Ponythread Learns to Draw! Together!

[Beacon of Chaos]

Glad to see you're still working on this! I'm really interested to see the finished animation, so I'll gladly poke you if you need motivation.

Many thanks! I'm glad to get back into it. It's good to know that this little project is moving ahead again after.... oh gods, it's been a year since I started this.

Today though, I took a quick break from it. Been quite tired, tried to do another frame and kinda... I dunno it didn't quite work.

So instead I drew a quick Carrot Top pony. (For the non-bronies, I'm talking about a background character from MLP, not the creepy-looking comedian)

Spoiler

Show

[the_druid_droid]

Alright, well I finished my secret project today. I learned a lot in the process, from stuff for smoother lines, a couple neat things with the gradient, and a better method for making cutie marks...

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how things turned out, so here you go:

Horses in the Sky

Spoiler

Show

And have a thematically-fittingly-named song too: What Do You Go Home To?

[Beacon of Chaos]

Alright, well I finished my secret project today. I learned a lot in the process, from stuff for smoother lines, a couple neat things with the gradient, and a better method for making cutie marks...

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how things turned out, so here you go:

Horses in the Sky

Spoiler

Show

And have a thematically-fittingly-named song too: What Do You Go Home To?

It looks good! The lines are looking much smoother. Also, D'aaaaw.

What's this new method for making cutie marks?

[the_druid_droid]

It looks good! The lines are looking much smoother. Also, D'aaaaw.

What's this new method for making cutie marks?

Mostly the trick is to make the marks as separate images at a decent size, then make their background transparent, resize them and import into the original image. Second's mark took more work because I drew it, but then had to do some editing to get the perspective to look right which used a couple Photoshop filters and just a touch of Liquify to make it follow the curve of his leg.

[flyingchicken]

xoxoxoxoxo

[Thanqol]

I've been loving MLP so I've been inspired to doodle me some ponies :O

Spoiler

Show

Ah. Shipping. Very good.

I wish I knew how to clean up lines and color

What program are you using? The easiest starting point is to do multiple layers - do your sketch layer, then your linework, and then your colour.

[flyingchicken]

xoxoxoxoxo

[Thanqol]

Hey if that's how you want to read it then it's A-OK

If it is possible to see a thing as a potential ship that is how I see that thing.

Yeah but that needs like, patience, and im too impatient to be patient :< (also, Inkscape and maybe Painter)

As for coloring, it's less technical-technical and more art-technical I have problems with; what colors go with what? what should be light what should be dark? what do I saturate, what I desaturate? what goes where? vaguely, things like that. I always end up with something too garish, or too dull, with no focus

My tip for that is just grab a few brushes, spin the colour wheel, and make some splashes of colour up in the top corner, and see if it blends there. I've started to notice that so long as the hue or the variance are about the same then the thing won't be radically inconsistent. Otherwise, stuff adjacent on the colour wheel (blue-purple-red-yellow-green-teal) tend to look good side by side.

Also, the surrounding colours matter a lot. Purple next to black looks way more purple than purple next to blue, which looks black.

[Bakuel]

So.... I feel off the art ball, hard. I have been drawing off and on, but numerous things have been keeping me posting for the past week or so. Work, sickness, A relative's sickness, bad art, creativity block, .etc the list goes on and on. Countless excuses, but the truth is that I haven't been trying hard enough and must make amends to the Art to wash away my shame!

Indeed not much to say. Nice for a quickie. She seems to have lost one of her freckles to something though.

Late reply is late.
Your right, she is missing a freckle. I think it got covered up by the blush I tend to put on ponies for some odd reason... Need to remeber to watch that.

I did Minimalism Week about a hundred days back; my non-pony chibi style has a lot of reference over this and the next few pages of my drawthread. I could do that, or a ponytar. If the description is vague I take that as a 'Please troll me' request.

I now formally and humbly request one of the four figures from the third image I have posted today. Which one you do, whether it is a pony or a chibi based on a pony is up to you! My only specification is that if you chibify them, you make the skin of the Citrus Tree like brown bark, the Medusa's like white marble, and the Sphinx's like red sandstone. So they can be properly inhuman. But ponies would be fine too! I practically only post in a pony thread after all. Or you can make the Pokémon or a chibi based on the mon. Do whatever you think is best. Pony or chibi, both would be wonderful.
Whatever you choose I would be most grateful and kowtow several times in your general direction and praise you like a large ham. You won't be able to see it or hear it, but by jove, it'll happen! Seriously though, I would be very grateful and would try to make it up to you somehow.
There is no hurry on this any of this of course, if you accept take your time with it.

It's been awhile... but I have some new pieces to put up!

I don't think Im going to try much critiquing... I usually just end up saying "Really nice!" and leaving it at that 0-0*

A bit late, but it's nice to see you back! That's a interesting pony style on that Dash. Which artist made the reference? Are you going to start practicing it, or is it a one off thing?

On comments and critique, you don't have to be an expert to comment and critique. Just having a second opinion on what is good or not is sometimes nice. Also, I find that purely subjective comments like on design and so on are also useful. Even if I don't listen to them, it's nice knowing other people's opinions.

Alright, finished coloring the previous pony piece. Decided to leave the forelegs the way they were, because it would be a pain to change them, but I'll double check proportions next time.

Spoiler

Show

Alright, well I finished my secret project today. I learned a lot in the process, from stuff for smoother lines, a couple neat things with the gradient, and a better method for making cutie marks...

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how things turned out, so here you go:

Horses in the Sky

Spoiler

Show

And have a thematically-fittingly-named song too: What Do You Go Home To?

Extremely nice and clean, those are some great lines you got going on there. I honestly thought it wasn't done freehand for the first second when I glanced at it.
To add to what I think flyingchicken meant by the eye level comment, I think the image would be stronger if you added more blue space above the cloud. What I mean is just make the image longer and add more space above. Then the two ponies and cloud would follow the golden ratio better thus leading to a more pleasing image. Or at least in theory.

I've been loving MLP so I've been inspired to doodle me some ponies :O

Spoiler

Show

I wish I knew how to clean up lines and color

Very nice! Applejack is best!
As for coloring, it really depends on what coloring style you want to go for. In my opinion, the napping/relaxing AJ already has clean enough lines for coloring. As for the technical side of coloring, I must parrot Thanqol and say just practice and experiment.
Also, if your wondering what colors go well with what. Just take a look at how other people use color, not only other drawing/painting artists, but also what color clothes people wear that you like.etc. For example, you already gave AJ some nice clothes, they just need colors. Why not take a look at pictures of cowgirls and outdoorsy farm girl types and see what colors are commonly put together?
I'm no color king though.



Now for pony art!
Day 47-53, Or why I need to post more.

Spoiler

Show

Spike and Sweetie Belle goof around while Twilight attempts to enlighten them on the wonders of classical arcane theory. Twilight loves the subject more then the listeners and is the type of teacher to lose herself in it and forget to teach.
For Spike's design I went with the half-grown Spike in "Secret of My Excess" for my guardsman Spike. But he's still about a head shorter then your average anthro pony. Most of the pictures of Edo period guard types wear those head protectors made famous by Naruto though of varying size and shape, so I gave him one. As a side note, I found out where the Naruto head-band protectors came from! The more you know! I'm still not sold on Spike's design, I'm working on it!
Twilight's mouth is questionable due to the position it the head is in, not sure I did that right. And much like when working with her abacus, when Twilight is around her scrolls her body loses it's form.
And most of Sweetie is hidden by the scroll. This was not because I was lazy! And the scroll is not a excuse to not draw more of there bodies! Not very happy with the colors in this one, or even the picture in general but it is what it is. Could have used more defined lines.



Spike heads, these were drawn today! Just quick heads, the happy one is missing a nostril.



And a picture of a fantastical random adventure in progress! Featuring my pony OCs, Medusa Pony, Citrus Tree Pony, and Male Egyptian Sphinx Pony! And one of my favorite Pokémon! Tropius the flying long neck dino plant thing.
They're trying to figure out were to go for the magical plot device, but none of them know how to read maps! Tropius, Sphinx, and Citrus are too happy-go-lucky to worry and they trust Medusa to figure it all out, leaving Medusa under a lot of pressure. Though she likes to think she's the brains of the operation, she's only smart by comparison. Their trusting, innocent eyes looking at her are putting her on edge. In the end it's up to Medusa's tail snakes to figure things out and save the world.
But will they be able to figure out how to fold the map back up?! Link
I dunno, the art block was awful and I needed to do something.
I had fun with experimenting with bolder/thicker lines and shadows so yay? Also sitting ponies are hard. The Tropius is off-model mainly because of the shape of the leaf headgear. I wanted it to look more like a helmet, like he was a superhero or somethin'. Should have added a Kamen Rider scarf.



A Samurai-Equestrian blurb on Twilight Sparkle,
Twilight is intelligent, anti-social, and has self-esteem issues, but is also caring and responsible.

Spoiler

Show

Though born into a peasant family, Twilight always seemed to have a natural interest toward education and learning. Her family recognized this and sent her to the village school when they could afford it and after she learned to read and write they tried to supply her with a regular supply of books. Twilight's parents hoped that she would become a village school teacher and earn a modest income, teaching children to read, write and basic arithmetic.
However, as time went on Twilight began to have much higher ambitions for herself, she hoped to go to the capital and pass all of the imperial examinations and become an official scholar first rank. Then she would spend her days learning advanced magical techniques and the latest theories and philosophies from brightest minds and perhaps even, she dared hope, contribute some of her own ideas.
When she was of age (around 16-18ish) she found no steady job for a budding scholar around her hamlet and, despite her parents' misgivings, she left for the cities to find work to earn enough money for the examinations.

Twilight has been to two different cities before landing in Ponyville, she messed up her job in a print shop and the less said about her experience teaching a certain family's brat, the better. But it was Ponyville where she hit finally hit gold and was hired by Rarity to teach Sweetie Belle. It was the perfect match.
Rarity had been growing somewhat worried about her sister's education. While she could teach her everything about etiquette and fashion, Rarity was ill-equipped to teach her anything about history and the mundane and magical sciences. Also, even though she would hate to admit it, Rarity hopes that a more rigorous education might lead to Belle having less... odd moments of mental vacancy. Tutors have been hired and dismissed, either because they could not stand Sweetie Belle or, in many cases, live up to Rarity's high standards. The Rarity Belle family can only accept the crème of the top of tutors, after all. They may be a just a merchant family with a few underworld connections now, but this family is going to move up in the world. Yet most scholars who could fit her high standards would rather just tutor some noble's child, rather then the child of a somewhat wealthy merchant family. Enter Twilight Sparkle, a well educated and intelligent pony, yet who has not passed any of the official examinations and thus no noble family would dream of hiring her, leaving her without a lot of options.
Overtime, Twilight's position in Rarity Belle has grown once Rarity learned of her other abilities. While her main job is still tutoring Sweetie Belle, she is now the family's accountant and general steward, and at times, a powerful fighter. Even if reluctant (she hates violence).
Despite her social awkwardness or because of it, Twilight has become somewhat a constant companion to Rarity, who drags her along to a few social events and lectures her on proper fashion and social norms. "Life is all about connections, Twi dear, you won't get anywhere in life without them!" For better or for worse, the ever generous Rarity has taken Twilight underneath her wing to show her the wonders of having a social life. Twilight just puts up with it the best that she can.

It has been three years and Twilight has finally earned enough money to go to the capital and pay for the exams. Everything has gone according to her plans more or less, her time in Ponyville just a stepping stone on her quest for academic glory. She should be happy to leave and put Ponyville behind her. Rarity is pushy and pretentious, always dragging her along to social events and trying out new fashions on her. Sweetie Belle is a tiring student, dreamy and vacant, with her mind on everything but what's in front of her. The guard Spike's verbal jabs and ideas of humor can be annoying at times. And yet, for the introverted Twilight, these ponies (and dragon) are the ones she's bonded with the closest outside of her family and the closest to, dare she admit it, friends.
Twilight has written her letter of resignation to Rarity twelve times and ended up burning each one, unable to think up a good way to break the news to Rarity that she'll be leaving. Maybe she'll break the news to her after her wedding with Fancy Pants. After that, she'll have plenty of options for a tutor and steward and she will be easily replaced.


Growing up amongst largely uneducated ponies has caused Twilight to keep to herself, most of her neighbors found her hard to relate to and much of her academic knowledge of little use. This has lead to her social skills being somewhat lackluster, and she is no stranger to social anxiety, often avoiding and at times even dreading social events. In her relationships with other ponies she often feels anxiety when even the most minor conflict arises. Yet this is only because she cares. When tutoring or settling Rarity Belle's accounts, she over organizes everything to OCD levels, but that is just because she is responsible and wants everything to turn out the best. Twilight is the type of pony who gets absorbed in her work and studies and leaves little time for anything else.
Despite her great intellect and knowledge, Twilight Sparkle has self-esteem issues, outside of her academic talent, she does not place much value on herself as a mentor or friend. She beliefs and hopes that when she gets to the capital she will finally be recognized and appreciated for her intellectual talents and be amongst ponies who can relate to her. This is a problem, after all, her friends in Rarity Belle do not love her only for her knowledge, but mainly as a caring and responsible friend, qualities she doesn't recognize in herself. Does this mean she doesn't value their friendship?

[the_druid_droid]

I've been loving MLP so I've been inspired to doodle me some ponies :O

Spoiler

Show

I wish I knew how to clean up lines and color

Always nice to see new faces! Pull up a chair and art a while with us!

as for contributing to the thread, um, how about comments on the last thing posted...

how about more line variation, and more interesting posing? maybe move eye level up a bit, idk

Good suggestions; I definitely need to focus on some of these things, even moreso now that I have some tricks down to get technical issues smoothed out. I think the line weight in particular will be important to address, but I might have some luck with that by using thicker brushes to start with; the original image was so large in comparison to my brushes on my last work that they really scaled down when zoomed out to full size.

Hey if that's how you want to read it then it's A-OK

Yeah but that needs like, patience, and im too impatient to be patient :< (also, Inkscape and maybe Painter)

As for coloring, it's less technical-technical and more art-technical I have problems with; what colors go with what? what should be light what should be dark? what do I saturate, what I desaturate? what goes where? vaguely, things like that. I always end up with something too garish, or too dull, with no focus

Although I'm still finding my feet with color too, I agree with Thanqol - it's probably best just to whip up some new layers and experiment. At worst, you learn some lessons, and with luck you get something that feels much more finished than linework alone.

You might also consider trying to do an image using colors alone - first blocking in the shapes and then refining with different colors and values to show detail.

So.... I feel off the art ball, hard. I have been drawing off and on, but numerous things have been keeping me posting for the past week or so. Work, sickness, A relative's sickness, bad art, creativity block, .etc the list goes on and on. Countless excuses, but the truth is that I haven't been trying hard enough and must make amends to the Art to wash away my shame!

Know that feel... Hang in there!

Extremely nice and clean, those are some great lines you got going on there. I honestly thought it wasn't done freehand for the first second when I glanced at it.
To add to what I think flyingchicken meant by the eye level comment, I think the image would be stronger if you added more blue space above the cloud. What I mean is just make the image longer and add more space above. Then the two ponies and cloud would follow the golden ratio better thus leading to a more pleasing image. Or at least in theory.

Thanks! Yeah, composition has become one more thing on the long list of "Things to Maybe Consider While Starting"...

Now for pony art!
Day 47-53, Or why I need to post more.

Spoiler

Show

Spike and Sweetie Belle goof around while Twilight attempts to enlighten them on the wonders of classical arcane theory. Twilight loves the subject more then the listeners and is the type of teacher to lose herself in it and forget to teach.
For Spike's design I went with the half-grown Spike in "Secret of My Excess" for my guardsman Spike. But he's still about a head shorter then your average anthro pony. Most of the pictures of Edo period guard types wear those head protectors made famous by Naruto though of varying size and shape, so I gave him one. As a side note, I found out where the Naruto head-band protectors came from! The more you know! I'm still not sold on Spike's design, I'm working on it!
Twilight's mouth is questionable due to the position it the head is in, not sure I did that right. And much like when working with her abacus, when Twilight is around her scrolls her body loses it's form.
And most of Sweetie is hidden by the scroll. This was not because I was lazy! And the scroll is not a excuse to not draw more of there bodies! Not very happy with the colors in this one, or even the picture in general but it is what it is. Could have used more defined lines.



Spike heads, these were drawn today! Just quick heads, the happy one is missing a nostril.



And a picture of a fantastical random adventure in progress! Featuring my pony OCs, Medusa Pony, Citrus Tree Pony, and Male Egyptian Sphinx Pony! And one of my favorite Pokémon! Tropius the flying long neck dino plant thing.
They're trying to figure out were to go for the magical plot device, but none of them know how to read maps! Tropius, Sphinx, and Citrus are too happy-go-lucky to worry and they trust Medusa to figure it all out, leaving Medusa under a lot of pressure. Though she likes to think she's the brains of the operation, she's only smart by comparison. Their trusting, innocent eyes looking at her are putting her on edge. In the end it's up to Medusa's tail snakes to figure things out and save the world.
But will they be able to figure out how to fold the map back up?! Link
I dunno, the art block was awful and I needed to do something.
I had fun with experimenting with bolder/thicker lines and shadows so yay? Also sitting ponies are hard. The Tropius is off-model mainly because of the shape of the leaf headgear. I wanted it to look more like a helmet, like he was a superhero or somethin'. Should have added a Kamen Rider scarf.



A Samurai-Equestrian blurb on Twilight Sparkle,
Twilight is intelligent, anti-social, and has self-esteem issues, but is also caring and responsible.

Spoiler

Show

Though born into a peasant family, Twilight always seemed to have a natural interest toward education and learning. Her family recognized this and sent her to the village school when they could afford it and after she learned to read and write they tried to supply her with a regular supply of books. Twilight's parents hoped that she would become a village school teacher and earn a modest income, teaching children to read, write and basic arithmetic.
However, as time went on Twilight began to have much higher ambitions for herself, she hoped to go to the capital and pass all of the imperial examinations and become an official scholar first rank. Then she would spend her days learning advanced magical techniques and the latest theories and philosophies from brightest minds and perhaps even, she dared hope, contribute some of her own ideas.
When she was of age (around 16-18ish) she found no steady job for a budding scholar around her hamlet and, despite her parents' misgivings, she left for the cities to find work to earn enough money for the examinations.

Twilight has been to two different cities before landing in Ponyville, she messed up her job in a print shop and the less said about her experience teaching a certain family's brat, the better. But it was Ponyville where she hit finally hit gold and was hired by Rarity to teach Sweetie Belle. It was the perfect match.
Rarity had been growing somewhat worried about her sister's education. While she could teach her everything about etiquette and fashion, Rarity was ill-equipped to teach her anything about history and the mundane and magical sciences. Also, even though she would hate to admit it, Rarity hopes that a more rigorous education might lead to Belle having less... odd moments of mental vacancy. Tutors have been hired and dismissed, either because they could not stand Sweetie Belle or, in many cases, live up to Rarity's high standards. The Rarity Belle family can only accept the crème of the top of tutors, after all. They may be a just a merchant family with a few underworld connections now, but this family is going to move up in the world. Yet most scholars who could fit her high standards would rather just tutor some noble's child, rather then the child of a somewhat wealthy merchant family. Enter Twilight Sparkle, a well educated and intelligent pony, yet who has not passed any of the official examinations and thus no noble family would dream of hiring her, leaving her without a lot of options.
Overtime, Twilight's position in Rarity Belle has grown once Rarity learned of her other abilities. While her main job is still tutoring Sweetie Belle, she is now the family's accountant and general steward, and at times, a powerful fighter. Even if reluctant (she hates violence).
Despite her social awkwardness or because of it, Twilight has become somewhat a constant companion to Rarity, who drags her along to a few social events and lectures her on proper fashion and social norms. "Life is all about connections, Twi dear, you won't get anywhere in life without them!" For better or for worse, the ever generous Rarity has taken Twilight underneath her wing to show her the wonders of having a social life. Twilight just puts up with it the best that she can.

It has been three years and Twilight has finally earned enough money to go to the capital and pay for the exams. Everything has gone according to her plans more or less, her time in Ponyville just a stepping stone on her quest for academic glory. She should be happy to leave and put Ponyville behind her. Rarity is pushy and pretentious, always dragging her along to social events and trying out new fashions on her. Sweetie Belle is a tiring student, dreamy and vacant, with her mind on everything but what's in front of her. The guard Spike's verbal jabs and ideas of humor can be annoying at times. And yet, for the introverted Twilight, these ponies (and dragon) are the ones she's bonded with the closest outside of her family and the closest to, dare she admit it, friends.
Twilight has written her letter of resignation to Rarity twelve times and ended up burning each one, unable to think up a good way to break the news to Rarity that she'll be leaving. Maybe she'll break the news to her after her wedding with Fancy Pants. After that, she'll have plenty of options for a tutor and steward and she will be easily replaced.


Growing up amongst largely uneducated ponies has caused Twilight to keep to herself, most of her neighbors found her hard to relate to and much of her academic knowledge of little use. This has lead to her social skills being somewhat lackluster, and she is no stranger to social anxiety, often avoiding and at times even dreading social events. In her relationships with other ponies she often feels anxiety when even the most minor conflict arises. Yet this is only because she cares. When tutoring or settling Rarity Belle's accounts, she over organizes everything to OCD levels, but that is just because she is responsible and wants everything to turn out the best. Twilight is the type of pony who gets absorbed in her work and studies and leaves little time for anything else.
Despite her great intellect and knowledge, Twilight Sparkle has self-esteem issues, outside of her academic talent, she does not place much value on herself as a mentor or friend. She beliefs and hopes that when she gets to the capital she will finally be recognized and appreciated for her intellectual talents and be amongst ponies who can relate to her. This is a problem, after all, her friends in Rarity Belle do not love her only for her knowledge, but mainly as a caring and responsible friend, qualities she doesn't recognize in herself. Does this mean she doesn't value their friendship?

Good to see you're still hammering out ideas for samurai Equestria! I also really like your OCs; they seem pretty neat!

[Thanqol]

I now formally and humbly request one of the four figures from the third image I have posted today. Which one you do, whether it is a pony or a chibi based on a pony is up to you! My only specification is that if you chibify them, you make the skin of the Citrus Tree like brown bark, the Medusa's like white marble, and the Sphinx's like red sandstone. So they can be properly inhuman. But ponies would be fine too! I practically only post in a pony thread after all. Or you can make the Pokémon or a chibi based on the mon. Do whatever you think is best. Pony or chibi, both would be wonderful.
Whatever you choose I would be most grateful and kowtow several times in your general direction and praise you like a large ham. You won't be able to see it or hear it, but by jove, it'll happen! Seriously though, I would be very grateful and would try to make it up to you somehow.
There is no hurry on this any of this of course, if you accept take your time with it.

The point of the Minimalism Design is that it happens fast.

Also, if you thought I'd chose the non-Medusa option you don't know how much of a Fate fanboy I am.





(Not too happy with how it resized, but that's kinda hard to tell while working on it)

[Sean Mirrsen]

So.... I feel off the art ball, hard. I have been drawing off and on, but numerous things have been keeping me posting for the past week or so. Work, sickness, A relative's sickness, bad art, creativity block, .etc the list goes on and on. Countless excuses, but the truth is that I haven't been trying hard enough and must make amends to the Art to wash away my shame!

Heh. My situation exactly, sans sickness perhaps. And I don't tend to feel shame, either. :P

Now for pony art!
Day 47-53, Or why I need to post more.

Spoiler

Show

Spike and Sweetie Belle goof around while Twilight attempts to enlighten them on the wonders of classical arcane theory. Twilight loves the subject more then the listeners and is the type of teacher to lose herself in it and forget to teach.
For Spike's design I went with the half-grown Spike in "Secret of My Excess" for my guardsman Spike. But he's still about a head shorter then your average anthro pony. Most of the pictures of Edo period guard types wear those head protectors made famous by Naruto though of varying size and shape, so I gave him one. As a side note, I found out where the Naruto head-band protectors came from! The more you know! I'm still not sold on Spike's design, I'm working on it!
Twilight's mouth is questionable due to the position it the head is in, not sure I did that right. And much like when working with her abacus, when Twilight is around her scrolls her body loses it's form.
And most of Sweetie is hidden by the scroll. This was not because I was lazy! And the scroll is not a excuse to not draw more of there bodies! Not very happy with the colors in this one, or even the picture in general but it is what it is. Could have used more defined lines.



Spike heads, these were drawn today! Just quick heads, the happy one is missing a nostril.



And a picture of a fantastical random adventure in progress! Featuring my pony OCs, Medusa Pony, Citrus Tree Pony, and Male Egyptian Sphinx Pony! And one of my favorite Pokémon! Tropius the flying long neck dino plant thing.
They're trying to figure out were to go for the magical plot device, but none of them know how to read maps! Tropius, Sphinx, and Citrus are too happy-go-lucky to worry and they trust Medusa to figure it all out, leaving Medusa under a lot of pressure. Though she likes to think she's the brains of the operation, she's only smart by comparison. Their trusting, innocent eyes looking at her are putting her on edge. In the end it's up to Medusa's tail snakes to figure things out and save the world.
But will they be able to figure out how to fold the map back up?! Link
I dunno, the art block was awful and I needed to do something.
I had fun with experimenting with bolder/thicker lines and shadows so yay? Also sitting ponies are hard. The Tropius is off-model mainly because of the shape of the leaf headgear. I wanted it to look more like a helmet, like he was a superhero or somethin'. Should have added a Kamen Rider scarf.



A Samurai-Equestrian blurb on Twilight Sparkle,
Twilight is intelligent, anti-social, and has self-esteem issues, but is also caring and responsible.

Spoiler

Show

Though born into a peasant family, Twilight always seemed to have a natural interest toward education and learning. Her family recognized this and sent her to the village school when they could afford it and after she learned to read and write they tried to supply her with a regular supply of books. Twilight's parents hoped that she would become a village school teacher and earn a modest income, teaching children to read, write and basic arithmetic.
However, as time went on Twilight began to have much higher ambitions for herself, she hoped to go to the capital and pass all of the imperial examinations and become an official scholar first rank. Then she would spend her days learning advanced magical techniques and the latest theories and philosophies from brightest minds and perhaps even, she dared hope, contribute some of her own ideas.
When she was of age (around 16-18ish) she found no steady job for a budding scholar around her hamlet and, despite her parents' misgivings, she left for the cities to find work to earn enough money for the examinations.

Twilight has been to two different cities before landing in Ponyville, she messed up her job in a print shop and the less said about her experience teaching a certain family's brat, the better. But it was Ponyville where she hit finally hit gold and was hired by Rarity to teach Sweetie Belle. It was the perfect match.
Rarity had been growing somewhat worried about her sister's education. While she could teach her everything about etiquette and fashion, Rarity was ill-equipped to teach her anything about history and the mundane and magical sciences. Also, even though she would hate to admit it, Rarity hopes that a more rigorous education might lead to Belle having less... odd moments of mental vacancy. Tutors have been hired and dismissed, either because they could not stand Sweetie Belle or, in many cases, live up to Rarity's high standards. The Rarity Belle family can only accept the crème of the top of tutors, after all. They may be a just a merchant family with a few underworld connections now, but this family is going to move up in the world. Yet most scholars who could fit her high standards would rather just tutor some noble's child, rather then the child of a somewhat wealthy merchant family. Enter Twilight Sparkle, a well educated and intelligent pony, yet who has not passed any of the official examinations and thus no noble family would dream of hiring her, leaving her without a lot of options.
Overtime, Twilight's position in Rarity Belle has grown once Rarity learned of her other abilities. While her main job is still tutoring Sweetie Belle, she is now the family's accountant and general steward, and at times, a powerful fighter. Even if reluctant (she hates violence).
Despite her social awkwardness or because of it, Twilight has become somewhat a constant companion to Rarity, who drags her along to a few social events and lectures her on proper fashion and social norms. "Life is all about connections, Twi dear, you won't get anywhere in life without them!" For better or for worse, the ever generous Rarity has taken Twilight underneath her wing to show her the wonders of having a social life. Twilight just puts up with it the best that she can.

It has been three years and Twilight has finally earned enough money to go to the capital and pay for the exams. Everything has gone according to her plans more or less, her time in Ponyville just a stepping stone on her quest for academic glory. She should be happy to leave and put Ponyville behind her. Rarity is pushy and pretentious, always dragging her along to social events and trying out new fashions on her. Sweetie Belle is a tiring student, dreamy and vacant, with her mind on everything but what's in front of her. The guard Spike's verbal jabs and ideas of humor can be annoying at times. And yet, for the introverted Twilight, these ponies (and dragon) are the ones she's bonded with the closest outside of her family and the closest to, dare she admit it, friends.
Twilight has written her letter of resignation to Rarity twelve times and ended up burning each one, unable to think up a good way to break the news to Rarity that she'll be leaving. Maybe she'll break the news to her after her wedding with Fancy Pants. After that, she'll have plenty of options for a tutor and steward and she will be easily replaced.


Growing up amongst largely uneducated ponies has caused Twilight to keep to herself, most of her neighbors found her hard to relate to and much of her academic knowledge of little use. This has lead to her social skills being somewhat lackluster, and she is no stranger to social anxiety, often avoiding and at times even dreading social events. In her relationships with other ponies she often feels anxiety when even the most minor conflict arises. Yet this is only because she cares. When tutoring or settling Rarity Belle's accounts, she over organizes everything to OCD levels, but that is just because she is responsible and wants everything to turn out the best. Twilight is the type of pony who gets absorbed in her work and studies and leaves little time for anything else.
Despite her great intellect and knowledge, Twilight Sparkle has self-esteem issues, outside of her academic talent, she does not place much value on herself as a mentor or friend. She beliefs and hopes that when she gets to the capital she will finally be recognized and appreciated for her intellectual talents and be amongst ponies who can relate to her. This is a problem, after all, her friends in Rarity Belle do not love her only for her knowledge, but mainly as a caring and responsible friend, qualities she doesn't recognize in herself. Does this mean she doesn't value their friendship?

Those are all very good, you have a neat consistent style going. I seem to recall you wanting to draw a comic? If so, this kind of consistency in style and designs will work very well for you.

The point of the Minimalism Design is that it happens fast.

Also, if you thought I'd chose the non-Medusa option you don't know how much of a Fate fanboy I am.

-snippety-

(Not too happy with how it resized, but that's kinda hard to tell while working on it)

I... realize, at this point, that the.. "protrusion" of the body under the chin is, perhaps, supposed to be the other shoulder. But it looks like something entirely different. I'm not even sure how to fix that effect without changing the pose...

-----------------
I've found 40 minutes of free time at the end of the work day today, but also found my head completely bereft of any sort of idea of what to draw. Started throwing together lines until they started connecting with something, so this is the result.

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On the right, Taira... Whats-her-name (should check my notes, if I remember where they are) from that custom universe I was describing some time back, commander of a power armor shock trooper regiment and psion prodigy with some specialized training in battlefield command and control. On the left, one of the aforementioned power armor shock troopers, or at least the beginnings of the design of one. Legs turned out awful. Taira's figure and pose is probably wrong in several places too, but I'm trying to improve (and coincidentally, would like to know if it's really wrong in those several places).

I suppose I used to do worse in more time and more favorable circumstances. So, progress?.. I really lack drive and inspiration nowadays.

[flyingchicken]

xoxoxoxoxo

[Thanqol]

I... realize, at this point, that the.. "protrusion" of the body under the chin is, perhaps, supposed to be the other shoulder. But it looks like something entirely different. I'm not even sure how to fix that effect without changing the pose...

XP I'll fix it up tomorrow if I have time.

[Noctemwolf]

So.... I feel off the art ball, hard. I have been drawing off and on, but numerous things have been keeping me posting for the past week or so. Work, sickness, A relative's sickness, bad art, creativity block, .etc the list goes on and on. Countless excuses, but the truth is that I haven't been trying hard enough and must make amends to the Art to wash away my shame!

I have been the same for so friggen' long it's hard not to sympathize.

But, I suppose when that happens you just find something that inspires you... for me, it was the idea of making Rainbow Dash in a steampunk outfit that got me back up and going. I'm even starting to outline a story based on the idea. One thing leads to another...

A bit late, but it's nice to see you back! That's a interesting pony style on that Dash. Which artist made the reference? Are you going to start practicing it, or is it a one off thing?

I have no idea who the artist is, to be kind of honest. I really want to figure out who it is, though. MIGHT just be a good idea to ask if referencing their picture is okay.
Besides, it's an amazing drawing style he/she has.

On comments and critique, you don't have to be an expert to comment and critique. Just having a second opinion on what is good or not is sometimes nice. Also, I find that purely subjective comments like on design and so on are also useful. Even if I don't listen to them, it's nice knowing other people's opinions.

True.... I do always enjoy having people tell me how well I'm doing on something, even if it's not the most helpful critique in the world.

Anyway, taking Bakuel's comment into consideration I colored in the relaxing Applejack drawing:

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The light on is what I saw working on it and the dark one's... um, something to do with blending. I tried shading a little more comprehensively but uh, that didn't pan out. There was also a mishap with the water tool which left me with white specks in the transparent area that I had to clean out (and not too well at that).

When I first looked at the drawing, I was kind of wondering 'What the heck?' But, now that you've colored it, It actually looks really awesome. It's a really interesting on Applejack humanized, and it's a cartoony style I don't think I've seen elsewhere.
Also, dat texture. That is all.

No worries, you don't have to have a detailed structural critique; any perspective helps people figure out if they're achieving their goals with the finished product, which is really what we're here working for anyway.

That makes sense. If someone tells you they don't like it, you can ask why and try and improve on it. If they like it, you can improve on it anyways.

These are looking good, although the wings on the first pony make it look a little overbalanced. I think some of it is how thin the frame is, in comparison to the much more solid-looking wings.

Your right. those wings ARE much to large. Either that, or the body too small. One or the other will have to change if the picture is to look a little less lopsided.
I was really focusing on making the wings to be honest. The rest of it just kind of came up as an afterthought. "Oh! Maybe I should add something else to this."


I continued working on the picture from earlier. The Rainbow Dash? I really want a fitting picture to go along with the story I'm plannning up now, so I decided to modify it.

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A Newsie Hat, a Turtleneck, Leather Jacket, and a cigarette. Take of that what you will.

[Bakuel]

Good to see you're still hammering out ideas for samurai Equestria! I also really like your OCs; they seem pretty neat!

I'm still working on it, something will come of Samurai-Equestria! Dang it! *cliche fist to table*
Even if it's just a lot of misc. concept art and info blurbs.
I'm glad you like the OCs, most of my pony OCs born from running with odd thoughts and concepts and are pretty much all born from pencil doodles. It tends to keep things interesting.

The point of the Minimalism Design is that it happens fast.

Also, if you thought I'd chose the non-Medusa option you don't know how much of a Fate fanboy I am.

(Not too happy with how it resized, but that's kinda hard to tell while working on it)

Why did you have to give her glasses?! One of my many only weaknesses, I'm sure that's cheating...
Medusa with glasses, this is the greatest thing.
Thank you!

Heh. My situation exactly, sans sickness perhaps. And I don't tend to feel shame, either. :P

On a odd note, I'm the type of selfish person who only feels a lot of shame when they break promises they made to themselves. After all, if a man can't even keep his own promises or follow his own plans or convictions, then how can he trust himself?
But other then that, I'm rather shameless by nature.

Those are all very good, you have a neat consistent style going. I seem to recall you wanting to draw a comic? If so, this kind of consistency in style and designs will work very well for you.

Thanks! Consistence is one of the things I keep aiming for. I'm actually not used to drawing the same characters over and over again. Generally I'll hammer out a few concepts, then leave a setting or character on the back burner for a few months. Then I go back and draw him or her again, then they will look completely different.

I've found 40 minutes of free time at the end of the work day today, but also found my head completely bereft of any sort of idea of what to draw. Started throwing together lines until they started connecting with something, so this is the result.

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On the right, Taira... Whats-her-name (should check my notes, if I remember where they are) from that custom universe I was describing some time back, commander of a power armor shock trooper regiment and psion prodigy with some specialized training in battlefield command and control. On the left, one of the aforementioned power armor shock troopers, or at least the beginnings of the design of one. Legs turned out awful. Taira's figure and pose is probably wrong in several places too, but I'm trying to improve (and coincidentally, would like to know if it's really wrong in those several places).

I suppose I used to do worse in more time and more favorable circumstances. So, progress?.. I really lack drive and inspiration nowadays.

Can't really add anything on the anatomy on Tiara that flyingchicken hasn't said, but I must say that the design of the power armor strongly reminds me of the power suits (E-frames) from that old obscure Exo-Squad cartoon. Expect without the cheesy colors and watered down designs for easy toy manufacturing. I'm just crazy though. Regardless, it looks very nice.

To clarify what I meant by "eye level", I meant with regards to basic perspective:

Which is wrong, I don't mean that. I just meant, place the "camera" higher and looking down instead of placing it in line with the figures. I dunno, I think it might've been more interesting that way.

Ah! I see! Well, I got that one wrong. Another one of my derp moments.
Thanks for the reference though!

One of my complaints would be that it looks rather dirty all around, the sketchy lines especially but there's something about the colors that just doesn't sit well with me, I really can't pinpoint it though.

Yeah, that one is pretty bad. What's worse is that I was designing Spike on the go and almost choosing colors at random at one point. Then I took a break and drew the Tropius and co. pic, then I returned to it and decided it's time to finish it up and kick it out the door. Warts and all. As for the line work, I'm bad at it. But there is nothing to do but keep practicing and flicking my wrist around. Maybe one day I'll actually mange to make nice clean sexy lines.

Anyway, taking Bakuel's comment into consideration I colored in the relaxing Applejack drawing:

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The light on is what I saw working on it and the dark one's... um, something to do with blending. I tried shading a little more comprehensively but uh, that didn't pan out. There was also a mishap with the water tool which left me with white specks in the transparent area that I had to clean out (and not too well at that).

This is one of the best human Applejack I have ever seen. You should color more!

I don't mean to probe, but are you the same flyingchicken from civfanatics? If so, I used to look at and admire your work in that art thread (and still do but I haven't been to the site in a while).
The only reason why I ask is just because I recognized your style from somewhere and it was bothering me that I couldn't remember.
But might be just another derp moment!

I continued working on the picture from earlier. The Rainbow Dash? I really want a fitting picture to go along with the story I'm plannning up now, so I decided to modify it.

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A Newsie Hat, a Turtleneck, Leather Jacket, and a cigarette. Take of that what you will.

Newsie Hat and Dash? Together? This is good.

Good luck with the story!


Day 54, Or Sneaking Scoot, Sleeping Dragon.

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Spike sleeping while Scoot sneaks by. I must say, I haven't had this much fun coloring a big pile of money and gems since I used those Uncle Scrooge coloring books. I need to do this more often.
Anyway, Spike's anatomy is missed up a bit, his tail and body should be longer. Perspective can try to save that one, but I don't think it'll work. And his hand is off, but that's no surprise. Scoot's just sneaking by, should have had her back turned slightly to Spike instead of profile, but hindsight and all that.
Been thinking about linework and coloring and things of that nature. I like defined lineart, the action comics and mangas I know and love have nice defined lines. Defined lines just seem to scream action and movement much more easily then a more paintery type thing. Which reminds me more of illustration. But the black lines I used to work with look rather sloopy when colored. So I tired to combine the two. Is it better? Or worst?

[Sean Mirrsen]

It's really wrong in those places. Figure-wise, perspective might mess up you sense of proportion but since she's just standing still flat, it's evident that her legs are way too short (rough finger-measuring indicates that her hands would reach her knees for one). As for pose it's just not interesting, at least with the angle it's viewed from; it lacks something, IDK. That and sketchiness aside, the figures look ok at a glance.

Ah, perspective and proportions, my eternal nemesi (nemesises?). I've no idea why I so consistently fail at properly proportioning limbs. Maybe it's just my Multiworlds-skewed viewpoint, there's so much weird stuff here that I fail to see deviations from the norm as abnormal. I'll try harder next time.

Can't really add anything on the anatomy on Tiara that flyingchicken hasn't said, but I must say that the design of the power armor strongly reminds me of the power suits (E-frames) from that old obscure Exo-Squad cartoon. Expect without the cheesy colors and watered down designs for easy toy manufacturing. I'm just crazy though. Regardless, it looks very nice.

Damn. I didn't think many people still remember that one. I did indeed take inspiration for the concept from Exo-Frames. Though technically they're mini-mecha rather than power armor... >_> But the kind of (story) concept I was going for didn't work at all well if it took an assembly line to get the trooper out.

Day 54, Or Sneaking Scoot, Sleeping Dragon.

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Spike sleeping while Scoot sneaks by. I must say, I haven't had this much fun coloring a big pile of money and gems since I used those Uncle Scrooge coloring books. I need to do this more often.
Anyway, Spike's anatomy is missed up a bit, his tail and body should be longer. Perspective can try to save that one, but I don't think it'll work. And his hand is off, but that's no surprise. Scoot's just sneaking by, should have had her back turned slightly to Spike instead of profile, but hindsight and all that.
Been thinking about linework and coloring and things of that nature. I like defined lineart, the action comics and mangas I know and love have nice defined lines. Defined lines just seem to scream action and movement much more easily then a more paintery type thing. Which reminds me more of illustration. But the black lines I used to work with look rather sloopy when colored. So I tired to combine the two. Is it better? Or worst?

In my experience, colored "blending" lines look better than defined black lines, but only where they provide sufficient contrast. You can get away with just color if you're aiming for a "flatter" style like in the cartoon itself, but once you start adding more realistic shading you more or less have to start using blacker tones. So a combination of the two approaches should work well. That said, I don't quite see significant differences between this and your earlier posted picture. It looks darker overall, and maybe slightly more defined, but that's it.

Still looks nice though. Spike's body is way off, as you've noted, and I can't quite remember what leg structure your anthroponies use to say whether Scootaloo's pose should be possible or not, but the general style still looks good.

[Beacon of Chaos]

To clarify what I meant by "eye level", I meant with regards to basic perspective:

-snip-
source

Anyway, taking Bakuel's comment into consideration I colored in the relaxing Applejack drawing:

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The light on is what I saw working on it and the dark one's... um, something to do with blending. I tried shading a little more comprehensively but uh, that didn't pan out. There was also a mishap with the water tool which left me with white specks in the transparent area that I had to clean out (and not too well at that).

Ooh, lot's of tutorials in that link, gonna go through those later.

Your AJ pic looks good! I think I prefer the darker colours on the right.

I continued working on the picture from earlier. The Rainbow Dash? I really want a fitting picture to go along with the story I'm plannning up now, so I decided to modify it.

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A Newsie Hat, a Turtleneck, Leather Jacket, and a cigarette. Take of that what you will.

That looks pretty cool! Certainly suits her.

Why did you have to give her glasses?! One of my many only weaknesses, I'm sure that's cheating...
Medusa with glasses, this is the greatest thing.
Thank you!

Heh, another glasses appreciator. /)

Random thought, if you look into Medusa's eyes, and she's wearing shades, what happens?

On a odd note, I'm the type of selfish person who only feels a lot of shame when they break promises they made to themselves. After all, if a man can't even keep his own promises or follow his own plans or convictions, then how can he trust himself?
But other then that, I'm rather shameless by nature.

I'm the opposite. There are few things in this world that are worse for me than feeling like I've disappointed someone somehow. I think that's part of the reason I'm still drawing every day.

I don't mean to probe, but are you the same flyingchicken from civfanatics? If so, I used to look at and admire your work in that art thread (and still do but I haven't been to the site in a while).
The only reason why I ask is just because I recognized your style from somewhere and it was bothering me that I couldn't remember.
But might be just another derp moment!

Huh. I joined CivFanatics just recently (got very little help in the modders forum :/ )

Day 54, Or Sneaking Scoot, Sleeping Dragon.

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Spike sleeping while Scoot sneaks by. I must say, I haven't had this much fun coloring a big pile of money and gems since I used those Uncle Scrooge coloring books. I need to do this more often.
Anyway, Spike's anatomy is missed up a bit, his tail and body should be longer. Perspective can try to save that one, but I don't think it'll work. And his hand is off, but that's no surprise. Scoot's just sneaking by, should have had her back turned slightly to Spike instead of profile, but hindsight and all that.
Been thinking about linework and coloring and things of that nature. I like defined lineart, the action comics and mangas I know and love have nice defined lines. Defined lines just seem to scream action and movement much more easily then a more paintery type thing. Which reminds me more of illustration. But the black lines I used to work with look rather sloopy when colored. So I tired to combine the two. Is it better? Or worst?

Glad to see Samurai Equestria is still going. I like Sneaky Scoots :3


As for me, I haven't posted much here, but I'm still going strong. Days 129-130 were more of the animation I was doing, I won't bore you with that as it's more of the same; instead I'll try to post a snippet when I've got the whole scene together and looking smooth.

Day 131 was the Carrot Top posted earlier.

Day 132 was a terrible human face I drew without references. I won't post it here as I can already see everything wrong with it. It was done on a day when I was feeling terrible from migraine and I just couldn't be bothered with it.

Day 133 was another animation frame.

Day134, just some basic pony face to try and get going again after several slow starts and stale days. Didn't clean it up.

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Day 135. Back to human faces, this time with reference.

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Many minor gripes with this one. Mouth shape is off, I think the face is too long, roughly drawn eyes/eyebrows etc.

Overall though, it does at least look like a face, so I'm doing well in that respect.

Day 136 (today). Human body poses.

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Reference for the running pose:

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[flyingchicken]

xoxoxoxoxo

[Beacon of Chaos]

I've been quiet on this lately, not sure why, I'm still drawing. Just been lazy I guess ^^:

On 134 and 136, they look a bit elongated vertically. As for 135, I suggest not being satisfied with "looks like a face," because the brain is wired to see faces everywhere, and has a pretty low standard at that. :-o

Yeah, they were a little stretched. I guess I'm bad at judging lengths.

Also the "looks like a face" bit was fairly tongue-in-cheek.

I try to draw something everyday, and recently it's been mostly MLP >_> I was trying to create a proper... thing, but I couldn't get things right, so I just have a couple paltry sketches:

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hat's too small and the torso's definitely a bit off

Looks.... scary.

I haven't worked on that animation for a while, which bugs me, but now that I've got time to do it, I've started another little project.

Day 137 was meh, so I did another copy picture. That elongation is back again. I need to find a better way of doing this.

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Day 138. Starting that project I mentioned earlier. This is going to be gift art for someone's birthday; her OC, Flicker. I want to make sure this one's good. This day I roughed out the pose in lineart. Nothing too special yet, and the jaw/mouth really bugged me.

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Day 139. Got back from work and completely forgot that I was going out to dinner with friends soon after. I was going out drinking too, and wasn't likely to want to sit down and draw when I got back. By the time I'd realised, I needed to draw a quick sketch. Really quick. So I roughed this random filly out. Didn't erase the guidelines either.

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Day 140. More work on the gift art. Mostly just cleaning up lines and adjusting the mouth/jaw (which still doesn't look right to me. Halp?)

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[Bakuel]

Drawing some more, after being distracted by work, life, and some guy who backed up into my car in a parking lot.
Once again these things distracted me from the art. But I got over it.
And another week of drawing starts again!

I don't know what you mean when you say "defined", but I think action is more a function of your posing, lines of action, and composition than the lines. With lines you can get nice clean lines by, well, a combination of inking and erasing, I imagine. I believe erasing is almost as important as actually drawing the lines, and it's what separates a rough sketch from a proper illustration.

Also, you can't be "saved" by perspective, because if it's wrong, well, it's wrong.

By defined lines I meant more bold I guess? Not too sure on the proper terminology for these things. Thicker lines? Darker?

On the perspective comment, you are correct. My statement about prospective saving something was a reference to a stupid old joke that would not have been typed if I had been of saner mind at that time.
What I meant should have said was that the foreshortening on Spike's body was horribly off.

I try to draw something everyday, and recently it's been mostly MLP >_> I was trying to create a proper... thing, but I couldn't get things right, so I just have a couple paltry sketches:

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hat's too small and the torso's definitely a bit off

I agree with Diego Havoc, that's one scary Pinkie. Granted someone running around talking about parties all the time would be rather scary. Nothing to add, you already mentioned the torso.

Heh, another glasses appreciator. /)

Random thought, if you look into Medusa's eyes, and she's wearing shades, what happens?

It doesn't matter if she's supposed to be cute, beautiful, sexy, or innocent, there's just something about a woman with glasses.

If Medusa is wearing weaker shades, maybe you only turn half stone? Or maybe paralyzed? If they are secret service style very dark shades maybe nothing?

Huh. I joined CivFanatics just recently (got very little help in the modders forum :/ )

Oh! Sorry for not responding to this sooner! Which civ where you trying to mod? Civ3, civ4 or civ5? I can help with civ4 3d graphics stuff and xml. Haven't got civ5 though. I'll get around to it eventually.
Regardless, civ modders, in my experience, can be a snobby bunch with their minds only on whatever personal or group projects they are working on. It can be rather hard getting help.

Glad to see Samurai Equestria is still going. I like Sneaky Scoots :3

Thanks! While I struggled with Spike's design, Scoots just came to me suddenly.

Day 138. Starting that project I mentioned earlier. This is going to be gift art for someone's birthday; her OC, Flicker. I want to make sure this one's good. This day I roughed out the pose in lineart. Nothing too special yet, and the jaw/mouth really bugged me.

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Day 140. More work on the gift art. Mostly just cleaning up lines and adjusting the mouth/jaw (which still doesn't look right to me. Halp?)

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On the gift art's pony mouth, would it look better if the open mouth line furthest from the viewer was here?

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Reusing my old reference,




Basically, it shouldn't be further back then the circle line you use for the pony's head. Something similar had happened with your Diamond Tiara Celestia and Silver Moon pic and I think this fix helped.

Damn. I didn't think many people still remember that one. I did indeed take inspiration for the concept from Exo-Frames. Though technically they're mini-mecha rather than power armor... >_> But the kind of (story) concept I was going for didn't work at all well if it took an assembly line to get the trooper out.

Growing up Exo-Squad was one of those shows which defined me. While the animation quality was rather suspect (but outside of the original Batman the animated series, most cartoon shows quality was, few shows from this era have aged well), it's writing was superb for the time. I'm never forgetting that one!
I hope you find a use for the mini mech concept one day. I always preferred mini-ish mechs to large giant mechs.

In my experience, colored "blending" lines look better than defined black lines, but only where they provide sufficient contrast. You can get away with just color if you're aiming for a "flatter" style like in the cartoon itself, but once you start adding more realistic shading you more or less have to start using blacker tones. So a combination of the two approaches should work well. That said, I don't quite see significant differences between this and your earlier posted picture. It looks darker overall, and maybe slightly more defined, but that's it.

I'll keep the line stuff in mind! I admit I'm more or less just rolling along with the coloring thing!
And yeah, it isn't that different and that much of a game changer, but I'm just that type of cautious person when it comes to changes. Much ado about nothing I guess.

Still looks nice though. Spike's body is way off, as you've noted, and I can't quite remember what leg structure your anthroponies use to say whether Scootaloo's pose should be possible or not, but the general style still looks good.

Yeah, I still hadn't decided about the exact anatomy of Anthro? Spike's body. And Scoot was kinda just scribbled in when I got the idea for her design.


Day 55-56-57, Or, "Cut it out with the creepy lizard tongue Spike!"

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You went and upset Sweetie Belle.



I think I got Spike's anatomy down. I think of him as a more of a dragony early teenager while the CMC more preteenish. His arms are long, but they are in the show too. It gives him a dwarvish monkey warrior look. I'll probably tweak the anatomy some more but these are porptions that are probably going to be canon. Anyway, not much to say. Rarity's left arm is a bit long. And Sweetie Belle is once again covering up her mouth with her sleeve. I must be subconsciously drawn to that because of the long sleeves.

A blurb on Spike,

Spike is mischievous, sarcastic and lazy, however he is also dedicated, loyal and always willing to lend a helping hand. Spike admires Rarity and eagerly does whatever she tells him to do and does his best to impress her. However, his antics with Sweetie Belle often try Rarity's patience.

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Spike is a teenage dragon (around 14-15? But with dragon's greed growth it's hard to tell) with a very important job, as a watchman and body guard for Rarity Belle. An immigrant from the badlands, the exact reasons why he left he refuses to say. Some say it was because of he was born the runt of the egg clutch but he denies this. Whatever the case, after arriving in Ponyville he was hired by Rarity as a guard, a duty which, though he takes much pride in, he could be a lot more attentive. Though he is still shorter then your average pony, dragons are a tough lot and their breath and claws are useful in a society were weapons are outlawed for common people. Ponies tend to avoid him and are frightened of him, making his duties easy, but leaving him bored. He often scares ponies by jumping out and roaring while spewing smoke, or doing the tongue thing, but honestly he's just trying to pass time. Rarity, Twilight and Sweetie are three of the only ponies who see Spike as a person, rather then a dragon. He rewards them by playing pranks on them, laughing at their problems, and being that sarcastic teenage brother none of them ever asked for. But (at least in his own mind) he makes it all up to them, he is always willing to lend a helping hand and is one of the greatest bodyguards around. And he can be serious when the situation calls for it.
After Rarity and her sister moved into Fancy Pants' mansion, loyal Spike has followed. Though now that he is here, there really isn't much to do anymore since the fighting died down with the Apple family. These days Spike spends his days either sleeping on his small hoard or sitting in on Twilight's lessons or goofing around with Sweetie Belle. It's not like anyone would be sneaking around or anything.

While Spike thinks of himself as a proud dragon he's starting to become more a pony then a dragon. It has been some five or so years since he came to ponyville and begun living amongst ponies. He has started to go native. His greed while still present, is not as great. He isn't nearly as vicious, and Rarity has even gotten him into the habit of wearing clothes. Deep down inside Spike knows that if he went back the badlands now, even if he has grown some feet, he would be rejected. Now Rarity Belle is his only home. His greatest fear is that his services will no longer be needed.

Also a rough of a AJ vs. Whispy Woods picture. I realized that it was almost June 1st, my personal middle of the year time and I hadn't attempted any completed pictures since that vampire one. So it's time to start again! The ambition is calling me to apply the skills I have half-learned since the start of the year!
This will be done by the end of the mouth, or bust!
I can't wait for the sound of the deadline flying by.

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Rough mock up is rough. But it's going to be AJ, in a forest, in autumn (lots of gold and reds and stuff to go with her) apple bucking Whispy Woods. The yellow vertical lines are just to remind me were sunbeams may be. I know that AJ's body and backlegs are off. I want to draw her apple bucking but I can't seem to get it right... Blast you perspective lines! I'll take another shot at it tomorrow. The line work should be done by next weekend. At least I hope. And Woods face is a work in progress.

[flyingchicken]

xoxoxoxoxo

[Sean Mirrsen]

Growing up Exo-Squad was one of those shows which defined me. While the animation quality was rather suspect (but outside of the original Batman the animated series, most cartoon shows quality was, few shows from this era have aged well), it's writing was superb for the time. I'm never forgetting that one!
I hope you find a use for the mini mech concept one day. I always preferred mini-ish mechs to large giant mechs.

Oh, I did use the mini-mechs here. What I meant was that I call them Power Armor Troopers, but they're actually using E-Frame-like minimecha. Power Armor isn't something you can get out of quickly, and that is sort of a requirement for them in some situations.

And that AJ applebucking sketch reminds me of a drawing I've seen with a very... unique perspective. Yours is far from being as skewed as that, and actually looks nice, so it should be fine - with more work, as FC noted.

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I think I've modified Thanqol's "one drawing every day, no excuses" to "one drawing whenever I have the time, excuses frowned upon". I need some better incentive to draw things, maybe I'll start finding more time.

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Twilight, in bed, looking out window at the setting sun. No idea why I drew it. No idea why I wanted to draw it in Painter either. I think I should try to return to it, the extra drawing functions make the sketches look more natural.
Time taken - ~30mins.

(edit: updated with slightly better, slightly shaded version. Previous here.)

[Beacon of Chaos]

It doesn't matter if she's supposed to be cute, beautiful, sexy, or innocent, there's just something about a woman with glasses.

Trufax. Well, a decent pair of glasses anyway. I've seen some that look horrible no matter who wears them.

If Medusa is wearing weaker shades, maybe you only turn half stone? Or maybe paralyzed? If they are secret service style very dark shades maybe nothing?

Maybe with shades, you turn to stone slower? It takes longer to affect you?

Hmm, medusa wearing 3D glasses... I wonder...

Oh! Sorry for not responding to this sooner! Which civ where you trying to mod? Civ3, civ4 or civ5? I can help with civ4 3d graphics stuff and xml. Haven't got civ5 though. I'll get around to it eventually.
Regardless, civ modders, in my experience, can be a snobby bunch with their minds only on whatever personal or group projects they are working on. It can be rather hard getting help.

Ah, it's Civ5. I'd like to try Civ4, since I often hear it's better than Civ5, but that can wait until after the Gods & Kings expansion comes out next month.

I was trying to create the Equestria civilization, led by Princess Celestia.

On the gift art's pony mouth, would it look better if the open mouth line furthest from the viewer was here?

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Reusing my old reference,




Basically, it shouldn't be further back then the circle line you use for the pony's head. Something similar had happened with your Diamond Tiara Celestia and Silver Moon pic and I think this fix helped.

Yeah, I remembered that after I posted. I don't know why it didn't occur to me while I was drawing. Afterwards I experimented a little. I drew it like you did, but it still didn't look right. After some research, I realised that it was the shape of the jaw that was throwing me off. It shouldn't be as round.

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This brings me to Day 142 (jaw and mouth fixed, cutie mark added)

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Reference for the pony:

Yeah, I'm going pretty slow with this pic. I want to get this one right.

I'd also like to do a nice background for it. But it's kind of hard to find a tutorial to explain what I want to do. Here's a VERY basic thing I did in photoshop yesterday. Drew a path (tried a lot of times to get persepctive right) added some green for grass/trees and used a default photoshop gradient for a sort of sunset background. It doesn't look good, but it gives a vague idea of what I want.

Day 141

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Also, I tried doing some clouds today, based on this. It... didn't look good. Not with this background anyway. Maybe I should try something more MLP style.

For some reason I never thought to get references from the show. Why does my brain not work when I want it to?

Day 55-56-57, Or, "Cut it out with the creepy lizard tongue Spike!"

-snippity-doo-dah-

Looking nice. Not much else to add I'm afraid.

The perspective on the AJ pic is really good though!

The lamp needs work. Too... line tool-y. For your troubles I suggest looking at the show for reference.

The lamp is mostly just a placeholder until I can do it better. I know I shouldn't use line tool, but I'm not good at straight lines.

a quick sketch of a couple ponies:

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not a doodle so I don't know where to put this, just trying out MyPaint:

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Is that Korra from Avatar? It looks like Korra and that mask guy (don't know his name, only seen the first two episodes)

I think I've modified Thanqol's "one drawing every day, no excuses" to "one drawing whenever I have the time, excuses frowned upon". I need some better incentive to draw things, maybe I'll start finding more time.

My current mission is one "Art-related thing" each day rather than one drawing. It means that I can do a session of random practice stuffs and messing about in photoshop, or part of my animation, without feeling guilty.

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Twilight, in bed, looking out window at the setting sun. No idea why I drew it. No idea why I wanted to draw it in Painter either. I think I should try to return to it, the extra drawing functions make the sketches look more natural.
Time taken - ~30mins.

(edit: updated with slightly better, slightly shaded version. Previous here.)

Looks pretty good, though I feel that Twilight's cheek looks a bit odd. I dunno how I'd change it though. Maybe make it so it doesn't go all the way to the eye?

[Sean Mirrsen]

Maybe with shades, you turn to stone slower? It takes longer to affect you?

Hmm, medusa wearing 3D glasses... I wonder...

If she's wearing 3D glasses, you turn into two statues of different hue. Or just one statue that's mysteriously fuzzy at the edges.

My current mission is one "Art-related thing" each day rather than one drawing. It means that I can do a session of random practice stuffs and messing about in photoshop, or part of my animation, without feeling guilty.

I found that to be sort of cheating, personally. I don't feel like I've accomplished anything if I haven't actually created something new rather than improved on something old.

Maybe that's why I have so many sketches left unfinished.

Looks pretty good, though I feel that Twilight's cheek looks a bit odd. I dunno how I'd change it though. Maybe make it so it doesn't go all the way to the eye?

Hmm, could be. I've tried experimenting with it, but couldn't make it look objectively better, so it'll stay as is for now. Maybe I'll find a way to improve it later.

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I guess I'll call first phase done, moving onto second phase, cleaning and detailing. I sort of intend to have second phase not be final (as it usually is), but we'll see how that goes. It ends up being much sketchier in Painter due to the tools used, so I'll try to see if I can do something about it.

Link

edit:
Advancing phase two, trying out shading with the charcoal tool (with highly mixed results)
Link 2


edit2: Qualifying for "something new". Discovered a tiny little program called MyPaint. Turns out it's actually somewhat neat, if much less sophisticated than I've come to expect. Minimalistic as hell, too.

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RD there isn't terribly on-model, but considering this is a speedsketch (9 minutes), turned out quite alright.

edit3: Heh, actually managed to fix the face a little. Charcoal shading looks interesting, but requires messing around with texture settings to look right.
Link 3

[Beacon of Chaos]

If she's wearing 3D glasses, you turn into two statues of different hue. Or just one statue that's mysteriously fuzzy at the edges.

Hehehe!

I found that to be sort of cheating, personally. I don't feel like I've accomplished anything if I haven't actually created something new rather than improved on something old.

Maybe that's why I have so many sketches left unfinished.

*shrug* To each their own. I'm happy drawing a picture one day, then colouring/refining on the next. I get bored if I work too long on one picture in one go.

Speaking of which, I drew this for an RP on Canterlot (Day 143). Will probably colour it tomorrow.

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Hello. I'm Lyr Incognito.

edit2: Qualifying for "something new". Discovered a tiny little program called MyPaint. Turns out it's actually somewhat neat, if much less sophisticated than I've come to expect. Minimalistic as hell, too.

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RD there isn't terribly on-model, but considering this is a speedsketch (9 minutes), turned out quite alright.

Very good for 9 minutes!

edit3: Heh, actually managed to fix the face a little. Charcoal shading looks interesting, but requires messing around with texture settings to look right.
Link 3

Yeah, that looks better.

[Sean Mirrsen]

This forum has become rather slow lately, hasn't it?

New thing for today:

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MyPaint is surprisingly good for this. I'll have to check out how it works for larger pieces and more detail. As it is, 17 minutes and an unknown pony. More sketch than speed, but oh well.

...also, I just now realized that the sheath should be on the other side, with how the blade is held...
(edit: and really, it should probably be on his back)

edit2: Well, one thing MyPaint turns out to do better than Painter is charcoal. The result looks slightly dirty, but that's more due to me not paying due attention. In general though, I think it's an improvement over the previous version.

Link

[shawnhcorey]

New thing for today:

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MyPaint is surprisingly good for this. I'll have to check out how it works for larger pieces and more detail. As it is, 17 minutes and an unknown pony. More sketch than speed, but oh well.

...also, I just now realized that the sheath should be on the other side, with how the blade is held...
(edit: and really, it should probably be on his back)

edit2: Well, one thing MyPaint turns out to do better than Painter is charcoal. The result looks slightly dirty, but that's more due to me not paying due attention. In general though, I think it's an improvement over the previous version.

That's awesome. I take it you're using a graphics tablet.

[Sean Mirrsen]

That's awesome. I take it you're using a graphics tablet.

Thanks. And yes, it's kind of a given with raster art. In exchange, I absolutely suck at vector graphics. MinMaxing, if you will. :P

edit/MergePost: This thread has really slowed down. Where are Bakuel and the druid droid? Noctemwolf? flyingchicken? Thanqol? Where'd you all disappear to?

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New thing for the day. Drawn as a request. Name's Cherry Pop. Don't ask.

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[Beacon of Chaos]

edit/MergePost: This thread has really slowed down. Where are Bakuel and the druid droid? Noctemwolf? flyingchicken? Thanqol? Where'd you all disappear to?

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New thing for the day. Drawn as a request. Name's Cherry Pop. Don't ask.

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It is starting to get rahter lonely in here, isn't it?

She's pretty! I like how you did the tail going through the legs. Nice touch.

Day 144: Didn't do much, just coloured the pic from the day before.

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Day 145: Did two things today. First, an avatar for Masquerade Week.

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Second, a bit more on the gift-art I was doing. The background needs some work, but this is a good framework for it. I'm mixing stuff from the show. Most of the colours for the grass were taken from a day shot, but the sunset colours were from the beginning of Lesson Zero.

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I'll move the pony/lamp to better positions later. Also, I may add a house or something in the background later. Also, I'm not sure about the position/shape of the eyes, so that's why they are showing through the mane.