Ponythread Learns to Draw! Together!

[Vorpalbob]

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

Heh, I went in an entirely different direction at first.

Spoiler

Although changing colors around isn't much of a problem, with proper preparations:

Spoiler

I still have no idea how to light an underwater scene properly though.

And I'd imagine Equestrian SpecOps wouldn't be like human Spec Ops, so I made the badge a tiny bit more cheerful. :)

Dude! That's awesome! This is making me think about (if I could mod) modding Metal Gear Solid to star AJ.

Unfortunately, "Applejack? APPLEJAAAAAAAAACK!" Just doesn't have the same ring to it.

[Neoseanster]

I has done drawing!

Source image (from Sisterhooves Social, so if you're avoiding spoilers for it, just move along... nothing too plot-critical, though):

Spoiler

Also, rotated it to help me with using it as a model. This made it blurry.

Now, my drawing:

Spoiler

I was showing it to people on IRC as I worked, so I have a few different pictures of it this time, in varying stages of completion.

I'm not perfectly happy with it... didn't come out too terribly, though, and it was interesting to draw. She's more challenging than Apple Bloom.

[Bakuel]

Hello,


I'm a long time lurker on these forums but never felt the need to post.
I must confess to watching MLP and enjoying it immensely so I decided to draw some, then I saw the thread and thought, why not post?

I was also hoping it would force me to draw more. I have been drawing a long time, but my art skills are lopsided. I rarely finish sketches with color or even basic shading. Actually, I rarely clean up sketches at all. I figured if I take part in a thread it get me working. If no one minds me cluttering up the thread and being here that is.

Besides ponies, I have been working on more realistic but still cartoony/abstract humans compared to my general way of drawing. So these two themes will probably be thrown together in horrible dissonance.

Spoiler

These are some Rarity and Odysseus heads in various states of completion, I was drawing them to compare them with each other.
But this would be the most unlikely team up ever!
That is, if Rarity forgives him for his horrible hat and shaggy beard. And Odysseus doesn't take her to be some strange (but oddly fabulous) horse horror Poseidon decided to throw in his way.

Ok, so it wouldn't work out at all.




I should have shaded Rarity's hair in more. Also, Rarity's hair keeps changing shape into more and more bulbous forms. It's almost as if it has a mind of it's own.
Sorry for the light lines. I need to work on that. I'm addicted to grey lines.

Originally Posted by Neoseanster

I has done drawing!
*snip*

I hope you don't mind me commenting. If you do then just skip my ramblings.

It is a nice picture! I really like how you shaded in the wet hair, I'm going to have to try that.

Take any and all of my words with a grain of salt. But the only thing that seems to be off with the picture is the position of the eye furthest from the viewer. The eye should be smaller or rather squashed a bit more due to foreshortening, if that makes sense.

[Neoseanster]

Originally Posted by Bakuel

I hope you don't mind me commenting. If you do then just skip my ramblings.

It is a nice picture! I really like how you shaded in the wet hair, I'm going to have to try that.

Take any and all of my words with a grain of salt. But the only thing that seems to be off with the picture is the position of the eye furthest from the viewer. The eye should be smaller or rather squashed a bit more due to foreshortening, if that makes sense.

Commentary is indeed welcome, thank you for the input!

[the_druid_droid]

Originally Posted by Bakuel

Hello,


I'm a long time lurker on these forums but never felt the need to post.
I must confess to watching MLP and enjoying it immensely so I decided to draw some, then I saw the thread and thought, why not post?

I was also hoping it would force me to draw more. I have been drawing a long time, but my art skills are lopsided. I rarely finish sketches with color or even basic shading. Actually, I rarely clean up sketches at all. I figured if I take part in a thread it get me working. If no one minds me cluttering up the thread and being here that is.

Besides ponies, I have been working on more realistic but still cartoony/abstract humans compared to my general way of drawing. So these two themes will probably be thrown together in horrible dissonance.

Spoiler

These are some Rarity and Odysseus heads in various states of completion, I was drawing them to compare them with each other.
But this would be the most unlikely team up ever!
That is, if Rarity forgives him for his horrible hat and shaggy beard. And Odysseus doesn't take her to be some strange (but oddly fabulous) horse horror Poseidon decided to throw in his way.

Ok, so it wouldn't work out at all.




I should have shaded Rarity's hair in more. Also, Rarity's hair keeps changing shape into more and more bulbous forms. It's almost as if it has a mind of it's own.
Sorry for the light lines. I need to work on that. I'm addicted to grey lines.

I hope you don't mind me commenting. If you do then just skip my ramblings.

It is a nice picture! I really like how you shaded in the wet hair, I'm going to have to try that.

Take any and all of my words with a grain of salt. But the only thing that seems to be off with the picture is the position of the eye furthest from the viewer. The eye should be smaller or rather squashed a bit more due to foreshortening, if that makes sense.

It's always nice to have new posters in the thread! Welcome!

Also, I commend you for tackling Rarity's mane; it's no easy feat to get the curls right!

EDIT: To avoid double posting!

So this is something different; a version of my avvie for a Sekerit Project. I inked this one, for a bit of a different effect; I also owe The Great and Powerful Inkwell for helping clean up the original graphic.

Spoiler

Thoughts: I like how most of it turned out, except the hood. The hood isn't really poofy enough, or is improperly poofy, and it kind of ruins the effect for me. There are also a couple of proportion/fidelity issues, but nothing hideously off.

[Dirtbag]

I fail!

I can't draw dragon wings. ;_;

We all got turned into dragons in the IRC so I decided to make that my air born Xenomorph, but I suck at drawing wings.

Here's what I got, but I know it sucks, I just don't know how to fix it.

Spoiler

Help me please! :(

[the_druid_droid]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag

I fail!

I can't draw dragon wings. ;_;

We all got turned into dragons in the IRC so I decided to make that my air born Xenomorph, but I suck at drawing wings.

Here's what I got, but I know it sucks, I just don't know how to fix it.

Spoiler

Help me please! :(

Hmm, the problem with the wings is that you've basically drawn them as large rectangles. What you need to do is locate a reference picture for a set of wings, either a photo of real birds you're shooting for, someone else's dragon drawings, or even pegasi wings from the show.

Look at them closely, and what you'll see is that although there are differences, most likely all of them have a sort of curving shape in common to the underside of the wing, tapering down from the wingtip to join into the chest. From there compare and contrast a couple styles to figure out what details you want and see if you can work up something you're happier with. The taper should fix 75% of the issue, with dragon-specific details rounding out the rest, I think.

[Dirtbag]

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

Hmm, the problem with the wings is that you've basically drawn them as large rectangles. What you need to do is locate a reference picture for a set of wings, either a photo of real birds you're shooting for, someone else's dragon drawings, or even pegasi wings from the show.

Look at them closely, and what you'll see is that although there are differences, most likely all of them have a sort of curving shape in common to the underside of the wing, tapering down from the wingtip to join into the chest. From there compare and contrast a couple styles to figure out what details you want and see if you can work up something you're happier with. The taper should fix 75% of the issue, with dragon-specific details rounding out the rest, I think.

Oh, I completely forgot I am allowed to use reference.

I don't usually use reference cause it feels like I'm stealing other ponies work.

So it kind of flew over my head.

Just looking at Dragon wings shows me obvious mistakes.

On another note, somepony wanted a flag of some sorts? I don't remember.

Here it is:

Spoiler

Cheesy yes, but you said a quick job will do. :P

[Bakuel]

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

It's always nice to have new posters in the thread! Welcome!

Also, I commend you for tackling Rarity's mane; it's no easy feat to get the curls right!

Thank you for the welcome, I don't tend to post on internet forums very often, so I was pretty nervous.
And of course I had to try Rarity's mane. Rarity is the best pony in my book.
At least when Applejack isn't.

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

So this is something different; a version of my avvie for a Sekerit Project. I inked this one, for a bit of a different effect; I also owe The Great and Powerful Inkwell for helping clean up the original graphic.
*snip*

Thoughts: I like how most of it turned out, except the hood. The hood isn't really poofy enough, or is improperly poofy, and it kind of ruins the effect for me. There are also a couple of proportion/fidelity issues, but nothing hideously off.

Hoods are very annoying to get right. Especially if your going for an abstract style and only have a few lines to work with to provide the illusion of poofyness and depth. I admire anyone who attempts something like this in the OOTS style, for a front view no less.
It looks good, are you planning on coloring or are you leaving it as is?

Originally Posted by Dirtbag

Oh, I completely forgot I am allowed to use reference.

I don't usually use reference cause it feels like I'm stealing other ponies work.

So it kind of flew over my head.

This is just a side comment, but I don't think you should feel bad about using references. Plenty of people use references, including myself if it matters. And everyone's work is based off of something, either something someone else made or from the natural world.
As long as your not literally copying them and wandering around passing it off as your work, I don't think it counts as stealing.

By the way, nice flag! Even if you think it's cheezy. The only thing that seemed somewhat odd was the black line borders on the clouds since the sun, moon and stars don't have borders. But if you remove them the clouds might not look right, so you may not want that.


Here is another drawing, this one of Applejack and Apple Bloom,

Spoiler

It seems that my can't-draw-children-disease translates wonderfully over into ponies. The proportions always end up looking off when measured against an adult.
Also Applejack's neck is too long. I'll have to work on that.

[the_druid_droid]

Originally Posted by Bakuel

Thank you for the welcome, I don't tend to post on internet forums very often, so I was pretty nervous.

No worries, the forums as a whole are pretty friendly, and we're certainly happy to see new faces!

Hoods are very annoying to get right. Especially if your going for an abstract style and only have a few lines to work with to provide the illusion of poofyness and depth. I admire anyone who attempts something like this in the OOTS style, for a front view no less.
It looks good, are you planning on coloring or are you leaving it as is?

I probably won't color this one, although I think I'm going to get a tablet for Christmas so I can do some more digital art, now that I've gotten into the whole ponies and cartoon drawing craze.

Also, after coming back and looking at it, I think the hood might actually be less of a problem than the fact that I set the eyes too far above the mouth and put the pose together a bit sloppily. It makes my drawing look less stylized than my avatar, although the hood could admittedly use a tweak as well...

Here is another drawing, this one of Applejack and Apple Bloom,

Spoiler

It seems that my can't-draw-children-disease translates wonderfully over into ponies. The proportions always end up looking off when measured against an adult.
Also Applejack's neck is too long. I'll have to work on that.

I really like this! My only nit-pick is that the head on Applejack seems a little too large. As SiuiS pointed out to me and I've measured now for myself, it seems that the body should be about a head-height off the ground, and the belly is typically located about 3/4 or so of a head down from, well, the head itself.

[Vorpalbob]

My first custom pony, without reference!

I did a quick sketch of one of my classmates in Drama last week, finishing it up today with the necklace and cutie mark. She initially asked for a weed leaf as her cutie mark, but decided instead on ice cream. I added the joint for fun.

Spoiler

The nose strikes me as too long, and the torso as well. I needed to start the legs sooner. Ah, well.

[Thanqol]

Originally Posted by Bakuel

Here is another drawing, this one of Applejack and Apple Bloom,

Spoiler

It seems that my can't-draw-children-disease translates wonderfully over into ponies. The proportions always end up looking off when measured against an adult.
Also Applejack's neck is too long. I'll have to work on that.

On the contrary, I think Applebloom looks very well proportioned here. The lineart to this picture is solid, only tweak I have is Applejack's nose, which doesn't look quite right

Originally Posted by Vorpalbob

My first custom pony, without reference!

I did a quick sketch of one of my classmates in Drama last week, finishing it up today with the necklace and cutie mark. She initially asked for a weed leaf as her cutie mark, but decided instead on ice cream. I added the joint for fun.

Spoiler

The nose strikes me as too long, and the torso as well. I needed to start the legs sooner. Ah, well.

Pony heads are round! The gap between the tip of the nose and the start of the far eye is very, very short. Draw a circle for the head and add features to that.

[SiuiS]

Originally Posted by Level8Mudcrab

Day 4, Fluttershy. Where wings join eyes in the "I hate drawing them" club. Perhaps they can get fancy shirts?

Spoiler

Spoiler

To be fair, Fluttershy's eyes are deceptive. They are unique, almost, and very, very different from all other pony eyes in behaviour. My very third pony picture had Fluttershy eyes, and as a result I have never shown it in public. It hurts too much.

Originally Posted by Vorpalbob

I'm not sure I'm good enough to attempt that just yet, but I did do something kinda tricky (for me, anyway).

I drew a pony without a reference object.

I find it really hard to get the scaling right, especially at the start, if I don't have an object in the image to refer back to.

I seem to be keeping up a pace of a drawing a day. Doubt that will last.

Reference picture

Spoiler

Final result.

Spoiler

Hm. For scaling reference, pick a part of the pony. Remember, internal consistency is what you're going for; the pony should be scaled correctly relevant to the pony. To the moon with anything else.

Good job though. That's a hay of a Pinkie Pie.

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

Bluh. I've been trying to draw Fluttershy for the past two days, and I just cannot get things to work. I'll probably try again tonight and post the WIP to see if I can get any suggestions...

My comisserations. My only good Fluttershy works because it's just far enough away from the show's style that you'd think the differences were intentional...

Look at the emotes Gadora posted. There is one, where she is facing the camera but her eyes are downcast to the side, while still wide open. Her eyes are HUGE.

Originally Posted by Neoseanster

I went out and bought myself a mechanical pencil on the way home today with the intention of trying this... "drawing" thing.

I'll post the results of my horrible embarrassing failure later tonight.

I feel proud for inspirin someone by saying that the tools don't need to be fancy ^w^

Originally Posted by Neoseanster

So... I drew Apple Bloom.

Source:

Spoiler

Drawing:

Spoiler

And then, after getting OCD-ish and cleaning it up a little...

It's not perfect, but I surprised myself for a first try.

Things that I noticed were wrong with it or that were pointed out to me in IRC (thanks Dispo!):

Spoiler

• The lines from her body on the left and right of her front left leg don't match each other.
• Her ear is too pointy.
• When I was cleaning it up, I accidentally made her mane merge with her body, instead of the line for it being raised a little.
• Head doesn't properly overlap with neck, makes it look like she's reaching her neck out or something.
• Bow is too rounded.
• Bottom of her forehead lock is too straight.
• Front left leg is a little too curved.
• Back leg joint could be a little more rounded.
• Eye could be a little rounder.

Any other criticisms are welcome. Maybe I'll try someone else tomorrow, or I'll redo this one and see if I can avoid the same mistakes.

Right now I'm going to sleep and wondering why I was up at 5 am drawing ponies.

Nice applebloom!
I have to ask, dis you draw that from reference alone or did you make a skeleton first?

Originally Posted by Level8Mudcrab

I ended up not having time to do a pony yesterday, I blame the new episode. Instead, have Rainbow Dash today.

Spoiler

Reference.

Spoiler

The left eye could do with some work, but I'm happier with the right one. Don't like the wings either. And I now suddenly realise I forgot the second wing. Silly me.

Well, I've now done the mane 6. I've still got a long way to go, but I am doing better than I'd first expected, so that's a plus. I think I'll try something different for tommorow.
That is a bit of an interest request. Looks pretty good though. What's that bit on her shoulder? Edit: Oh, I think it's an Equestrian badge/symbol type thing?

Neat. I never noticed how, well, manly RD's posture was in that shot. The mullet really works there.

Originally Posted by Neoseanster

I has done drawing!

Source image (from Sisterhooves Social, so if you're avoiding spoilers for it, just move along... nothing too plot-critical, though):

Spoiler

Also, rotated it to help me with using it as a model. This made it blurry.

Now, my drawing:

Spoiler

I was showing it to people on IRC as I worked, so I have a few different pictures of it this time, in varying stages of completion.

I'm not perfectly happy with it... didn't come out too terribly, though, and it was interesting to draw. She's more challenging than Apple Bloom.

Good gravy! Look at the difference betweenthose last two pictures! You make me feel better about my own differences...

Originally Posted by Bakuel

Hello,

I'm a long time lurker on these forums but never felt the need to post.
I must confess to watching MLP and enjoying it immensely so I decided to draw some, then I saw the thread and thought, why not post?

I was also hoping it would force me to draw more. I have been drawing a long time, but my art skills are lopsided. I rarely finish sketches with color or even basic shading. Actually, I rarely clean up sketches at all. I figured if I take part in a thread it get me working. If no one minds me cluttering up the thread and being here that is.

If it makes you feel better, so far only Thanqol is the only bloke who takes his sketches all the way through post production. I've resigned myself to being a doodler rather than an 'artist' because really neat but still dirty sketch is as far as I can take a piece of work.

Besides ponies, I have been working on more realistic but still cartoony/abstract humans compared to my general way of drawing. So these two themes will probably be thrown together in horrible dissonance.

Spoiler

These are some Rarity and Odysseus heads in various states of completion, I was drawing them to compare them with each other.
But this would be the most unlikely team up ever!
That is, if Rarity forgives him for his horrible hat and shaggy beard. And Odysseus doesn't take her to be some strange (but oddly fabulous) horse horror Poseidon decided to throw in his way.

Ok, so it wouldn't work out at all.




I should have shaded Rarity's hair in more. Also, Rarity's hair keeps changing shape into more and more bulbous forms. It's almost as if it has a mind of it's own.
Sorry for the light lines. I need to work on that. I'm addicted to grey lines.

Fabulous! I like the look on profile-Odysseus' face. Seems you're having some trouble with portrait-Odysseus though; he lacks the detail of profile or 3/4 profile version.

Still... Really cool.

Originally Posted by Dirtbag

I fail!

I can't draw dragon wings. ;_;

We all got turned into dragons in the IRC so I decided to make that my air born Xenomorph, but I suck at drawing wings.

Here's what I got, but I know it sucks, I just don't know how to fix it.

Spoiler

Help me please! :(

Look at bat wings. The wing works like a hand even in birds.
And don't sweat the references. "drawing from memory" usually just means you've memorized the references, but they're still there.

[Vorpalbob]

Originally Posted by Thanqol

Pony heads are round! The gap between the tip of the nose and the start of the far eye is very, very short. Draw a circle for the head and add features to that.

Definitely remembering that for next time.

[Dispozition]

Originally Posted by Bakuel

Here is another drawing, this one of Applejack and Apple Bloom,

Spoiler

It seems that my can't-draw-children-disease translates wonderfully over into ponies. The proportions always end up looking off when measured against an adult.
Also Applejack's neck is too long. I'll have to work on that.

I would say the problem is less her neck being too long, and more her legs being far too short. But otherwise a very nice picture (:

[Thanqol]

Originally Posted by SiuiS

If it makes you feel better, so far only Thanqol is the only bloke who takes his sketches all the way through post production. I've resigned myself to being a doodler rather than an 'artist' because really neat but still dirty sketch is as far as I can take a piece of work.

Honestly, SiuiS, I've said this before but colouring and editing your pieces is a joy. You've got crazy good composition and structure, and you put together pieces that just work. And I think the only thing stopping you from being an 'artist' is possession of a drawing tablet and willingness to spend time learning how to colour.

I'll understand if learning to colour is daunting, though, because I'm 174 days in and still have no bloody idea how to do it effectively. I'm still experimenting, all the time, and I still haven't tried all the tools these programs have. But it's the fun kind of not knowing, where I can try new combinations of stuff every day and see how it turns out.

If there's any sketches you want coloured at any time, just ask. I stand a fairly decent chance of colouring anything you throw up anyway.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I've also got a problem with coloring. Most of the time, I prefer to leave sketches as sketches, because more often than not my coloring will break something in the design.

But, a well-drawn colored piece will always look better than a sketch, so that's incentive to improve. :)

[Trixie]

I wonder, would someone with a pretty big amount of experience with digital image editing (including colouring) but relatively few with any free-hand drawing be okay in this thread?

I just don't want to be laughed off with claims 'what you need to learn, anyway?' if I post something...

<sigh> Maybe I can borrow someone's sketch to practice digital manipulation on, but I'd need to ask permission first, I guess...

[Sean Mirrsen]

No offense, but... really, what do you need to learn? What I've seen of your art is plenty awesome as it is. If you need to fiddle with something though, feel free to take any of my designs.

[Trixie]

<sigh> Exactly as I said, I suck on anything other than using mouse, be it free-hand tablet or pencil. That's why I'd like to get some criticism here.

But okay, I get the hint :P

[the_druid_droid]

Originally Posted by Trixie

I wonder, would someone with a pretty big amount of experience with digital image editing (including colouring) but relatively few with any free-hand drawing be okay in this thread?

I just don't want to be laughed off with claims 'what you need to learn, anyway?' if I post something...

<sigh> Maybe I can borrow someone's sketch to practice digital manipulation on, but I'd need to ask permission first, I guess...

Absolutely feel free to join in with the thread!

I never meant for things to be restricted to any level of talent or any medium, I just sort of marketed this toward new pony drawing people because I knew there would be some interest. By all means, post anything you like, and we'll give you any sort of help we know how to!

EDIT: Not to mention it would be nice to have several folks around with some coloring experience once I start dabbling with the process; I'm pretty much going to be starting at ground zero...

[Sean Mirrsen]

Yeah, some experts on coloring here would be nice. And, for the record, being able to draw well with a mouse is an awesome skill all by itself.

As for me, I'm now trying to do illustrations to that ill-fated fanfic project I mentioned. I'm no longer sure it'll get off the ground at all, but as long as it keeps giving me something unusual to draw, all is fine.

RD and one of the OC dwarves in flight:

Spoiler

I find the concept of pegasi "running" while flying a little outlandish, so in this case I've tried to justify the OC's action-y pose with some cloudskipping.

AJ learning of the profession of another OC dwarf, and the definition of "antipersonnel weapon":

Spoiler

Could've gone for a more neutral scene, but wanted to experiment with expressions. AJ seems to convey shock pretty well here, to me at least.

These are both sketches-in-progress, so if you have any advice to give, I'll gladly hear it.

[ealdhain]

Hi guys! I hope to be as active on this thread as I can be. I have plenty of pony sketches but little time to actually get online. With the few minutes I have today, I thought I'd just take the last picture posted and make some comments! Sooo...

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

Yeah, some experts on coloring here would be nice. And, for the record, being able to draw well with a mouse is an awesome skill all by itself.

As for me, I'm now trying to do illustrations to that ill-fated fanfic project I mentioned. I'm no longer sure it'll get off the ground at all, but as long as it keeps giving me something unusual to draw, all is fine.

RD and one of the OC dwarves in flight:

Spoiler

I find the concept of pegasi "running" while flying a little outlandish, so in this case I've tried to justify the OC's action-y pose with some cloudskipping.

AJ learning of the profession of another OC dwarf, and the definition of "antipersonnel weapon":

Spoiler

Could've gone for a more neutral scene, but wanted to experiment with expressions. AJ seems to convey shock pretty well here, to me at least.

These are both sketches-in-progress, so if you have any advice to give, I'll gladly hear it.

Wow! These were both so good. I love your style, it looks like you've been doing this for quite some time. It's all so clean looking, and your attention to detail really shines. I'm very envious of anyone who can draw feathered wings well, and you did a great job. I think a next step to take this further would be color, or even more simple, some shading. Have you tried that on your drawings yet? I bet it would look great!

[the_druid_droid]

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

Yeah, some experts on coloring here would be nice. And, for the record, being able to draw well with a mouse is an awesome skill all by itself.

As for me, I'm now trying to do illustrations to that ill-fated fanfic project I mentioned. I'm no longer sure it'll get off the ground at all, but as long as it keeps giving me something unusual to draw, all is fine.

RD and one of the OC dwarves in flight:

Spoiler

I find the concept of pegasi "running" while flying a little outlandish, so in this case I've tried to justify the OC's action-y pose with some cloudskipping.

AJ learning of the profession of another OC dwarf, and the definition of "antipersonnel weapon":

Spoiler

Could've gone for a more neutral scene, but wanted to experiment with expressions. AJ seems to convey shock pretty well here, to me at least.

These are both sketches-in-progress, so if you have any advice to give, I'll gladly hear it.

My only suggestions are that in the first picture, the dwarf pony's rear leg looks a bit odd; it may just be the pose but the joint seems to bend strangely, even for a pony. Also, in the second, the crossbow seems relatively heavily detailed in comparison to most of the rest of the picture; you might consider scaling it back a bit to keep the simpler, elegant feel of the body styles.

Originally Posted by ealdhain

Hi guys! I hope to be as active on this thread as I can be. I have plenty of pony sketches but little time to actually get online. With the few minutes I have today, I thought I'd just take the last picture posted and make some comments! Sooo...

Good to have you with us! Don't feel too pressured to post, but whenever you've got time, we'll be around to see if we can help.

[ealdhain]

Umm..here's my first sketch. I had to use a reference picture and trace a bit. I've never drawn body proportions like these, and I'm not a great artist. All comments welcomed and encouraged!

Spoiler

[Bakuel]

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

I really like this! My only nit-pick is that the head on Applejack seems a little too large. As SiuiS pointed out to me and I've measured now for myself, it seems that the body should be about a head-height off the ground, and the belly is typically located about 3/4 or so of a head down from, well, the head itself.

Thanks for the compliment!
I'll keep those proportions in mind for next time, the picture I did today I fear some of their legs may be a bit too long.

Originally Posted by Thanqol

On the contrary, I think Applebloom looks very well proportioned here. The lineart to this picture is solid, only tweak I have is Applejack's nose, which doesn't look quite right

Thanks! I tried to pay more attention to the profile noses today. Don't know if it made a difference or not.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

[color="darkgreen"]
If it makes you feel better, so far only Thanqol is the only bloke who takes his sketches all the way through post production. I've resigned myself to being a doodler rather than an 'artist' because really neat but still dirty sketch is as far as I can take a piece of work.

The sad part is, I really want to create colored pictures. I often look at art of other artists and old master painters and think, "Wow, I wish I could use color like that!". But whenever I get ready to color one of my own it always turns out worse and I end up preferring the monotone doodle.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

[color="darkgreen"]
Fabulous! I like the look on profile-Odysseus' face. Seems you're having some trouble with portrait-Odysseus though; he lacks the detail of profile or 3/4 profile version.

Still... Really cool.

Thank you for the kind words! I'm still playing with how much or how less abstraction to go with. On the portrait view I begin to fall back on old habits.

Originally Posted by Dispozition

I would say the problem is less her neck being too long, and more her legs being far too short. But otherwise a very nice picture (:

Looking back at Applejack's legs, I think your right. Today I think I made them too long though.

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

I've also got a problem with coloring. Most of the time, I prefer to leave sketches as sketches, because more often than not my coloring will break something in the design.

But, a well-drawn colored piece will always look better than a sketch, so that's incentive to improve. :)

I can relate with that, my bad coloring ruins a otherwise fine drawing. But I guess I'll have to put up with it too improve.

Originally Posted by Sean Mirrsen

As for me, I'm now trying to do illustrations to that ill-fated fanfic project I mentioned. I'm no longer sure it'll get off the ground at all, but as long as it keeps giving me something unusual to draw, all is fine.

RD and one of the OC dwarves in flight:
*sinp*
AJ learning of the profession of another OC dwarf, and the definition of "antipersonnel weapon":
*snip*

These are both sketches-in-progress, so if you have any advice to give, I'll gladly hear it.

These are beautiful! The backgrounds are wonderful, especially in the first picture. How long does it take you to draw each picture?

Originally Posted by ealdhain

Umm..here's my first sketch. I had to use a reference picture and trace a bit. I've never drawn body proportions like these, and I'm not a great artist. All comments welcomed and encouraged!
*snip*

It looks pretty good!
You shouldn't feel bad for using a reference picture, and tracing is fine for practice. The two major things that I see are the edge of the wings (but wings are hard), and Fluttershy's hair on the top of her head seems a bit flat when it should curve and be abit more poofy if that makes since.


Here is another picture today,

Spoiler

Here is Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh and Applejack. Working on the proportions of different body sizes.
For Applejack I imagined that Big Macintosh was reminding her of the time she tried to finish harvest alone. I wanted to give her expression between a sheepish apologetic smile and a grimace, like she was remembering a horrible memory. I don't know if I succeeded or not, but there it is.
The sketch is a bit more dirty then usual as I was pressed for time.



I can't help but think Big Mac should be bigger. And Applebloom's head seems a bit too big. And the less said about her bow the better.

[ealdhain]

Thanks for the feedback! I agree with Fluttershy's hair needing a bit of extra "poof." As for the wings, that's the best of my ability at the moment. That's going to be the major thing I work on. =)

I can't help but think Big Mac should be bigger. And Applebloom's head seems a bit too big. And the less said about her bow the better.[/spoiler]

Ooh, I like your sketchy style. I agree that Big Mac should be a good bit bigger. As for Applebloom, the bow is fine, in my opinion. It looks good. =) I think her head should be smaller and...the eye a bit more oval? Her eyes are very round in the show, a sign of youth, but I think it needs just a tiny bit of elongation or heavier eyelashes.

I also second the call for improvement to color. If I even so much as ink in one of my sketches, it turns very flat and loses so much depth. The search for a color expert begins!

[Dispozition]

Originally Posted by Bakuel

Here is another picture today,

Spoiler

Here is Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh and Applejack. Working on the proportions of different body sizes.
For Applejack I imagined that Big Macintosh was reminding her of the time she tried to finish harvest alone. I wanted to give her expression between a sheepish apologetic smile and a grimace, like she was remembering a horrible memory. I don't know if I succeeded or not, but there it is.
The sketch is a bit more dirty then usual as I was pressed for time.



I can't help but think Big Mac should be bigger. And Applebloom's head seems a bit too big. And the less said about her bow the better.

I think AJ is looking pretty damn good in this. Legs are just about right. Maybe just compare it to a few show screenshots to see how you did.

I think Big Mac could do to be taller, again with the legs :P
And I think Applebloom is...Hmm..I think her body is too long? I can't quite place it. I'd say compare it to a few screenshots again. But you're right in thinking something is off.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Originally Posted by ealdhain

Wow! These were both so good. I love your style, it looks like you've been doing this for quite some time. It's all so clean looking, and your attention to detail really shines. I'm very envious of anyone who can draw feathered wings well, and you did a great job. I think a next step to take this further would be color, or even more simple, some shading. Have you tried that on your drawings yet? I bet it would look great!

Thanks, and yes, I do do shading, even in pencil. I even do coloring and lighting, but I'm not very good at it.

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

My only suggestions are that in the first picture, the dwarf pony's rear leg looks a bit odd; it may just be the pose but the joint seems to bend strangely, even for a pony.

Yeah, those rear legs I've been reworking more than the rest of the picture. Still couldn't get them right, evidently.

Originally Posted by the_druid_droid

Also, in the second, the crossbow seems relatively heavily detailed in comparison to most of the rest of the picture; you might consider scaling it back a bit to keep the simpler, elegant feel of the body styles.

It's detailed largely because I kept adding details to it. :) So it's a little overdone. It'll look cleaner in the final version. Other than that, it's still a crossbow. It's supposed to look a little out-of-place in the Ponyverse.

Originally Posted by Bakuel

These are beautiful! The backgrounds are wonderful, especially in the first picture. How long does it take you to draw each picture?

Well, these two were done over the course of the work day, roughly midday to eight PM, so - eight hours, on and off, for both of these, including largely redoing the first one at least once. I'm in no rush. :)

[the_druid_droid]

Well, finally finished my collection of the mane 6. This time up, it's Fluttershy!

Spoiler

Based on:

Spoiler

Thoughts: I think there are some successes and failures here. On the one hand, I think I finally did better about drawing the hooves curvy enough and they're starting to get large enough to balance with the size of the rest of the composition. On the downside, I think I drew her a little too long, which threw off some other proportions, and there are spots in her mane I really don't like. Also, the eyebrows need to arch more.

Fluttershy's mane is surprisingly hard; it's just a bunch of smooth lines and curves and it's hard to find reference points to tie them all together. I honestly found it harder to manage than Rarity's...