Zuko

It just blew up in my face—like everything always does.

Behind the carving

About this piece

Avatar: the Last Airbender's Zuko is among the best characters ever written. Fight me. This carving features the smokey shadow of his scarred face on the left—a symbol of his desire to capture the avatar. It's not as obvious, but his right hand is holding the mask of the blue spirit, his alter ego. It's such a fun piece of art and I'm happy with everything but the face (see notes). I hope to do more firebenders in the future, and I may revisit Zuko at some point as well.

Carving notes

I accidentally cut off the dark line connecting his forehead to his nose. I tried to replace it, but obviously didn't get the orientation correct, because his face looks very distorted as a result.

Carving tips

Be especially careful when carving facial elements. Mistakes in other areas are easier to look past because the human eye is drawn towards faces as a focal point.