[Sean Mirrsen]

Originally Posted by Bakuel

I'm late to the party, but I agree that you really would benefit from a more robust scene planning stage. I agree with Druid Droid in a way that you should try to work out the background first. Up to know, I get the feeling your making kick-ass characters and mechs, and adding a background to them. Which is fine for say, Dash's mech, as that was a simple background anyway. But the more complicated scenes you'll probably have to plan for. Especially scenes which involve people interacting with each other.

Yeah, I need to try and get a scene done properly sometime. I just never felt like actually doing a scene... well, except that one time, and if the feedback I got is to be believed, it's actually succeeded at what I wanted it to do - which is, convey an emotion state. Getting emotion conveyed properly is such a dark area for me sometimes.

Anyway, I promise I'll try a proper scene once I'm done with all these individual mech designs.

Well, since you seem to want comments (even if it is dreadfully late), I'm going to nit-pick, only because while the picture is good, you seem to be aiming for awesome. All of things which I am commenting on are things that I struggle with myself. So I'm going to nit-pick it just like I nit-pick my own things according to the odd standards I have gathered in my head. All of the things I say should be taken with a load of salt and some pepper.

Heh, well, whether or not it's already a disaster, in-depth analysis is always welcome, if only to prevent such disasters in the future. I mean, that's what they have flight recorders for.

Nit-picking.

Spoiler

I think the background is a bit too backgroundy. Like the scene is on a stage. Are they fighting in a clearing in the Everfree Forest, it's fine, but not very interesting. The trees are pushed to the background and stay there. You could add some trees and brush to the foreground, maybe have some knocked over and broken or bent. Perhaps some mud/dirt marks were the mechs have been fighting. They are mechs after all, I would imagine they cause a mess. But these are just suggestions.

Also, because you didn't draw the figures together or at once, they are rather distant from and distinct. What was the shadow mech planning to do? It seems he is flying by and going the opposite way from Rarity, was he taking a swipe at Rarity and missed only to be hit by Rarity's diamond tail? If this is the correct scenario, then why is Rarity so static standing there, her mech should be leaning away as if she was dodging or slightly ducking the shadow mech's failed attack. As it is now, there is one action and reaction in the picture, the Shadow Mech being hit by Rarity, but you could fit in two actions. Rarity responding to the Shadow Mech's failed attack, and her counterattack and the Shadow Mech's response to that. More actions mean more storytelling which is always a good thing.

Going into even nit-picker, nit-pick territory, ruled by the king of nit-picks. The scene feels like it could be more interesting if the characters were a bit more closer together. Rarity and the Shadow Mech are very distinct from each, with little to now overlap between the figures besides the tail. Now, many people have their own annoying motto, creed, or standard that they try to live up to in art, music, film or life in general. It's generally ambiguous and mystifying to everyone outside of the individual's head. Like George Lucas's infamous stage directions of "Faster! More intense!". Mine in action scenes is, "They could be closer together, aren't they a bit too distant?". It may seem odd, but characters invading each other's living space creates tension. Whether violent or sexual, and the more distant they are from each other, the less tension there seems to be. Now, on the other hand, two people in each other's living space can also be used to show that they are completely at ease and trusting of each other. But in violent scenes, close characters can be used to make it seem more interesting.
Alright I'm done.

This is very helpful, even if it is, in retrospect, painfully obvious. There wasn't a scene here to begin with, just character designs. Everything but the character designs is/was largely an afterthought.

Now, the actual proceedings in the scene are slightly confusing even to me, but if I were to guess, I'd say the Shadowmech is either being chased by RD's Tenacity, or is simply harassing the Benevolence without attacking outright, being able to fly, being larger, stronger, and generally being overly cocky. In the former case, adding the Tenacity flying on the same path as the Shadowmech could address the issue. In the latter case... well, I've no idea how to represent that. All in all, it's better to just redo the whole thing as a proper scene than try to salvage the existing image. And in that case, it'll be a lot better to get Rarity to show her mech's other weapon.

Now onto the two drawings that I jumbled together.

Spoiler

This was my scene for the Ponies interacting challenge. Extremely WIP. But it is the pony thread. And I haven't been posting ponies. So I feel like I should post something.
It features Twist looking on while the CMC discuss things, unsure of whether to come up and say hello to Applebloom, or just slink away. I was going for a Ponyville street for a setting. The houses are a bit more crooked and cartoony then they are in the show even. I may or may not change it. The blasted horizon line is there, mocking me and the vanishing point is off the canvas somewhere. So those lines are flying all over! I didn't get to finish the rough Sweet Belle, so her eyes are blank. And Scoot is a bunch of shapes and stuff just like the background pony roughs floating around.
Yeah, I'll try to finish this picture this week!

Spoiler

And some bonus non-pony art!
Yeah, I got nothing to say on this one. This was a warm up before I started drawing the Pony scene.
However~!
This is my first ever camel I have ever drawn! True, it's a cartoony camel, and I was too lazy to bother with it's legs, but I feel like this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship. I didn't get around to finishing the faces at the bottom.

Spoiler

The first one, despite being unfinished, already looks very good. Although I'm comparing to my memory, everyone looks on-model and true to their appearances, the poses and positions seem natural... in other words, I marvel at how you are able to construct scenes like that.

The second one... that face... that grinning face alone makes me want to giggle uncontrollably. Great job on the design! The camel looks good too. I can't help but wonder whether these are "first stage" sketches, done beginning to end as seen, or "second stage" sketches, cleaned of any underlying base sketch you've used to shape out the scene and characters. I'm wondering because I can't see any of the extra lines any of my first-stage sketches would've been filled with, and yet it looks like they were drawn as-is, without cleanup. There's just a few stray lines here and there, but it's mostly just clean, deliberate strokes. Definitely not something I could've managed myself, probably not even with a character I know how to draw, much less one I just made up on the fly.

edit: all this talk of scenes got me inspired to try one. Not too happy on some details yet, and the Mercy is in an odd pose, plus needs some foreground attackers, perhaps? I didn't plan actually having attackers shown, or the beams/drill shield effect for that matter. I think it actually needs a better angle...

Spoiler

Kinda spur-of-the-moment. Also, the TTGL influence is a little too obvious, no? :)

edit2: I'll stay the urge to refine the above until I get feedback (hopefully I will get some this time), so Anxiety remains the next machine on the list.

Spoiler

Anything you'd say is wrong/out of place? The hair is supposed to look like that of a real pony - that's just one of the things about Anxiety that make no sense for a battle robot, but exist because of Pinkie.

When transforming for the combination machine, the Anxiety forms the twin cannons out of both its fore and hind legs, their internal structure seamlessly integrating into the cannons' housing.

If the machines of the Pony Rangers were judged solely by their potential peak power output and performance, the Anxiety would leave all its competitors trampled into the dirt, winning handily even against Celestia and Luna's Harmonic Balance. Despite being lightly armored for its role as a heavy skirmish fighter, Pinkie Pie's custom machine possesses an incredibly tough endostructure, allowing it to withstand tremendous stress over short periods of time.

Its limbs are mostly made up of myomer macro-muscles, resulting in an excellent power-to-mass ratio second only to that of Rainbow Dash's Tenacity. The muscles can sink a lot of power, but the power has to come from somewhere - and unlike RD's machine the Anxiety doesn't have a high-performance powerplant. Instead, its chestplate conceals a capacitor bank large enough to provide the power required for the firing of the twin-linked Party Cannons. Since in its Titan form the Anxiety is limited to much weaker weaponry, the power collected in the capacitors can instead be rerouted through the body's muscle groups, resulting in enormous bursts of speed, strength, and agility. And even though each such burst must be followed by a period of recharge, the Anxiety's agility and flexibility allow it to always remain effective on the battlefield.

Combined with the natural precognition abilities of the Pink Ranger, the Anxiety is a dangerous opponent indeed.

edit3: Continuing the good tradition of drawing funny ponies when frustrated with some part of the design:

Spoiler

Not quite happy with how the rear legs, and rear torso in general, look. And the face can use a few touch-ups as well. Can't think of any good ways to improve either at the moment.