Ponythread Learns to Draw! Together!

[Geno9999]

I just given an possessed evil ancient sword used to execute ancient equestrian kings to a zebra.

Spoiler

[Sean Mirrsen]

Ferkin' dynamic poses! How do they WORK?!

Spoiler

Harmonic Tenacity, from the Power Rangers crossover:

Maybe it's just a bad angle...

[the_druid_droid]

Originally Posted by Geno9999

I just given an possessed evil ancient sword used to execute ancient equestrian kings to a zebra.

Spoiler

Ooh! Neat! Got anything else in the works?

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

Ferkin' dynamic poses! How do they WORK?!

Spoiler

Harmonic Tenacity, from the Power Rangers crossover:

Maybe it's just a bad angle...

Hmm, I'm curious - what would it look like if the rear legs were stretched out behind her; kind of mid-gallop?

Also, a question for Dispo! After watching some of your livestream last night, I was wondering if you could maybe post a broad guide to coloring ponies here? I get that you sort of start by laying out the principal colors in broad, flat swatches, then sort of go back for detail tweaks and shading, but I was wondering if you could walk some of us (well, ok, mainly me) through your sort of thought process.

Same goes for anyone else with some coloring experience - how do you set about doing what you do when it comes time to pull out the palette wheel?

[Dispozition]

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

Also, a question for Dispo! After watching some of your livestream last night, I was wondering if you could maybe post a broad guide to coloring ponies here? I get that you sort of start by laying out the principal colors in broad, flat swatches, then sort of go back for detail tweaks and shading, but I was wondering if you could walk some of us (well, ok, mainly me) through your sort of thought process.

Same goes for anyone else with some coloring experience - how do you set about doing what you do when it comes time to pull out the palette wheel?

I...Guess I can...Like I've said on most of my streams though, a lot of it is just practice coming into play. I just lay flats, then start shading. The colours are just what I get from experience, or number values if I'm struggling to get it looking right.

I guess I can make a video or an image though...Maybe in the next week, since I'm working later today, and will be out over the next few.

[Geno9999]

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

Ooh! Neat! Got anything else in the works?

I'm gonna color in Berry Punch Demomare, and then set out on doing either Twilight vs. Trixie Snipers, or Rarity vs. Prince Blueblood Spies.

I am open to suggestions for other TF2 classes, but I would prefer to have them in pairs, one member to represent RED (Royal Equestia Dispatchers) team and the other to represent BLUE (Blue Luna United Equestria.)

[the_druid_droid]

Originally Posted by Dispozition

I...Guess I can...Like I've said on most of my streams though, a lot of it is just practice coming into play. I just lay flats, then start shading. The colours are just what I get from experience, or number values if I'm struggling to get it looking right.

I guess I can make a video or an image though...Maybe in the next week, since I'm working later today, and will be out over the next few.

Oh, no rush on videos/images, it's just that I found your livestream really neat to watch, and as soon as I'm back in the same state as my tablet, I want to try and actually color in a pony. I'll probably start with a flat-ish color scheme and try and get it to look a little show-esque, but I definitely want to branch out and try shading and other stuff to get a fuller feel...

[Dispozition]

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

Oh, no rush on videos/images, it's just that I found your livestream really neat to watch, and as soon as I'm back in the same state as my tablet, I want to try and actually color in a pony. I'll probably start with a flat-ish color scheme and try and get it to look a little show-esque, but I definitely want to branch out and try shading and other stuff to get a fuller feel...

Show accurate ponies are more about the proportions and style than the colouring, since they're flat with no shading most of the time. Show accurate shading is normally just single tone cel shading on the legs. I just shade in my style, which unfortunately doesn't translate to ponies all that well. The fact that my style is in a transition period doesn't help either :P


AAaallllso, I am going to be streaming for a bit, but non-pony stuff. I'll be discussing stuff with anyone who wants to talk though. Stream here

[Sean Mirrsen]

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

Hmm, I'm curious - what would it look like if the rear legs were stretched out behind her; kind of mid-gallop?

I somehow don't think having both legs stretched out behind her would look very nice. But one leg stretched out back and one forward-ish does, to my eye, improve the action line:

Spoiler

Switched entirely to red for no good reason...

Also, a question for Dispo! After watching some of your livestream last night, I was wondering if you could maybe post a broad guide to coloring ponies here? I get that you sort of start by laying out the principal colors in broad, flat swatches, then sort of go back for detail tweaks and shading, but I was wondering if you could walk some of us (well, ok, mainly me) through your sort of thought process.

Same goes for anyone else with some coloring experience - how do you set about doing what you do when it comes time to pull out the palette wheel?

Me, I sort of just fill in the outline of the design with a base color, then define primary details (hair, accessories) in a masked layer (or several, if there are lots of different things) on top of that, and then make a whole swath of shading and lighting layers with different blend modes and try to make the drawing look acceptable. Solid brushes for hard shadows and shine, hard smoothed brushes for detail shading and lighting, soft smoothed brushes for broad-stroke highlights and shadows. I can't really describe my thought process precisely when I'm working.

edit: Cleaned up outlines on Tenacity:

Spoiler

[the_druid_droid]

Originally Posted by Dispozition

Show accurate ponies are more about the proportions and style than the colouring, since they're flat with no shading most of the time. Show accurate shading is normally just single tone cel shading on the legs. I just shade in my style, which unfortunately doesn't translate to ponies all that well. The fact that my style is in a transition period doesn't help either :P

Yeah, my main hope in doing more show accurate ones is just to get a feel for brushes and shortcuts and that sort of thing. Later on I want to see if I can push things to a more realistic style that I'm still kind of happy with.

I am going to be streaming for a bit, but non-pony stuff. I'll be discussing stuff with anyone who wants to talk though. Stream here

Crud, I missed this, I think...

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

I somehow don't think having both legs stretched out behind her would look very nice. But one leg stretched out back and one forward-ish does, to my eye, improve the action line:

Spoiler

Switched entirely to red for no good reason...

Me, I sort of just fill in the outline of the design with a base color, then define primary details (hair, accessories) in a masked layer (or several, if there are lots of different things) on top of that, and then make a whole swath of shading and lighting layers with different blend modes and try to make the drawing look acceptable. Solid brushes for hard shadows and shine, hard smoothed brushes for detail shading and lighting, soft smoothed brushes for broad-stroke highlights and shadows. I can't really describe my thought process precisely when I'm working.

edit: Cleaned up outlines on Tenacity:

Spoiler

I'm liking the extended-leg version a lot!

Also, every little bit of coloring insight helps as I know nothing about the process, so thanks for the input!

[Dispozition]

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

Crud, I missed this, I think...

By 13 hours or so, yes. I probably won't be doing another for quite as while as I'm working a lot in the next few days, and going out a bit.

[Bakuel]

I've been pretty bad lately and haven't been drawing as much as I should. Between holiday cheer, holiday blues, and generally laziness, I didn't get much done.
I have also been working on my pony dynamic scene, but I think I was too ambitious in trying a night time scene. I need to work on finishing that.

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

Alright, first attempt at doing the colors and lighting on this thing.

Spoiler

The lines on the Flutterleg get kinda blurry with the shading, should probably darken them a bit. Anything else I should fix?

edit: I think I'll stop with this iteration. Looks good enough, moving on.

Spoiler

THIS IS AWESOME! All your other stuff you've been posting has been awesome too, but this really takes the cake.

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

I somehow don't think having both legs stretched out behind her would look very nice. But one leg stretched out back and one forward-ish does, to my eye, improve the action line:

Spoiler

Switched entirely to red for no good reason...

[/spoiler]

This is awesome too!

Also a general thanks for all the color related talk. It's very helpful, as this is something that I am struggling with.

Some none pony art,

Spoiler

I'm really not happy this image. I wanted to try coloring something none pony related, and decided (odd I know) to try my hand at Saint George-ish dragon slaying scene. And I also wanted a border. I dunno why, I just really wanted to make a image which had a border. The light source is ambiguous, the colors and clean up sloppy. The colors bleed, I'll have to find someway to fix that before they bleed to death. Also I really need to learn how to color metal better. Anyway live and learn.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Completed Harmonic Tenacity:

Spoiler

Good enough for another drawfriend attempt, what do you think? I think it really lacks a scene to be anywhere near as epic as the combined machine.

[the_druid_droid]

Originally Posted by Bakuel

I've been pretty bad lately and haven't been drawing as much as I should. Between holiday cheer, holiday blues, and generally laziness, I didn't get much done.
I have also been working on my pony dynamic scene, but I think I was too ambitious in trying a night time scene. I need to work on finishing that.

I know that feel...

Some none pony art,

Spoiler

I'm really not happy this image. I wanted to try coloring something none pony related, and decided (odd I know) to try my hand at Saint George-ish dragon slaying scene. And I also wanted a border. I dunno why, I just really wanted to make a image which had a border. The light source is ambiguous, the colors and clean up sloppy. The colors bleed, I'll have to find someway to fix that before they bleed to death. Also I really need to learn how to color metal better. Anyway live and learn.

I actually really like this image! The frame gives it a very cool effect - not quite painting, not quite real-life...I like it! It's also a really neat treatment of the subject matter.

Sorry I can't help with shading and stuff, as I'm still very dumb when it comes to that, but I am trying to learn...

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

Completed Harmonic Tenacity:

Spoiler

Good enough for another drawfriend attempt, what do you think? I think it really lacks a scene to be anywhere near as epic as the combined machine.

I think it's looking pretty good. If you want to increase your drawfriend chances, you might consider putting in a background, both to give it some context and to add visual interest/pull the composition together.

Drawtopic Announcement!

Ok, now that folks have had some time to work on their dynamic pictures, I think I'll throw out another suggestion for pony arts. This time, the goal is to have multiple ponies interacting! It can be ponies racing, Celestia mentoring Twi, pony snuggles, CMC hijinks, or whatever you choose, but there needs to be at least two ponies present for this prompt.

Have at it!

(Also, I'll eventually be posting some of my own stuff...holidays and art ADD have made me less productive than I'd like, but I have been drawing, it's just that everything is kind of in the WIP stage)

[Pokonic]

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

Completed Harmonic Tenacity:

Spoiler

Good enough for another drawfriend attempt, what do you think? I think it really lacks a scene to be anywhere near as epic as the combined machine.

Neat! Most of the stuff that gets to be on the Drawfriend has a backround, and some poofy clouds or a storm behind her would make your chances better.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Originally Posted by Pokonic

Neat! Most of the stuff that gets to be on the Drawfriend has a backround, and some poofy clouds or a storm behind her would make your chances better.

Yeah, it's mostly just a character design, for a given definition of "character". Wasn't really meant to be a scene. I guess the combined mech got through on sheer scale and detail. Only so much detail you can stuff onto one streamlined rotodyne pony. Oh well.

I'm considering doing Rarity's Benevolence or Fluttershy's Mercy mech next. Which would you prefer to see? Rarity's is pretty plain (think Apple-designed), so it'll have to be a scene to be interesting, and Fluttershy presents a rather unique challenge of making a giant equine battlemech appear adorable. The others I'm still figuring out the designs for, especially Twilight's Unity.

[Bakuel]

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

Completed Harmonic Tenacity:

Spoiler

Good enough for another drawfriend attempt, what do you think? I think it really lacks a scene to be anywhere near as epic as the combined machine.

Originally Posted by Pokonic

Neat! Most of the stuff that gets to be on the Drawfriend has a backround, and some poofy clouds or a storm behind her would make your chances better.

I agree with Pokonic and the the_druid_droid in that you should try to add a background of some type, even a simple one. It could be clouds, grass, or even bare ground, as the shadow makes it appear that it is close to something. You could use the background to bring attention to the movement, by making the clouds, grass or whatever, blur. Or you could also bring attention to the downward thrust of the wings and get a helicopter/harrier affect in there as well as the forward motion. But then again, this may take away from the forward motion.
So I dunno, I'm just throwing out ideas and thoughts really. The pose and character themselves are very strong so I don't think you'll really need a epic background for it so rather then a background which could stand on it's own, just try to find one that compliments the character.

Edit: I shouldn't write posts and eat at the same time. Fluttershy's would be interesting, I think you should do that one next.

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

I know that feel...


I actually really like this image! The frame gives it a very cool effect - not quite painting, not quite real-life...I like it! It's also a really neat treatment of the subject matter.

Sorry I can't help with shading and stuff, as I'm still very dumb when it comes to that, but I am trying to learn...

I'm glad you like it! For me it's a case of looking at a picture too long trying to fix it. I find I still like the concept and one day when I'm much better and can actually shade metals (and everything else too!) I'll probably take another shot at it. I'm often attracted to ambitious projects, they just generally fall a bit short, I like to think of it as a learning experience though.

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

Drawtopic Announcement!

Ok, now that folks have had some time to work on their dynamic pictures, I think I'll throw out another suggestion for pony arts. This time, the goal is to have multiple ponies interacting! It can be ponies racing, Celestia mentoring Twi, pony snuggles, CMC hijinks, or whatever you choose, but there needs to be at least two ponies present for this prompt.

Have at it!

(Also, I'll eventually be posting some of my own stuff...holidays and art ADD have made me less productive than I'd like, but I have been drawing, it's just that everything is kind of in the WIP stage)

*Runs off to try to finish the last prompt*

[the_druid_droid]

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

Yeah, it's mostly just a character design, for a given definition of "character". Wasn't really meant to be a scene. I guess the combined mech got through on sheer scale and detail. Only so much detail you can stuff onto one streamlined rotodyne pony. Oh well.

I'm considering doing Rarity's Benevolence or Fluttershy's Mercy mech next. Which would you prefer to see? Rarity's is pretty plain (think Apple-designed), so it'll have to be a scene to be interesting, and Fluttershy presents a rather unique challenge of making a giant equine battlemech appear adorable. The others I'm still figuring out the designs for, especially Twilight's Unity.

I vote for Mercy, just because it sounds awesome, and I have to admit to a certain curiosity in wanting to see a moe-mech...

[Pokonic]

I, too, vote to see Mercy. Will be even better if you can hide some potential WOMD in the design.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Well, sorry to disappoint anyone expecting a WMD from it, but if you've seen the description of every mech on the combined MegaHORD's DA page, you know that Harmonic Mercy is pretty much unarmed, in the conventional sense.

Despite this, it is built around a heavy-duty frame similar to Applejack's Harmonic Justice, and is coupled with a power source on par with that of Harmonic Tenacity. The reason behind assigning such a powerful machine to such a timid pilot becomes clear whenever Fluttershy is forced to overcome her inner softness and stops holding back. Able to pull stunning feats of strength, speed and mobility, the Mercy becomes a very surprising opponent for anyone foolish enough to underestimate its capabilities based on Fluttershy's actions prior to that point. Its sturdy frame also means that unlike Tenacity, it can afford to stay and fight in melee instead of doing fly-bys.

On top of being powerful physically, Harmonic Mercy also employs its only "weapon" - the special ability that amplifies its pilot's innate power to manipulate and calm others. Overcharged by the machine's magic power, Fluttershy's Stare becomes capable of physically disabling any opponent she turns it upon, be it monster or machine. But, like the Stare, this ability cannot be consciously controlled.

(In case you're wondering why I bother with all the backstory - I'm a GM, and this is natural to me. Also, I kinda want to make some comics about the Pony Rangers fighting Nightmare Moon, the Red Dragon, and Discord, with universe-appropriate modifications to the proceedings.)

[Bakuel]

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

(In case you're wondering why I bother with all the backstory - I'm a GM, and this is natural to me. Also, I kinda want to make some comics about the Pony Rangers fighting Nightmare Moon, the Red Dragon, and Discord, with universe-appropriate modifications to the proceedings.)

A comic sounds good!
Will it be full on Power Rangers/Superhero style with their identities being secret, double lives and so on?


More stuff, this time pony,

Spoiler

I wanted to make Rainbow Dash fighting something, becuase of her weather job I decided on a storm cloud who would fight back, Kracko that boss from the Kirby series. I love that guy. Best cloud monster ever.
For some odd reason, I wanted them to be fighting at night, in a storm cloud, with lightning being the only light source. This scene didn't come out completely as intended, but I learned a lot so it's all good. My last image was all reds and golds, so this one is full of nice blues.

I'm not sold on Dash's anatomy, the wings are a bit weird. But it is what it is. The scene could be more dynamic, looking back I should have set up a vanishing point somewhere and not been so trifling. And poor Dash could be awesomer and a bit more lively. Her mane really needs to be cleaned up. But I'm torn on the shading, shading her rainbow mane anymore seems like it would only dull it, maybe it's best left sorta bright? I dunno.
I'll try to clean it up some more later.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Originally Posted by Bakuel

A comic sounds good!
Will it be full on Power Rangers/Superhero style with their identities being secret, double lives and so on?

Heh, no. Just the battle sequences, if I can do even that.

Besides, it'll be kinda hard for RD to keep her identity secret when she's the only rainbow-maned pegasus in Ponyville.

Also, I do believe I still suck at backgrounds:

Spoiler

They usually require some kind of "generic detail", over a large area, but I end up trying to detail everything and fail horribly. I just lack the understanding for "big picture" scenes, and generally don't know enough about how some things are supposed to work to make them look right. Like water surface here, and other things. I'm no longer sure where the perspective is even going in that shot.

edit: first draft of Mercy:

Spoiler

edit2: second pass on the first draft of Mercy:

Spoiler

Also, to my memory, first time trying to draw a duck since.. well, ever.

This thread needs more activity.

[Bakuel]

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

Heh, no. Just the battle sequences, if I can do even that.

Besides, it'll be kinda hard for RD to keep her identity secret when she's the only rainbow-maned pegasus in Ponyville.

Well, maybe Dash is Superman and Ponyville is filled with Lois Lanes.

I guess I was getting a bit too greedy with the comic there...
Will there be a transformation sequence? So everyone can image the theme as a cheesy nineties rock song?

Actually, I wonder if that remix has been done...

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

Don

Also, I do believe I still suck at backgrounds:

Spoiler

They usually require some kind of "generic detail", over a large area, but I end up trying to detail everything and fail horribly. I just lack the understanding for "big picture" scenes, and generally don't know enough about how some things are supposed to work to make them look right. Like water surface here, and other things. I'm no longer sure where the perspective is even going in that shot.

The water/thrust movement looks very good and I like how you hinted at the reflection in the water.
I think the perspective problem is do to the angle of the shadow makes the viewer image the horizon line would be a bit lower then it is.
I don't think the details are that too overpowering, since your art is heavy on the details the mech still stands out nicely. The thrust really adds to the momentum of the figure. Besides the horizon line, it looks great to me!

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

edit: first draft of Mercy:

Spoiler

edit2: second pass on the first draft of Mercy:

Spoiler

Also, to my memory, first time trying to draw a duck since.. well, ever.

This thread needs more activity.

These look great! And the duck is very good, it's bill is done nicely. Bird bills can be pretty darn tricky.

You should draw ducks more often!

Spoiler

I'm just kidding on the request, but I honestly always had trouble with realistic-ish bird bills.

But onward to the mech itself, the design and pose looks cute, the exact opposite of what you would a mech to behave. I like it. And the Fluttershy pony ranger design is too... Cute... Like diabetes inducing. But in a good way.

My only negative that I have to comment on is prospective on the lake and the road in the second image.
When you compare the road and the lake to each other it seems weird. The road begins in the bottom of the image and becomes flatter/smaller the closer it moves back in the perspective underneath Mercy and back. While the lake doesn't seem to share it's perspective and horizon line. It should become flatter at the same line. Bodies of water are pretty flat and slaves to the horizon line, being water and all, if a pond or lake forms in a landscape, it's probably the most flat thing there. but it seems like it's going up a hill slightly when you compare it too the road.
Looking at it I get the feeling you didn't set up a horizon line and a vanishing point. It's elementary and mathematical, but landscapes with backgrounds and foregrounds need this to work. The only reason why I'm going on like this is it seems like one of those small things which may come back to haunt you as you finish up the drawing, so I want to bring it to your attention, even if you decide to ignore it and keep going. Also I just woke up and I blabber when I do it.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Originally Posted by Bakuel

Well, maybe Dash is Superman and Ponyville is filled with Lois Lanes.

Well, on the other hand Mare-do-Well managed it quite nicely. I guess the mech designs are still dead giveaways, but one could always say it's just a, heh, "mare coincidence".

I guess I was getting a bit too greedy with the comic there...
Will there be a transformation sequence? So everyone can image the theme as a cheesy nineties rock song?

Actually, I wonder if that remix has been done...

No idea on the remix, but yes, I was hoping to at least do the transformation sequence, and the combination sequence. It's a pretty ambitious goal as far as my art skills go, since I haven't even done a single comic strip yet, a few unfinished dabblings disregarded.

The water/thrust movement looks very good and I like how you hinted at the reflection in the water.
I think the perspective problem is do to the angle of the shadow makes the viewer image the horizon line would be a bit lower then it is.
I don't think the details are that too overpowering, since your art is heavy on the details the mech still stands out nicely. The thrust really adds to the momentum of the figure. Besides the horizon line, it looks great to me!

Yeah, I completely lost track of the perspective there. The problem with drawing single characters, for me, is that I tend to use an odd kind of zero-point perspective, and very odd angles creep up sometimes. I actually had to move and rotate that shadow so that it didn't look that RD was about to fly her mech into the ground. (Not that she isn't likely to, but still) It just wasn't drawn with a scene in mind.

These look great! And the duck is very good, it's bill is done nicely. Bird bills can be pretty darn tricky.

You should draw ducks more often!

Spoiler

I'm just kidding on the request, but I honestly always had trouble with realistic-ish bird bills.

Great, at least now I know I can draw a good duck.
I wonder if the reaction face is a bit too silly though. It's mainly there for humor value.

But onward to the mech itself, the design and pose looks cute, the exact opposite of what you would a mech to behave. I like it. And the Fluttershy pony ranger design is too... Cute... Like diabetes inducing. But in a good way.

Hours of research into adorableness have paid off. Seriously, I needed to recall just about every pic I've seen called "adorable" and apply the extracted knowledge here. The only reason the mech doesn't have socks and a juice pack is because... well, it'd be plain silly. In a good way, but still, not what I'm going for here.

My only negative that I have to comment on is prospective on the lake and the road in the second image.
When you compare the road and the lake to each other it seems weird. The road begins in the bottom of the image and becomes flatter/smaller the closer it moves back in the perspective underneath Mercy and back. While the lake doesn't seem to share it's perspective and horizon line. It should become flatter at the same line. Bodies of water are pretty flat and slaves to the horizon line, being water and all, if a pond or lake forms in a landscape, it's probably the most flat thing there. but it seems like it's going up a hill slightly when you compare it too the road.
Looking at it I get the feeling you didn't set up a horizon line and a vanishing point. It's elementary and mathematical, but landscapes with backgrounds and foregrounds need this to work. The only reason why I'm going on like this is it seems like one of those small things which may come back to haunt you as you finish up the drawing, so I want to bring it to your attention, even if you decide to ignore it and keep going. Also I just woke up and I blabber when I do it.

See, this kind of thing is exactly why I want feedback on stuff I draw. With how I tend to pay attention to tiny details, I somehow manage to miss the "big picture" things, like consistent perspective. It's just that I again based the whole thing around the centerpiece rather than make a background and draw the character in like it's usually done. I'll try to correct it, thanks.

[the_druid_droid]

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

Well, sorry to disappoint anyone expecting a WMD from it, but if you've seen the description of every mech on the combined MegaHORD's DA page, you know that Harmonic Mercy is pretty much unarmed, in the conventional sense.

Despite this, it is built around a heavy-duty frame similar to Applejack's Harmonic Justice, and is coupled with a power source on par with that of Harmonic Tenacity. The reason behind assigning such a powerful machine to such a timid pilot becomes clear whenever Fluttershy is forced to overcome her inner softness and stops holding back. Able to pull stunning feats of strength, speed and mobility, the Mercy becomes a very surprising opponent for anyone foolish enough to underestimate its capabilities based on Fluttershy's actions prior to that point. Its sturdy frame also means that unlike Tenacity, it can afford to stay and fight in melee instead of doing fly-bys.

On top of being powerful physically, Harmonic Mercy also employs its only "weapon" - the special ability that amplifies its pilot's innate power to manipulate and calm others. Overcharged by the machine's magic power, Fluttershy's Stare becomes capable of physically disabling any opponent she turns it upon, be it monster or machine. But, like the Stare, this ability cannot be consciously controlled.

(In case you're wondering why I bother with all the backstory - I'm a GM, and this is natural to me. Also, I kinda want to make some comics about the Pony Rangers fighting Nightmare Moon, the Red Dragon, and Discord, with universe-appropriate modifications to the proceedings.)

I really like this background/world-building stuff! It's a nice addition to just the bare picture, and something neat to chew on later...

Originally Posted by Bakuel

More stuff, this time pony,

Spoiler

I wanted to make Rainbow Dash fighting something, becuase of her weather job I decided on a storm cloud who would fight back, Kracko that boss from the Kirby series. I love that guy. Best cloud monster ever.
For some odd reason, I wanted them to be fighting at night, in a storm cloud, with lightning being the only light source. This scene didn't come out completely as intended, but I learned a lot so it's all good. My last image was all reds and golds, so this one is full of nice blues.

I'm not sold on Dash's anatomy, the wings are a bit weird. But it is what it is. The scene could be more dynamic, looking back I should have set up a vanishing point somewhere and not been so trifling. And poor Dash could be awesomer and a bit more lively. Her mane really needs to be cleaned up. But I'm torn on the shading, shading her rainbow mane anymore seems like it would only dull it, maybe it's best left sorta bright? I dunno.
I'll try to clean it up some more later.

Hmm, a couple things occur to me on this. First off, I like the darkish color scheme, and the shading on the cloud, it looks really cool! I also think that you'd be ok leaving the mane as-is; there's a nice contrast between the dark background and the bright rainbow colors. Also, if you want a bit more of a movement feel, you might try giving her mane or tail a bit of motion blur, or colored contrail effect.

With regard to the wings, you might try putting in some texture with a different brush to see if you could give the feel of feathers - as is I think they fall a little flat. Apart from that, I really like this one! Though I have this image suddenly of a charcoal-gray version of RD based off this image, still with the rainbow mane and tail - it's a really cool contrast and gray is a classy color, I think.

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

Heh, no. Just the battle sequences, if I can do even that.

Besides, it'll be kinda hard for RD to keep her identity secret when she's the only rainbow-maned pegasus in Ponyville.

Also, I do believe I still suck at backgrounds:

Spoiler

They usually require some kind of "generic detail", over a large area, but I end up trying to detail everything and fail horribly. I just lack the understanding for "big picture" scenes, and generally don't know enough about how some things are supposed to work to make them look right. Like water surface here, and other things. I'm no longer sure where the perspective is even going in that shot.

edit: first draft of Mercy:

Spoiler

edit2: second pass on the first draft of Mercy:

Spoiler

Also, to my memory, first time trying to draw a duck since.. well, ever.

This thread needs more activity.

I think the water background looks pretty good! I can't really speak to perspective, but I think you have enough detail on the water to make it clear what it is and provide some context for RD's motion; I don't know if you really need a whole lot more than that.

The Mercy mech is also looking promising; the pose is surprisingly lifelike for a machine! I also like that you included the inset of the yellow ranger along with the background - it gives the composition kind of a TV-show-intro feel which works nicely with the subject matter.

[Bakuel]

Sorry for a blabbering post, it's New Years after all and I'm pulling an all nighter, I don't drink but I get high off of sugar and caffeine.

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

Well, on the other hand Mare-do-Well managed it quite nicely. I guess the mech designs are still dead giveaways, but one could always say it's just a, heh, "mare coincidence".

Dat pun!

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

Great, at least now I know I can draw a good duck.
I wonder if the reaction face is a bit too silly though. It's mainly there for humor value.

You should leave the duck reaction, it adds a lot of character to the picture! The scene is peaceful, so a silly moment shouldn't be take too much away. This is Fluttershy gushing over the little duckies while in a giant mech after all.

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

See, this kind of thing is exactly why I want feedback on stuff I draw. With how I tend to pay attention to tiny details, I somehow manage to miss the "big picture" things, like consistent perspective. It's just that I again based the whole thing around the centerpiece rather than make a background and draw the character in like it's usually done. I'll try to correct it, thanks.

We're the exact opposite, my hard drive is full of carefully composed scenes with outlines of multiple characters and so on. Most never moved beyond this basic stage, and practically none were cleaned up and inked in any way. Details? I don't know the meaning of the word. And coloring/shading's a pipe dream.
The thing about comments is that I try to only comment on things that I know something about and can offer a suggestion to fix. The ideas behind your concepts are strong and your clean line work is stronger then anything I could ever come up with, so I can't comment on these very much besides saying what I like or what I don't. But with composition and scenery and the "framework" of a picture I can comment a bit more intelligently.


I don't know if you already know the following trick, but this is more or less just a general tip for anyone. And I feel like blabbering.

Spoiler

If you have trouble plotting out a complete scene or find yourself focusing on one character, a trick I use is to take out a piece of scrap paper and just throw the basic shapes and the pre-drawing out in a miniature version of the image your aiming for. And when I say small, mean small, some are about a 12 by 12 cm square but whatever you're comfortable with. Choose the pose for your center piece character and then draw the scenery around it, other characters, and whatever and see if it matches up. Nothing fancy, just basic shapes and guidelines.

Believe or not, if the composition doesn't look right in a miniature version of the picture it won't look right in a large version with all the details. On lunch breaks and pauses at my job I compose very miniature scenes of pictures and poses I'm planning to do. It only takes about 1 minute and it will show if the set up will work. If it doesn't and you run into a problem, you can either try to fix it or try a slightly different scene. But you only wasted one minuted before you went ahead and went all out on the complete version.

Generally, the miniature will show any problem with composition, perspective, or anything like this which you would have run into if you tried to draw the scene in a full blown picture.
It's no different from how architects and engineers create small models of buildings to see if they look good and if there are any problems with it that need to be fixed before wasting time building it.

This technique is also good for brainstorming scenes, as you can spit them out quickly.

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

I really like this background/world-building stuff! It's a nice addition to just the bare picture, and something neat to chew on later...

I agree with druid droid! I'm not a GM and I don't play D&D, but I like world building, the stuff is interesting post some more!

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

Hmm, a couple things occur to me on this. First off, I like the darkish color scheme, and the shading on the cloud, it looks really cool! I also think that you'd be ok leaving the mane as-is; there's a nice contrast between the dark background and the bright rainbow colors. Also, if you want a bit more of a movement feel, you might try giving her mane or tail a bit of motion blur, or colored contrail effect.

I'm very happy you like the picture! Honestly, I have been reading "Color and Light, A Guide for the Realist Painter" by James Gurney and wanted to try a limited palette painting with mainly cool colors like blue.
I'm glad you like the hair and the clouds. I was worried about those cartoony clouds with dramatic lighting. The funny thing about the glowing hair is that the whole wasn't planned. I colored everything in with a base color, and shaded it starting from the background and working toward the front more or less. But then when came to the hair, whenever I shaded it, it didn't look as good and took away from the picture. While glowing it makes a nice triangle for the viewer's gaze. With the mane and tail being one side, the lightening another, and Kracko and Rainbow Dash's death gaze at each other the last. Hopefully keeping the viewer's eyes away from the more boring parts of the picture! Or at least in theory.
So I only shaded it a little, and hoped to make a claim for artistic license depending on what feedback I got.
It probably would be better with a bit of blur on the tail and mane. But I'm pretty bad at blurs I must admit.

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

With regard to the wings, you might try putting in some texture with a different brush to see if you could give the feel of feathers - as is I think they fall a little flat.

I agree with you on the wings, the thing is that the coloring and shading on her hair makes it look somewhat realistic, so it looks odd besides wings that are the same color as her body. It's like their covered in body hair. Originally her hair and body were much more solid and undefined like the cartoon and the wings looked a bit better in comparison. I need to work on using different brushes more.

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

Apart from that, I really like this one! Though I have this image suddenly of a charcoal-gray version of RD based off this image, still with the rainbow mane and tail - it's a really cool contrast and gray is a classy color, I think.

That would be a very nice image! It's odd, I'm not the biggest Dash fan partly because, I hate to sound shallow, her mane colors are hard to work with. What to do with all those colors?! But as contrast they work very well.

For some odd reason, this one is very popular and was featured on Equestria Daily (.) before it could be cleaned up some more. Now I feel like I shouldn't edit it. I'll probably leave it alone now that it's gotten so much publicity, but I may return to the image in the distant future.

This thread has been slow lately with only five different posters in the last two or so days. More people should post art!

[Sean Mirrsen]

Originally Posted by Bakuel

Dat pun!

Thank you, thank you! *bows*

You should leave the duck reaction, it adds a lot of character to the picture! The scene is peaceful, so a silly moment shouldn't be take too much away. This is Fluttershy gushing over the little duckies while in a giant mech after all.

Yeah. Besides, I've got nothing else to fill that corner of the pic with anyway.

We're the exact opposite, my hard drive is full of carefully composed scenes with outlines of multiple characters and so on. Most never moved beyond this basic stage, and practically none were cleaned up and inked in any way. Details? I don't know the meaning of the word. And coloring/shading's a pipe dream.

Those details are sometimes the bane of my existence. I get too caught up in detailing and wreck the focus of the picture. For instance, when lining up Mercy, I made all sorts of detailed plating over the head's surface at first, then stopped to look at it and realized that the details were messing up the perceived shape of the head. Maybe it'll look better once it's shaded, then I'll add them back in.

Spoiler

I don't know if you already know the following trick, but this is more or less just a general tip for anyone. And I feel like blabbering.

Spoiler

If you have trouble plotting out a complete scene or find yourself focusing on one character, a trick I use is to take out a piece of scrap paper and just throw the basic shapes and the pre-drawing out in a miniature version of the image your aiming for. And when I say small, mean small, some are about a 12 by 12 cm square but whatever you're comfortable with. Choose the pose for your center piece character and then draw the scenery around it, other characters, and whatever and see if it matches up. Nothing fancy, just basic shapes and guidelines.

Believe or not, if the composition doesn't look right in a miniature version of the picture it won't look right in a large version with all the details. On lunch breaks and pauses at my job I compose very miniature scenes of pictures and poses I'm planning to do. It only takes about 1 minute and it will show if the set up will work. If it doesn't and you run into a problem, you can either try to fix it or try a slightly different scene. But you only wasted one minuted before you went ahead and went all out on the complete version.

Generally, the miniature will show any problem with composition, perspective, or anything like this which you would have run into if you tried to draw the scene in a full blown picture.
It's no different from how architects and engineers create small models of buildings to see if they look good and if there are any problems with it that need to be fixed before wasting time building it.

This technique is also good for brainstorming scenes, as you can spit them out quickly.

Interestingly, drawing ridiculously tiny doodles (sticky note sized) was more or less exactly how I started the whole drawing thing proper. I just wasn't comfortable with large drawings for some reason. On the upside, it let me develop all these fine hand motor skills for tiny details. Means much less with a tablet where you can zoom in, but did wonders for the large P&P sketches I've made later.
A kind of rapid scene prototyping is one use for it I haven't really capitalized on, however, so I might try to do it some more. I already do it for character designs, and it really does help - figuring out the shape of the Mercy's faceplate/shades so that it looks both like Fluttershy's eyes and a butterfly, for instance.

I agree with druid droid! I'm not a GM and I don't play D&D, but I like world building, the stuff is interesting post some more!

Funnily enough, I don't play/run D&D either. Nor any of the other mainstreamish PnP tabletop RPG systems. What I like is RTD, Roll To Dodge, which is a mostly forum-based game system with no roots in PnP gaming that I could find. RTDs and my own Multiworlds setting were my primary focus and drawing inspiration before ponies happened to trot by.

Also, here, have a description for Harmonic Tenacity, if you haven't read it on its DA page:

Spoiler

Harmonic Tenacity is unquestionably the fastest of the machines piloted by the Rangers, and very nearly the most agile, owing to its stellar power-to-mass ratio. But for a combat machine, the reductions in weight that make it all possible come at a heavy price.

With most of its power output focused on mobility, and a lot of armor sacrificed to increase acceleration, Harmonic Tenacity is very much not a skirmish fighter. Its physical strength is commendable, and melee attacks it delivers are nothing to be scoffed at, but it can't afford to stay in melee range for long, lest its only real combat advantage be taken away with a well-placed hit.

The most powerful attack Harmonic Tenacity can perform is, unsurprisingly, based on Rainbow Dash's own Sonic Rainboom, adjusted for the machine's capabilities and renamed Supersonic RainBreaker. The little circular dish in the machine's chestplate is the Sonic Breaker, a powerful device that counteracts the compression wave forming in front of the machine at high speeds, dissipating it harmlessly and rejoining the air without forming a sonic boom, thus preventing the rushing air from tearing the machine apart.

When flying at a high enough speed with the Breaker supercharged, Harmonic Tenacity causes a point of super-compression to form directly behind itself, into which the magitek engine's rainbow exhaust "tail" is drawn. ...yes, I know the engine is uncomfortably positioned. At least it technically forms the tail itself rather than being under it... Anyway, once that point is reached, Rainbow Dash can briefly disengage the Breaker, causing the supercompressed rainbow-infused air to explode in a massive spherical blast of color and magic, with potential total energy yield in the kiloton range. Unlike the Sonic Rainboom, however, the RainBreaker does not cause any maneuverability increase, and disabling the Sonic Breaker causes massive turbulence to occur, leaving Rainbow Dash with a very real possibility of losing control at supersonic speed, and consequently crashing into something.

From its introduction and until the battle against Discord, Harmonic Tenacity has been fully rebuilt three times. Thank the Princesses for ejection seats.

This thread has been slow lately with only five different posters in the last two or so days. More people should post art!

I agree wholeheartedly. Perhaps it's just the holiday season.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I'll stop with the shaded mech design for now, and maybe fix the scene up if I decide to put it up on DA or something.

40 tons of adorable incoming:

Spoiler

I can't shake the feeling that the design lost something in transition from sketch to colored...

Trying to do the Benevolence now. I think I got the base design down right, but some parts are still odd. Also, showing the tail being swung is kind of a new challenge.
I think I'll need to introduce an enemy here, a Shadowmech specifically - going with the notion of Shadowbolts being Nightmare Moon's lackeys rather than illusions.

Spoiler

And yes, the canvas size is too small for any scene, I'll need to make it bigger.

The Benevolence is something of a glass cannon, being in possession of a fairly admirable set of melee weapons as well as amplifying its pilot's own magic, but with minimal external armor. The primary weapon of the machine is the magic-enhanced diamond-encrusted razor tail, its curliness lending itself well to being used as an impromptu whip. As a special attack, Rarity can use her empowered magic to form her machine's diamond-lined mane around its horn, creating a powerful Diamond Drill, which easily rips through most materials. The same empowered magic allows the fashionista to treat all metal as if it were clothing, effectively performing field repairs on her companion's HORDs. An extensive array of sensor equipment also allows the Benevolence to locate important objectives from great distances and through any obstacles. With such a collection of mostly noncombat abilities and a lack of protection, the Benevolence is relegated to a support role on the battlefield.
However, when forced to exchange blows with an enemy, or weather a continued assault, an important quality of both the machine and its pilot shines through. Despite having virtually no armor, the Benevolence's internal structure is built to at least double, and, in a few places, up to quadruple redundancy. If the situation calls for it, Rarity will (with perhaps a moment's hesitation) herself take an attack intended for someone else, because her machine stands a much better chance of not being crippled by it. Coupling this behavior with the ability to repair the damage herself, Rarity makes a surprisingly good bodyguard in these situations.

[Pokonic]

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

I'll stop with the shaded mech design for now, and maybe fix the scene up if I decide to put it up on DA or something.

40 tons of adorable incoming:

Spoiler

I can't shake the feeling that the design lost something in transition from sketch to colored...

Trying to do the Benevolence now. I think I got the base design down right, but some parts are still odd. Also, showing the tail being swung is kind of a new challenge.
I think I'll need to introduce an enemy here, a Shadowmech specifically - going with the notion of Shadowbolts being Nightmare Moon's lackeys rather than illusions.

Spoiler

And yes, the canvas size is too small for any scene, I'll need to make it bigger.

The Benevolence is something of a glass cannon, being in possession of a fairly admirable set of melee weapons as well as amplifying its pilot's own magic, but with minimal external armor. The primary weapon of the machine is the magic-enhanced diamond-encrusted razor tail, its curliness lending itself well to being used as an impromptu whip. As a special attack, Rarity can use her empowered magic to form her machine's diamond-lined mane around its horn, creating a powerful Diamond Drill, which easily rips through most materials. The same empowered magic allows the fashionista to treat all metal as if it were clothing, effectively performing field repairs on her companion's HORDs. An extensive array of sensor equipment also allows the Benevolence to locate important objectives from great distances and through any obstacles. With such a collection of mostly noncombat abilities and a lack of protection, the Benevolence is relegated to a support role on the battlefield.
However, when forced to exchange blows with an enemy, or weather a continued assault, an important quality of both the machine and its pilot shines through. Despite having virtually no armor, the Benevolence's internal structure is built to at least double, and, in a few places, up to quadruple redundancy. If the situation calls for it, Rarity will (with perhaps a moment's hesitation) herself take an attack intended for someone else, because her machine stands a much better chance of not being crippled by it. Coupling this behavior with the ability to repair the damage herself, Rarity makes a surprisingly good bodyguard in these situations.

You know, going from the look she is giving us, I can only assume Spike has a decked-out adult dragon-looking mech thats using the zoom capability a little too much.

[the_druid_droid]

Originally Posted by Pokonic

You know, going from the look she is giving us, I can only assume Spike has a decked-out adult dragon-looking mech thats using the zoom capability a little too much.

Actually, now that it comes up, a mech for Spike would be cool. Any chance we might see one eventually, Sean?

[Pokonic]

A Griffon would be interesting, too, now that I am thinking about it.