: Azulera was right, the right hand was just awkward. Tried to fix that a bit.)

Ladies, back me up: when the boys just aren't paying you the attention you deserve, nothing restores the natural order like a nice slinky dress in the moonlight. Am I right?

Beyond just a drawing of Azula in a nice-looking dress, this is also a scene from a stupid little story, where she finds herself needing to one-up a particularly tiresome boy once and for all.

Reasons I drew this picture:
1. Azula is the most awesome thing ever and proper tribute must be paid.
2. After writing about her wearing this outfit in my stupid little story and both my test-readers telling me I just had to draw it, I... well, I had to draw it. Hands were tied.
3. Since this dress was designed with an eye towards making something that could be conventionaly tailored in real-life, perhaps some of those exceptionally talented cosplayers out there might take interest and consider giving it a whirl.
4. Apparently there are some Azula fans out there like Azulera and InvisibleJohnny who think they can just draw Princess Azula willie-nillie to beautiful, regal, breathtaking effect and perfectly, seemingly-effortlessly capture her appearance, demeanor, and deadly attitude without my noticing the transgression. It's a given that they're mocking me with their gorgeous and picture-perfect drawings of Azula and I could not let the offense pass any longer. So take that, you... other Azula fans! D:




Never smart enough to do things the easy way, I went through several iterations of the dress's design. For fun, here are the other two designs I was considering:

* A Chinese shoulderties-type front. I liked how it looked more snug but really it looked kind of boring after I colored it. Too... prim and proper, not arrogantly showy enough.

* A keyhole front. I hope I don't have to explain why this one was considered. It looked great and I think it would definitely have the desired effect (namely reminding those stupid boys who they should be worshipping) and nearly wound up going with this one, but in the end I concluded that it's just a little too obviously racey for our princess. The cross-chest design looks more casual or incidental, which was how I've always seen her beauty as being in the show.

Compare and contrast them all here.


--------------------------------------------
Azula and Avatar: The Last Airbender are the property of Nickelodeon and the inscrutable Bryan-Mike entity that spawned it. They're not mine and I'm not saying they're mine, so self-righteous moral police DA members please get a life.