Post by Sunshine Swirl on Oct 29, 2014 8:10:02 GMT
Hi. I'm practicing drawing ponies, settings and props in My Little Pony style. I'm still have a lot to learn, but I'll share what I know here.
Every piece of art here is drawn by me, not "clipped", "scanned" or "copied and pasted" from screenshots. My OC's are drawn with pencil and paper then inked using Inkscape.
Here's my latest picture for the board:
This is the Usra Manor Restaurant and Inn, a made-up location on Observatory Hill (also made-up) in Canterlot. The background and props were sketched on paper, scanned and inked in Inkscape. Three of the ponies are my design, sketched by hand, and also inked in Inkscape. The fourth pony (Storm Scout, tan pegasus stallion) was sketched based on Storm Scout's old avatar which I think he designed himself. I tried to keep true to his original design. His cutie mark was something we exchanged messages on until I got it close to what he imagined.
The background itself has two major parts. The actual room with table etc, and the view out the window. The view out the window is actually much more complex than the room itself!
I used a lot of shadows, blur effects, and gradients on this. I wanted to give it a kind of 2D - 3D feeling, like a paper shadow box. I also wanted the feeling that this was on a mountainside in Canterlot to come through. So, the view out the window was important. Originally in my sketch the window was a half-circle, but I expanded it as I worked on the background. I wanted Ursa Major to be visible in the sky, a mountain and waterfall, and an observatory and tower. That was a lot to fit in.
So basically I drew the sky using a purple to pink gradient and yellow stars. I drew the observatory which was really complicated with the railing, lens reflections, etc. (I'm involved with real observatories on Mauna Kea, so this part was fun.) The hillside was very basic, just a water fall with some highlights, a few trees and shrubs. Finally, I wanted a tower - I modeled my tower on the one that Rarity stayed in when visiting Canterlot in Sweet and Elite. It's not quite the same, but pretty close. I thought people might recognize the style of both buildings even though they don't actually appear in the show.
What do you think?
This is "Gold Brick". He's an over-the-top villain type NPC and captain of the Black Airship. I think he was the fastest pony I've done from sketch to final inking. He turned out kind of okay. I probably could have spent more time on a more interesting pose. His muzzle is not quite the way I want it -- I might go back and fix it, or maybe just change it a bit next time I draw him. I like the way his mane turned out. (I really like his mane!)
He's on the deck of "The Manticore" airship which is drawn somewhere below if you scroll a bit. I gave him a notched ear, scar, and eyepatch. The eyepatch is fake though, he just wears it for effect, sometimes it's over the other eye... The fang is an interesting thing. In real horses, some stallions (rarely) will actually get incisors kind of like humans. Not quite as big as Gold Brick though.
Meet Ink Well. He's my husband's OC. He's a Science Fiction and Fantasy author in real life, and his OC is an "Adventure Book" author. I haven't actually drawn him very much, so I'm still working on his design. His hair is generally a bit messier. I'm not totally happy with the tail either. The feather quill and inkwell for his cutie mark were actually much simpler to draw than I originally imagined. He shares some of the same basic shape as my earlier sketch of Storm Scout, as they were basically in the same pose for the restaurant picture I was working on at the time. If he ever joins the board, I'll do more pictures, otherwise, I'll stick with pictures of people I'm role-playing with.
I've been drawing supporting characters for elaborate role-play adventure threads. I started this one in the morning as a quick sketch, pencil on paper. Basically, it's a big circle (head) and two smaller circles (chest & hips) on a flat line. I drew one back leg and one front leg in the sketch. I sketched the mane and tail, trying three or four different looks.
After I inked the basic outlines (above) I duplicated the back leg, rotated it a bit, and painted it slightly darker. I also duplicated the front leg, rotating it a bit more. The general body looked pretty good. Sometimes my ponies end up fat looking, but this mare is a very trim long distance flyer. I hadn't sketched her wings, but show-style pegasus wings are easy, they're just three feathers on the inside, four on the out. I wanted to make her a bit unique so I made the first wing feather longer than the second. Normally the outer feathers are arranged like four fingers on a human hand. Again, it was easy in Inkscape to duplicate the wing, rotate it, and shade it for the other side.
Here's how she turned out when I was finished:
Originally she was going to be blonde, but I decided the magenta/pink was a much better match for her cutie mark. (A thistle) Her name is "Thistledown" and she is a Tsundere type character. (Prickly on the outside, but soft and fuzzy once you get to know her -- just like her cutie mark.)
Thistle seeds have white fluffy down and travel very long distances floating on air currents. So Thistledown (the name and cutie mark) have double meanings for this Tsundere long-distance flyer.
I'm happy with the way she turned out.
This picture was done for the Grand Adventure to the Griffin Kingdom role-play thread. I was aiming for a more aggressive looking airship and so I sketched something up on paper, inspired by WWII Flying Tigers airplanes I gave it sharp teeth. I was thinking of doing a black flag, but instead thought a shark-fin might be better. The eye is "evil green" and I drew the brows to suggest anger. This balloon has a lower profile than the standard Canterlot Yacht type airship. I reused the fins I made for the Yacht-type gondola but ended up redrawing the gondola itself free-hand in Inkscape. The version I sketched on paper was too messy.
I'm working on other props, characters and settings for the Griffin Kingdom role-play and will post more here as they're done.
The show-like font is called "Equestria" from Pixel Sagas Freeware Fonts. I like the way it looks.
This is another character prop. I enjoy doing hats - but sometimes they are complex. This hat actually has several layers to it - it needs to cover ears and part of a unicorn horn via a cut-out. It also needed to wrap around behind the head and mane.
This hat has a space for the cutie mark of the professor wearing it. Sunshine Swirl's cutie mark is shown. I will use slightly different color palette and swap stars for other elements depending on which professor is wearing the mage hat.
I made this background for the Magic School Recruiting RP Thread.
Click through to the thread to see the finished piece. I kind of rushed through the town hall. I should probably go back and spend a bit more time on the windows. Unlike a typical background vector - I ended up using 4 different references to make this. I went through several episodes, and there were no shots of the stage/podium and the town hall. I wanted them both together, so I took some time and recreated the Ponyville town hall first. Then I put together a podium.
The podium that Mayor Mare uses has kind of a faux wood-grain. I have no idea how they made it. I tried to recreate it using 3 overlapping light beige strips of "wood" and basically making my own. I think it worked out okay. I used a lot of layers in this background as I wanted to be able to insert people's OC's in at different areas.
That one was for Waxwork's Looking For Trade RP. I did the two ponies last week (although I redid Sunshine Swirl's body a bit for this -- she was mad at me for making her look fat...) The background was the very first MLP background I ever tried. It's a bit simple looking. I'll work harder next time! The Airship was the hardest part and took a whole afternoon. Ugh. So complicated. I didn't do as many gradients in the airship as the real MLP airship has. I hope you can still recognize it. It has almost 900 elements in it.
PS, the amount of time I spent vectoring the airship got me in trouble.
Here is a tiny piece I did one afternoon for an RP thread I started called The Haunting of the Bell, Book & Candle Shop [Open] Please join the Role Play if you want!
I use inkscape to do a vector of the image. The original is 3000 x 3000 as a scalable vector file. I convert it to bitmap and scale it to 600 pixels wide for the forum.
I generally don't create art in the computer. I sketch it in a paper sketchbook, then scan. I use the scanned image as a background and vector over top. Sometimes I make some changes or move things around. I had a lot of issues with Esmeralda's hoof and tried a few different arrangements. My solution is to never use this pose again! LOL
Here's what the pencil sketch looked like. I do these quickly, and don't bother erasing much, so it's a bit sloppy. ^_^;;
Sunshine Swirl and her friend Esmeralda put on their fancy hats and visited Rainbow Falls in Waxwork's Looking For Trade RP. Yow, Sunshine looks chubby there...
The swan hat is my favorite in the show. I've drawn it a dozen times. My swan is a little happier than the one in the show though. Esmeralda is wearing a hat kind of inspired by a hat I saw in Sweet and Elite. I just kind of winged it. It probably could use another pass. The feather turned out nicely though. This one is a composite of two vectors, so no sketch behind it.
I have never really done MLP style backgrounds - so I decided to try one today. This is Rainbow Falls with my characters again for Waxwork's Looking For Trade RP. The background turned out okay - although it's probably a little simpler than the background for the actual show. Sunshine Swirl is a little less pudgy. I changed Esmeralda's feather to pink, so it wouldn't conflict with Sunshine's swan hat as much.
Here's a quick sketch I did of Sunshine Swirl for her OC Application. It didn't turn out as nice as I wanted. She is a little fat. All of my ponies tend to be a bit chubby.
And the Inkscape version of the sketch looks like this: I didn't change much. Probably should have fixed her front right leg or taken her tummy up a bit.
If you're a ~real~ artist (unlike me!) please I'd love to hear tips on how to improve my art.
Thank you!
Every piece of art here is drawn by me, not "clipped", "scanned" or "copied and pasted" from screenshots. My OC's are drawn with pencil and paper then inked using Inkscape.
Here's my latest picture for the board:
This is the Usra Manor Restaurant and Inn, a made-up location on Observatory Hill (also made-up) in Canterlot. The background and props were sketched on paper, scanned and inked in Inkscape. Three of the ponies are my design, sketched by hand, and also inked in Inkscape. The fourth pony (Storm Scout, tan pegasus stallion) was sketched based on Storm Scout's old avatar which I think he designed himself. I tried to keep true to his original design. His cutie mark was something we exchanged messages on until I got it close to what he imagined.
The background itself has two major parts. The actual room with table etc, and the view out the window. The view out the window is actually much more complex than the room itself!
I used a lot of shadows, blur effects, and gradients on this. I wanted to give it a kind of 2D - 3D feeling, like a paper shadow box. I also wanted the feeling that this was on a mountainside in Canterlot to come through. So, the view out the window was important. Originally in my sketch the window was a half-circle, but I expanded it as I worked on the background. I wanted Ursa Major to be visible in the sky, a mountain and waterfall, and an observatory and tower. That was a lot to fit in.
So basically I drew the sky using a purple to pink gradient and yellow stars. I drew the observatory which was really complicated with the railing, lens reflections, etc. (I'm involved with real observatories on Mauna Kea, so this part was fun.) The hillside was very basic, just a water fall with some highlights, a few trees and shrubs. Finally, I wanted a tower - I modeled my tower on the one that Rarity stayed in when visiting Canterlot in Sweet and Elite. It's not quite the same, but pretty close. I thought people might recognize the style of both buildings even though they don't actually appear in the show.
What do you think?
This is "Gold Brick". He's an over-the-top villain type NPC and captain of the Black Airship. I think he was the fastest pony I've done from sketch to final inking. He turned out kind of okay. I probably could have spent more time on a more interesting pose. His muzzle is not quite the way I want it -- I might go back and fix it, or maybe just change it a bit next time I draw him. I like the way his mane turned out. (I really like his mane!)
He's on the deck of "The Manticore" airship which is drawn somewhere below if you scroll a bit. I gave him a notched ear, scar, and eyepatch. The eyepatch is fake though, he just wears it for effect, sometimes it's over the other eye... The fang is an interesting thing. In real horses, some stallions (rarely) will actually get incisors kind of like humans. Not quite as big as Gold Brick though.
Meet Ink Well. He's my husband's OC. He's a Science Fiction and Fantasy author in real life, and his OC is an "Adventure Book" author. I haven't actually drawn him very much, so I'm still working on his design. His hair is generally a bit messier. I'm not totally happy with the tail either. The feather quill and inkwell for his cutie mark were actually much simpler to draw than I originally imagined. He shares some of the same basic shape as my earlier sketch of Storm Scout, as they were basically in the same pose for the restaurant picture I was working on at the time. If he ever joins the board, I'll do more pictures, otherwise, I'll stick with pictures of people I'm role-playing with.
I've been drawing supporting characters for elaborate role-play adventure threads. I started this one in the morning as a quick sketch, pencil on paper. Basically, it's a big circle (head) and two smaller circles (chest & hips) on a flat line. I drew one back leg and one front leg in the sketch. I sketched the mane and tail, trying three or four different looks.
After I inked the basic outlines (above) I duplicated the back leg, rotated it a bit, and painted it slightly darker. I also duplicated the front leg, rotating it a bit more. The general body looked pretty good. Sometimes my ponies end up fat looking, but this mare is a very trim long distance flyer. I hadn't sketched her wings, but show-style pegasus wings are easy, they're just three feathers on the inside, four on the out. I wanted to make her a bit unique so I made the first wing feather longer than the second. Normally the outer feathers are arranged like four fingers on a human hand. Again, it was easy in Inkscape to duplicate the wing, rotate it, and shade it for the other side.
Here's how she turned out when I was finished:
Originally she was going to be blonde, but I decided the magenta/pink was a much better match for her cutie mark. (A thistle) Her name is "Thistledown" and she is a Tsundere type character. (Prickly on the outside, but soft and fuzzy once you get to know her -- just like her cutie mark.)
Thistle seeds have white fluffy down and travel very long distances floating on air currents. So Thistledown (the name and cutie mark) have double meanings for this Tsundere long-distance flyer.
I'm happy with the way she turned out.
This picture was done for the Grand Adventure to the Griffin Kingdom role-play thread. I was aiming for a more aggressive looking airship and so I sketched something up on paper, inspired by WWII Flying Tigers airplanes I gave it sharp teeth. I was thinking of doing a black flag, but instead thought a shark-fin might be better. The eye is "evil green" and I drew the brows to suggest anger. This balloon has a lower profile than the standard Canterlot Yacht type airship. I reused the fins I made for the Yacht-type gondola but ended up redrawing the gondola itself free-hand in Inkscape. The version I sketched on paper was too messy.
I'm working on other props, characters and settings for the Griffin Kingdom role-play and will post more here as they're done.
The show-like font is called "Equestria" from Pixel Sagas Freeware Fonts. I like the way it looks.
This is another character prop. I enjoy doing hats - but sometimes they are complex. This hat actually has several layers to it - it needs to cover ears and part of a unicorn horn via a cut-out. It also needed to wrap around behind the head and mane.
This hat has a space for the cutie mark of the professor wearing it. Sunshine Swirl's cutie mark is shown. I will use slightly different color palette and swap stars for other elements depending on which professor is wearing the mage hat.
I made this background for the Magic School Recruiting RP Thread.
Click through to the thread to see the finished piece. I kind of rushed through the town hall. I should probably go back and spend a bit more time on the windows. Unlike a typical background vector - I ended up using 4 different references to make this. I went through several episodes, and there were no shots of the stage/podium and the town hall. I wanted them both together, so I took some time and recreated the Ponyville town hall first. Then I put together a podium.
The podium that Mayor Mare uses has kind of a faux wood-grain. I have no idea how they made it. I tried to recreate it using 3 overlapping light beige strips of "wood" and basically making my own. I think it worked out okay. I used a lot of layers in this background as I wanted to be able to insert people's OC's in at different areas.
That one was for Waxwork's Looking For Trade RP. I did the two ponies last week (although I redid Sunshine Swirl's body a bit for this -- she was mad at me for making her look fat...) The background was the very first MLP background I ever tried. It's a bit simple looking. I'll work harder next time! The Airship was the hardest part and took a whole afternoon. Ugh. So complicated. I didn't do as many gradients in the airship as the real MLP airship has. I hope you can still recognize it. It has almost 900 elements in it.
PS, the amount of time I spent vectoring the airship got me in trouble.
Here is a tiny piece I did one afternoon for an RP thread I started called The Haunting of the Bell, Book & Candle Shop [Open] Please join the Role Play if you want!
I use inkscape to do a vector of the image. The original is 3000 x 3000 as a scalable vector file. I convert it to bitmap and scale it to 600 pixels wide for the forum.
I generally don't create art in the computer. I sketch it in a paper sketchbook, then scan. I use the scanned image as a background and vector over top. Sometimes I make some changes or move things around. I had a lot of issues with Esmeralda's hoof and tried a few different arrangements. My solution is to never use this pose again! LOL
Here's what the pencil sketch looked like. I do these quickly, and don't bother erasing much, so it's a bit sloppy. ^_^;;
Sunshine Swirl and her friend Esmeralda put on their fancy hats and visited Rainbow Falls in Waxwork's Looking For Trade RP. Yow, Sunshine looks chubby there...
The swan hat is my favorite in the show. I've drawn it a dozen times. My swan is a little happier than the one in the show though. Esmeralda is wearing a hat kind of inspired by a hat I saw in Sweet and Elite. I just kind of winged it. It probably could use another pass. The feather turned out nicely though. This one is a composite of two vectors, so no sketch behind it.
I have never really done MLP style backgrounds - so I decided to try one today. This is Rainbow Falls with my characters again for Waxwork's Looking For Trade RP. The background turned out okay - although it's probably a little simpler than the background for the actual show. Sunshine Swirl is a little less pudgy. I changed Esmeralda's feather to pink, so it wouldn't conflict with Sunshine's swan hat as much.
Here's a quick sketch I did of Sunshine Swirl for her OC Application. It didn't turn out as nice as I wanted. She is a little fat. All of my ponies tend to be a bit chubby.
And the Inkscape version of the sketch looks like this: I didn't change much. Probably should have fixed her front right leg or taken her tummy up a bit.
If you're a ~real~ artist (unlike me!) please I'd love to hear tips on how to improve my art.
Thank you!
i was kinda excited to feel like im back in 2015