Ponythread Learns to Draw II

[Madcrafter]

I see. That explains a bit I guess. All these things from ye olden days of ponythread.

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Day 312:

Did some experiments with fabrics folds. Developed a system that seems alright. Two on the right were done directly from my jeans; it's a fair bit easier to draw from a good reference.

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Time: 40 minutes?
Music: Pony

[Elemental]

People, I can still draw despite not being able to since before March.
Though the mane didn't end up as good as I thought it did.

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[Madcrafter]

It's not the worse mane I've seen (or drawn myself probably for that matter). Doesn't look to bad to me; maybe a bit long in the back.

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Day 313-4:

Made the double mistake of jumping back to colour and biting off more than I could chew. Not helped by the unseasonably warm weather (we broke a 71 year old temperature high today) that makes me want to do nothing but lie down and doze. I'd say I'd come back to this at a later date since I'd really like to finish it, but I'm likely to forget. Anyways, all that I got done in these two days:

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Time: Unknown
Music: Pony

I also was trying a different method of doing my layers while painting that totally did not work out for me and slowed progress to a crawl. Needless to say I'm not going to use it again.

[Elemental]

It's not the worse mane I've seen (or drawn myself probably for that matter). Doesn't look to bad to me; maybe a bit long in the back.

I know what you mean. I originally had it shorter, but then it ended up longer...
Next time I draw that particularly pony, I'm going to add some variation and make it not so smooth and sleek.

Day 313-4:

Made the double mistake of jumping back to colour and biting off more than I could chew. Not helped by the unseasonably warm weather (we broke a 71 year old temperature high today) that makes me want to do nothing but lie down and doze. I'd say I'd come back to this at a later date since I'd really like to finish it, but I'm likely to forget. Anyways, all that I got done in these two days:

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-picture-

Time: Unknown
Music: Pony

I also was trying a different method of doing my layers while painting that totally did not work out for me and slowed progress to a crawl. Needless to say I'm not going to use it again.

All I can say is that heat is the worst and that is probably going to be exceedingly awesome once you've finished it. Celestia's right front leg looks a bit short, but I could be wrong.

And layers. I can't help you there, I know nothing about them.

[flyingchicken]

ok I don't understand why people snip pictures out of quotes it's really annoying to have to scroll around looking for what

[Elemental]

ok I don't understand why people snip pictures out of quotes it's really annoying to have to scroll around looking for what

There's a little green button at the top of the quote that says "View Post" when you mouse over it...

Anyway... The reason is a not-particularly-thoroughly thoughtout method of saving space that I employ because my screen can not be easily described as wide.

[Thanqol]

And layers. I can't help you there, I know nothing about them.

Layers are important and you should learn about them. Imagine each layer is another picture over the top of the first picture. It's very very helpful to have your lineart on a different layer to your shading because it lets you do some much more complex shading effects than the simple bucket-gradients you've been going with.

[flyingchicken]

xoxoxoxoxo

[Elemental]

Layers are important and you should learn about them. Imagine each layer is another picture over the top of the first picture. It's very very helpful to have your lineart on a different layer to your shading because it lets you do some much more complex shading effects than the simple bucket-gradients you've been going with.

I know that. It's the basis of all visual art to lay down something and put something over the top of it.
Also, I'm not up to shading yet. I'm not sure what gave you that impression, but the gradient in my latest artwork is due to a property sometimes shown by hair in that it can change colour as it is exposed to environmental factors like light.

uhuh that applies when things are in a spoiler...??? and ignoring my indignity at your assumption that I'm ignorant my complaint is jumping around the thread so I don't see how pointing out the green button helps!

anyway you're free to put what you want in what you post but I think reading a thread shouldn't be like reading a choose your own adventure book

idk I don't see the point of snipping out pix either way since your page would be stretched regardless because of the original post if it wasn't spoilered, and won't be if it was...

Yes. If they're spoilered and in a quote, they stretch the page even more when opened. It's not something you have to agree with or even consider remotely rational. It's just a thing that I do sometimes, I'll try and avoid it in future unless the picture is really large.

I apologise for any offence caused. I should stop assuming that people are as terrible at noticing these things as I am.

[flyingchicken]

Yes. If they're spoilered and in a quote, they stretch the page even more when opened. It's not something you have to agree with or even consider remotely rational. It's just a thing that I do sometimes, I'll try and avoid it in future unless the picture is really large.

Except you can close spoilers, and even several layers of spoilers and quotes conform to your screen size unless it's 640x480--if someone's commenting on a pic, and it's untouched/just spoilered, the reading flow would be read-peek-read and that's what, 2 button presses at most with not or barely disrupting where your eyes are on a page--if it's snipped, it's gonna be read-scroll-read which is similar in terms of button-work but there's extra work in scrolling because you have to search twice (even with the go to post button, you still have to look at where you were)--and it's worse when you have to go to a different page, and rage inducing when you quote several people

-snip-

"I like how you did the eyes, the green really brings it out! ^_^"


is like, what eyes? what green? go scroll up to look for the eye, go scroll back down and look for where you stopped reading

I mean, what's the quote function even for if not to make the flow of reading smooth, so that a reader wouldn't have to go up and around looking for what exactly someone is responding to or commenting on?

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I'm getting unnecessarily angry but I just had to speak up because this has been rustling my jimmies for quite a while now

[Madcrafter]

This spoiler argument is the most active the thread has been in weeks and weeks.

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Day 315:

My right arm is incredibly sore around the elbow, to the point where even my clothes touching it difficult to bear. I have no idea what I did to it. So today's drawing was taken over by sinistra, and boy is it terrible. I did some pnp left handed stuff a while back, and IIRC, the tablet is muuuch harder to use. As you may see, I can't draw any sort of nice curve with it. Anyways, have a pony outline and a bunch of scribbles to try and get used to it.

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Time: 10 min
Music: Pony

[Elemental]

I'm getting unnecessarily angry but I just had to speak up because this has been rustling my jimmies for quite a while now

That's alright. I admit to not being rational or consistent in my approach to these things.

[Madcrafter]

Day 316:

More adventures in lefty land. Tried to go for an image where the rough edges would be unimportant, with more of a watercoloury feel. Doesn't quite have the depth a mountain probably should have. Also I tried to use the smudge tool to push the sky around a bit... and 6 minutes later my computer finally decided it had figured out what I had done. Needless to say I did not try again (though it might have been the fault of trying to do it with a 900px 0% brush).

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Time: 30 minutes (including the smudge incident)
Music: Pony

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Day 317:

Some left some right. Originally started off as being Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory, but didn't really end up that way.

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Time: 30 minutes
Music: None

[Tiki Snakes]

He's very blurry, but at least vaguely recognisable.

Decided to share my rough hack up of the previous Bleakbane enthroned picture that I did to make my new avatar, as it's my first effort at using anything even resembling line-art in quite some time.

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I don't utterly hate it! Also, man I love transparency.

[Madcrafter]

Did you actually line it? I looks like the colour was layered over the black for the most part.

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Day 318:

Dog butler. Went again with the right hand, worked alright.

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Time: 15 min
Music: None

[flyingchicken]

xoxoxoxoxo

[Tiki Snakes]

Did you actually line it? I looks like the colour was layered over the black for the most part.

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Day 318:

Dog butler. Went again with the right hand, worked alright.

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Time: 15 min
Music: None

If I follow the question, yes and no. The throne was mostly just trimmed for height, I was otherwise happy with it. Line art only on the pony.

Man, a dog butler would be so useful.

[Elemental]

Finally finished updating my OC despite weeks of procrastination and infrequent bouts of actually working on it.

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I'm not so certain about the feathering, but I went with it anyway.

[Tiki Snakes]

Having actually got an almost question to my basically inactive, not quite abandoned tumblr ("How are you doing", no question mark), I continued my experiments with lineart and backgrounds.

I took the lineart part of the experiment out back and shot it. It's for the best. The rest turned out okay though.

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[Madcrafter]

Day 319, 320:

Went with heavy lines on this one, which worked alright. Anyways, a guard spirit at Watergate in the Broken Diamond Chronicle AP (the little jaunt in the Shadow World has been one of the most vivid and best parts). Light shading, but decided not to go entirely quantized.

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Time: 1h and 45min
Music: None

I have no idea what WoD spirits look like typically, so the "head" area is sort of a black-red amorphous blob.

[flyingchicken]

xoxoxoxoxo

[Thanqol]

I have no idea what WoD spirits look like typically, so the "head" area is sort of a black-red amorphous blob.

Literally anything ever. One Spirit might look like a tow truck with a giant flaming robot arm on it's back, another like a motorcycle made out of skeletons, another like Uncle Sam. A slasher spirit might be a trenchcoat covering thousands of knives or a corpse wrapped in plastic and crying ink that condenses into newspaper articles about deaths.

Go nuts, basically!

[flyingchicken]

xoxoxoxoxo

[Madcrafter]

That's kind of neat. I guess I could've put some more recording gear for a head then (or maybe a real head, that'd've been creepier).

And I think flyinchicken, that you had a picture of yourself somewhere in the last thread too. And I'm guessing the Andrew Dobson you refer to is the cartoonist, not the political author (based on my google search). Why is he to fear?

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Day 321:

Not much time today, and other stuff. I'm dreading the lack of time I'll have on Wednesdays for the next month, so we'll see how that goes with this little project. Anyways, from the cover of a Mage book:

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Time: 20 minutes
Music: Pony

[flyingchicken]

Day 321:

Not much time today, and other stuff. I'm dreading the lack of time I'll have on Wednesdays for the next month, so we'll see how that goes with this little project. Anyways, from the cover of a Mage book:

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don't be afraid to get loose with your sketching, even if it is from a model; when you start cleaning it up, it's only going to get stiffer and stiffer (we all know this, but it's touched on in this series of videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45eXa4DCvpQ). I can feel some life in that, but along the spine downwards is just a bit too stiff IMO

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And I think flyinchicken, that you had a picture of yourself somewhere in the last thread too.

oh really, I don't recall..

And I'm guessing the Andrew Dobson you refer to is the cartoonist, not the political author (based on my google search). Why is he to fear?

well, he's not alone in it, but some parts of the internet rag on him for being impervious to criticism (and stubborn with his wrongheadedness) and in the decade he's been drawing on the internet, claiming to be a professional, he's shown neither even the slightest mastery of his chosen craft, an inkling of the business side of art, and lacks any kind of passion or work ethic in what he does--he is an inspiration, really, a visible example of "what not to do" for amateurs (who wish to be skilled) and aspiring professionals alike

[Madcrafter]

don't be afraid to get loose with your sketching, even if it is from a model; when you start cleaning it up, it's only going to get stiffer and stiffer (we all know this, but it's touched on in this series of videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45eXa4DCvpQ). I can feel some life in that, but along the spine downwards is just a bit too stiff IMO

Yeah, it probably doesn't help that I cleaned it up as I was going along too. Waiting until the end might have helped, but I was short of time and didn't want to end up with another "unfinished" one.

well, he's not alone in it, but some parts of the internet rag on him for being impervious to criticism (and stubborn with his wrongheadedness) and in the decade he's been drawing on the internet, claiming to be a professional, he's shown neither even the slightest mastery of his chosen craft, an inkling of the business side of art, and lacks any kind of passion or work ethic in what he does--he is an inspiration, really, a visible example of "what not to do" for amateurs (who wish to be skilled) and aspiring professionals alike

Well, that you can recognize those flaws does mean you're more likely to be able to avert them. I think your worries are unfounded (unless you "regress" or something, or become staid in your ways).

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Day 323:

One of the cover arts on the music of the day on eqd had a nice background with some deserty hills. I tried to do it the same, but it turned out different after I went wild for a bit and made everything less distinct.

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Time: 55 minutes
Music: Pony

[Recaiden]

There's a new one of these. Finally, a chance to participate that doesn't make me feel morally obligated to read through a kajillion pages.

This echoes my feelings. Also, apparently non-pony things are welcome here.

Day 1 Or is this an extra part of the current or does it work some otherway?

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A terrible drawing of a person looking up at the moon.



Bonus thing done 2 days ago, related to a game, only tangentially to the show.

[Madcrafter]

This echoes my feelings. Also, apparently non-pony things are welcome here.

Day 1 Or is this an extra part of the current or does it work some otherway?

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A terrible drawing of a person looking up at the moon.



Bonus thing done 2 days ago, related to a game, only tangentially to the show.

Welcome to the club. Did you scan those in and throw some digital paint on them, because it looks like you did. Why not just leave them on paper?

As for actual advice about the drawings themselves I'll take the easy way out and defer to a more experienced member.

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Day 323:

La Tour Eiffel.

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Time: little over and hour?
Music: None

[Recaiden]

Welcome to the club. Did you scan those in and throw some digital paint on them, because it looks like you did. Why not just leave them on paper?

Just playing around with digital painting, really. Haven't done any drawing things in a long time.

[Madcrafter]

Day 324:

A Watchtower. Feels like its been a long time since I did an original piece. Doing some reading after now, I don't think I quite captured the power of the Aether, but only a portion.

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Time: 1h
Music: Pony