Aspiring Artist: My Little Pony Drawings

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The Best Night EVER! Or rather entire day and then some. Everypony who is anypony will easily remember this day as the single greatest brony accomplishment in the history of TL. Up until this point, I had seen endless art and read hundreds of thousands of words worth of Ponism. By the time the mare-athon started, I was already itching to create and produce for the community, but I was not willing to make the time commitment. I had too many other things to worry about and I didn't want to fall into trap. Two things, however, changed my mind: the first being the extreme enthusiasm shown by the TLBrony community and, second, Gary Muther Fucking Oak. To explain the latter, I was one of the first (or at least I like to think I was) to be a reader for Gary Oak's fanfic. Reading his work and watching him progress through a story that HE himself made with his own hooves thoroughly amazed me. And the process of editing and trying to be creative in order to critique or add to his story gave me a small taste of pony creation. Soon after, I wanted so bad to contribute my own art. It would be right after the Mare-athon that I decided I needed to jump in now or never. After the show was over, I stayed up with Gary, Kly, Kunst (i think) and Frek, along with a number of others who were hanging out and asked for requests. With hardly any drawing knowledge prior to, I jumped right into it.

As is the case with any art or artist, the first step is always going to be IMITATION. The source of my imitation? Ponychan art tutorial.


Ponychan Tutorial

This image would and continues to act as one of my largest used references for drawing ponies. I could not have hoped for a better, more simplistic yet informative tutorial. Sure there are some points not elaborated on, but it was nothing I could not figure out with patience and work.

Still, despite having this excellent reference, my drawings were nothing short of pathetic. I did not properly follow the guide and drew entirely by sense of where I thought things should stand. If I were a more impulsive man, I would have burned all those images already.

And if you believe you are seeing a Nazi Fluttershy, you are correct. This was the first request I recieved on IRC. Thanks Kly .

Also, another funny fact. The ONLY Rarity I have drawn to date is on this day. Kerrigan Rarity on the second page. I avoid her like the plague because I don't want to try drawing her hair. I should probably stop being lazy and get to it.

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Day[9] continues his descent into madness. Behind the eyes of Daniel and with the companionship of Manfred, he will solve the puzzle known as Amnesia.

On the second day, I noticed that I all the images I had drawn they day before were extremely small. No doubt a result of my fear of making errors. The smaller the images, the harder to see mistakes. The problem naturally following, is that no one would be able to see the details either.

Once again, I have GaryOak to thank for forcing me GET BIG. He requested a picture for his fanfic. Not wishing to dissappoint, I felt the responsibility to make a larger image. This forced me to draw correctly and to follow the tutorial the day before very carefully. Although 20 days later I am not impressed at all at what I had drawn, I'm glad to know that it was a brave step into the cold, unforgiving world.

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I think I had a German paper or something like that to finish this day.

Two points:

Frek = Octaviaphile
Drawing Ponies = FFFFFFUUUUUUUU

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This was a big day for me. Once again, it began once again with my beautiful and magnificant muse, GaryOak. He asked me to draw again, and once again, I did not wish to dissappoint.

And yet again, more issues. The proportions were all off! The head was much too large and the legs way too short. I drew a few more requests, but eventually I just found that my images were monstrosities with overbearing heads stationed upon fragile, emaciated bodies. I needed to remedy this quick, and I did so by refering yet again to the tutorial page from Ponychan. For the next 5 hours or so, I did nothing but sketch bodies and poses with one thing in mind - proportions.

Even more important, I learned the need to practice and improve by repition. It was fun drawing requests for people on IRC, but simply put, there was no way I could produce enough bodies for my needs to improve. I sacrificed momentary quality for quantity, and the payouts were HUGE.

Also on this day, I began to crudely copies from images from the show. At first, I felt cheap for doing so. I later found it was helpful for self instructing. There's much to learn from imitation, which is why it is very useful for the new artist.

Regarding the Twilight on page 4. I need to headshot that bitch. Picture looks hopeless.

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This day was not particurally special. I was merely trying out the techniques that I had been working on the day before. With proper proportions, copying images became infinitely easier and better (look at those two twilights! Almost perfect if I may say). At the same time though, I began noticing massive failures in detail work in my own work, in which I was working without references. Sure the head to body ratios were correct, but eye size, leg directions, hair placement and a huge slew of things were just... off.

Still, I was happy to see considerable improvement.

By the way. Take note of the two Octavias (which was yet again requested by Frek). The two images were basically the same. One which I did at the start of the day (the one on top), and the other I did at the end of the day. I spent much of the day thinking about the face and perspective. I was frustrated to find that my old image was so poorly done that I completely redid it. Looking back, I know I stopped worrying about perspectives thereafter and I am happy to say, I am not that happy with either image anymore.

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Same thing this day as the day before. I honestly thought I was hot shit or something working here. Unfortunately, pride can be a negative thing. My strokes got lazy and I thought that I could simly sketch like the pros. However, it would not be for another week and a half until I would discover the effect I was searching for when doing simple sketches. For now, everything is just a huge jumble of new poses and faces I wanted to draw. Apart from the images I copied from the actual show, there is a general lack of consistancy, but what did I care, I thought I was... "hot shit".

This complacency actually stood for a long time and would stick with me for a week or so. I will say though, despite looking back and not liking much of my old stuff, I am still a fan of that Scoots bungiejumping. Maybe I'll have to try and redraw it at some point.

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Silly of me, to think I was ready to take on 40k. I was wholly inspired by the artist Sanity-X, who does a lot of 40k cross Pony images. This one in specific set me on course to try doing some of my own:


Sanity-X Pony40k Images

For the rest of the day, I just drew whatever I wanted. Yet again with a very complacent, settled mindest. This day was fun while it lasted, but now I think I could have done much better had I thought to try and improve.

Also, since everyone was playing Skyrim, I figured I'd give it a go (drawing wise). I learned here that standing poses were not easy :-p. I still have not learned the proportionals correctly as of today. However, this should now simply be a matter of figuring it out and practicing.

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Comic Day! It can be found in the main thread here:

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=253634&currentpage=258

This was designed to test my ability to draw. I didn't like how it looked after I scanned it, but w/e's. Learning is full of failures and you get better as a result.

Moving on...

SECOND PAGE, TOP RIGHT! Look at that Fluttershy! IT'S PERFECT.

That's what I was chanting to everyone on IRC. I don't know how much they actually cared, but I am still so proud of that image now. It was, by far, the closest I had gotten to "show perfect" without copying. Sure they eyes are a bit small, but I thought I had made it to the next level!

This was, however, NOT THE CASE. In fact, I had discovered that I was, in actuality, well short of the next phase. That picture was perfect! Why then were the rest that I drew that day being so frustrating and wrong. I had left the boring old complacency and had a new goal. Correcting the face!

Also Zephirdd kept asking for filly Twilight. I had actually drawn filly Fluttershy and Filly PinkiePie for him on Day 2, but since I never completed Twilight in that picture, I just never posted it. So instead I joked in IRC that I did not do fillies, because I was not a pedophile. Likewise in response, I drew that image in the bottom left of a filly twilight. It's fun toying around with drawing :D.

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ZU VIEL ZU TUN! Couldn't draw this day, no doubt because of German related ass beatings T.T. Two German classes in one semester can really get to you...

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Expressions are very important, and I really needed to learn them. I soon became very anal about eye position, mouth position and all that jazz. Fortunately, around this time. Aranarth directed me to an image linked on EqD.


Veggie's 25 Quintessential Expressions for Adult Scoots

I started working with a couple, but by the time I recieved these, it was very late and I had class the next day. I retired for the night.

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As should be very obvious, I just started copying all the images from Veggie's work. This was very important for me. As I mentioned, imitation is very important for a learning student! For one thing, I learned 25 expressions from which I can pull from at any point! This is the only way that my characters will truly come to life! Likewise, with so many repitions I got so much practice drawing pony faces. To this day, I am 100 percent more confident drawing the 3/4's view over the front or side views. Thanks Ms. Chicken!

Also, to get a scope of how much time/effort this took, I drew for something like 5 hours the first day in order to produce 42 images. I had to wait until the next day to finish the last 8, simply because I was simply exhausted from having drawn so many faces.

The pay off was enormous though. Worth it.

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GaryOak wins the prize! Best essay writer! Must be all the fanfic writing he does. Clopfics really do require clear and concise writing .

This day is dominated by nothing but 3/4 views of ponies. I had just practiced it for 5-6 hours straight, why not make use of it? I stretched my arms out a bit and said "I'M GONNA HAVE FUN TONIGHT". And thusly, I did.

Oh look, there's the Trixie image and description in response to Gary's post! The one where won and posted this video:



Admittingly, I was a bit sour. Not because Gary won, but because I got no small mention for my little joke image .



Still, it was meant to be done in good humor, and in good humor I shall remain! Cane wanted a serious competition, and I shouldn't have had any expectations if I was just going to throw jests around. No cups of sour, just flowers . Also, I will always tease Gary for being Gary keke.

An important discovery I did make, was that after having drawn SO many pony faces, I had more or less realized I could not make their bodies again. I don't think I had lost anything, but with the faces looking so reeeeegal (like rarity), I wanted to be more defined with their bodies. The junk I had drawn in the past days simply would not have done the trick!

Also, I started to shade at this point. I follow the same patterns with every shade I do, which is to darken the left side of every line. This is probably wrong, but until I learn proper shading and lighting, I'll stick with this. I believe this small addition adds a lot of depth to the image, especially since I'm lacking color.

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I began the day practicing more heads, as I was yet again so proud of my improvemnts. Started shading a lot as well, getting used to the systematic approach I had developed the night before.

On the next page, I began drawing body poses. Like with the faces, I wanted to take a bunch of poses and simply practice them til I had perfected them. However, I noticed a small issue. I was restricted to a very 2-dimensional view. I didn't know how to rotate the bodies! At the time I thought I just needed to be exposed to more body positions, but later, I would find that proper sketching (which I mentioned before in Day 6) was the true answer. I would still not discover this for a few days. More proof that I desperately needed proper sketching is the image of octavia. I really screwed up the head to body proportion, because of one reason - I had drawn the two almost seperately and attached them at the neck. I had grown so accustomed to doing one without the other that I had forgotten how the two fit together. More mistakes, more room for improvement.

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MLP Providence!!!!! Nothing beats drawing ponies to SC2 streams!

This day, I returned to quanity over quality. The objective was to concentrate of body positions, quick expressions, and just ability to hash out ponies in short periods of time. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with this. What I do have a problem with, however, was my methodology. The two major errors in my methodology can be placed into two points:

• Line Strokes
  
• Layers
  

Line Strokes

Up until this point, in nearly every image that I have drawn, I am guilty of a major offense. I have a tendency to hash out my lines. I don't know why, but I had always thought that artists function by means of producing haphazard strokes until the image appeared correct. You can tell this by the general thickness of my lines. Everytime I make an unplanned stroke, it is bound to be incorrect. Instead of erasing it (which would be too tedious), I simply add more and more lines until it becomes so thick that it simply encompasses the area I'm working in and, by chance of repition and minor corrections, follows a contour that I find to be correct. This simply tells me that I do not have the image in my mind properly planned out and I know this to be true (I was there... it was me). I either had no plan as to what I wanted to draw OR I was afraid that I was incapable of creating the image I was imagining. In order to compensate, I didn't think and was not deliberate. Instead, I hashed out lines and reacted as neccesary to the images that I was seeing.

Layers

I was not working with enough layers. Similar to the line strokes, I must have been too afraid to create a plan ahead of time. So instead, I used two measly layers to sketch my drawings. The frame circles... and then the rest. Basically, I'm hoping that I can simply hash out lines in order to get my character in the right position, rather than preplanning where a limb will sit or how the tail with lay.

Ultimately, these two problems are rooted in the same origin. I was either too lazy or too afraid to plan out what I was doing. Eventually, I would correct these two (or at least I think I did), but I would correct one on one day, and the other on another. When those days come, I'll dive deeper into what I should not have done and what I should have been doing. Until then though, I would not be able to produce any art from different perspectives unless I had a reference to work from. A major restriction if you ask me.

Still, at the end of the day. I produced two images that I consider to be the pinnicle of my self taught days. The AJ and Fluttershy on the second to last page. However, I could only make these two so well out of so much repition. I had literally drawn the same faces and body poses so many times that I could draw them without much difficulty. This, however, does not mean I am capable of drawing more poses and other ponies. I can't practice every pose, position and character 100 times in order to draw them semi well. It's just not practical.

Soon after, I met Saurabhinator, who is now (I consider) my biggest mentor. The RBD to my Scoots <3. One this day, he would, for one, correct a superficial error that I had been making - proportions again T.T - and more importantly, he provided fundamental exercises for me to work on. This one was the first he sent me, and it has since taught me that boxes are fucking hard to draw.


Moatddtutorials'boxes from hell

From this point though, I began to back away from drawing ponies exclusively in order to learn fundamentals, which is ultimately the step I need to take to become better artist (pony artist inclusive).





+ Show Spoiler +

+ Show Spoiler +

Otherwise, this day, I literally did nothing but draw boxes. But on the very next day, I had already begun seeing the benefits. The video Saurabhinator had sent me was extremely informative and provided more than I could have imagined. I plan on watching it again sometime soon in order to help refresh me that which I have lost since.

What do boxes mean though? It means being to see and place objects in a space from a single perspective. How far they are, how they are oriented, which sides I can see, etc. And although I am not entirely certain the boxes I have drawn are correct (in fact, I see many instances of errors, even if I don't know exactly what is wrong with them), the drill still forces my mind to think in terms of three dimensional space, rather than sitting in a 2-d world like a dunce.

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Here I put what I learned in Day 16 to the test! That morning I had actually sat through an hour of class and had done nothing but draw more boxes. This won't be posted, since that was in another notebook.

When I got back to my room later that day though, I started playing with boxes and different perspectives and I was mildly successful. Generally, the simpler I went, the more likely I was to get the perspective correct. However, I was still having difficulty imagining how the objects stoood in space (and I still do). This will ultimately be a huge test of my artistic ability and I hope to work on this point a lot in the coming days.

However, I need to note once again the failures of my sketching ability. The same issues of Line Strokes and Layers restrict my ability to work and think. If you notice, working in perspectives is a very hard thing to do. However, because my lines and drawings are so poorly preplanned, I end up producing images with thick lines and scratches covering the entire surface of the paper. It's impossible to work this way and I found that any errors I had made were simply unfixable in the see of graphite.

However, have no fear my fellow TLBronies! For the solutions will come in the following two days!

Also, last page is a comic I was thinking of doing. However, my need to work on fundamentals and lack of willingness to work on a project at the time has stopped me from making the comic. Perhaps in the future I wish make it for you guys.

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I started the day off by watching more videos from the guy who made the boxes video, and I came upon this gem:


Moatddtutorials' wow that was brilliant yet oddly should've been fucking obvious video

The concept is extremely simply. How to draw a line. You draw two points, and then you do strokes in between. You might say "ORLY AGONY?!", but then again, you have to keep in mind that I was the guy that thought I was supposed to hash out a billion black lines until I found the right one.

What does this tutorial do for me? It teaches me to think and be deliberate. Deliberate is the keyword here, as I had been haphazard up until this point. Now, using this method, I have to think about what I'm doing with my lines and think about what I want the object to look like. When I draw Pinkie Pies hair, I can't say, "Oh its a bunch of half cirles, I'll just scribble here and here and here, and voila! Pinkie Hair!". Instead, I have to choose where her hair will start and where it will end. If I mischoose, no problem. I pick two points and start over.

The result? My lines are smarter and of higher quality. It sits neatly where I want it and I don't have to voice hard inkings in order to create thousands of line the conglamorate into a single massive ultraline. And honestly, after having discovered this, I believe that I was not drawing at all in the past 17 days, but being a total idiot instead.

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I made two important discoveries this day, one I believe to be more important than the others. The first relates to eye proportions (a detail specific improvement), and the other was properly learning how to sketch by applying drawing forms (an overarching and very important methodology).

The first point was not actually only related to the eyes. It also had to do with the maw of the pony and the entire face in general. The problem was that the face was proportionally incorrect most of the times I drew it. However, I did not realize this fact until now, simply because I had not been using point to point line drawing. Now that I had to be much more deliberate, I had to actually decisively think about how the eyes and maw sat.

However, I could not for the life of me figure out why the faces seemed so wrong. On the second page, I drew Rainbow Dashes face over and over again, trying to discern what was so wrong about it. I finally figured it out though, when I looked images from the show. The problem was that I had been spending too much time thinking about the mouth, and not enough thinking about the eyes.

The eyes have a certain relationship to one another in the 3/4's pony face view. The rear eye length actually tends to have a ratio of 3 to 10 with the front eye. My eyes at the time had a relationhip of about 2 to 1 or 3 to 2. You can see in the two Twilights I drew at the bottom, what I foudn was correct and what I found was incorrect. And, upon having discovered this, I finally realized why I'm so bothered by the works of Solar-Slash. Take a look:


Solar-Slash Eyes of Terror

Note what Solar-Slash ALWAYS does in his MLP images. He exposes so much of the rear eye that you can see part of the ponies flesh again. This doesn't occur EVER in the show or any of the good artists' renditions. Why is that? Now look at their noses. A little warped right? They a tad too long in my opinion, and the mouth tends to have a certain length to width ratio. I think he tends to violate it (not always, but he has a tendecy towards long noses). Why is this? because another point to note is that the nose must always sit slightly beyond the both sets of eyes in the 3/4's view! If this is not the case, the pony will begin to look a bit more like a human. This means that the more rear eye you show, the longer you nose has to be. If you wanna keep a correct ratio for the maw, you would then need to increase the height of the mouth. This was exactly what I had done in many of my images and why I was so bothered by the mouth. Having made this discovery, I felt as if I could finally put the Fluttershy quest from day 8 to rest. It only took 9 days, not too bad I guess.

Despite how long winded that was, that was a MINOR point! Remember, this is a small detail very specific to a singular cartoon series, namely, MLP:FiM. More important for me at the moment are fundamentals; things that I can apply to all aspects of drawing. And this I can credit to the tumbler RarityReplies.

The drawer of Rarityreplies has dropped his/her project for a while, stating that he/she was not feeling her images were good enough when colored. Instead, he/she opted to start another tumbler, which you check out from this link:

http://bambooharvester.tumblr.com/
BambooHarvester aka RarityReplies

I'm am very grateful that this artist opted to show the world his/her sketches, since it has allowed me to figure out how sketches SHOULD function. The key thing I noted was that his/her underlayer had both the basic cirlce framework, along with the general pose of the entire pony, where the hair laid and all that good stuff. Looking back at mine, I had three circles and that was it. So while this tumbler had a hundred reference lines (made by his/her own hand) to work with, I was playing guessing games with myself. So I learned, that rather than taking too much of the image at once, I need to develop a form. A layer that will have every line of the pony without worry of overlapping or errors. After, I could trace back over the parts I liked and create a cleaner, smoother and better thought out pony. Having learned this, I had to spend a little more time drawing every pony I did, but picturing poses and making it come life suddenly became 1000 times easier.

This point, along with the point to point drawing system, has taught me how to be an animator. Now, I am basically back to step 1. I now need to relearn everything I had worked on, except for using these two techniques. Once I have finally done so, I will then be able to create and bring life to the ponies, rather than have them sit lifelessly on the paper.

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These are the last drawings I have done since having started this post. Note how much cleaner and well defined the ponies are. Still, some proportions got messed up in the process and I am ignoring all details/shading. This is the first step to moving on. Also, in order to improve myself as a general artist, I have begun returning back to things that exist in real life. This will be especially important, now that I am enrolled in an Introduction to Drawing course for the Spring.

And yes Saurabhinator, I did try to copy one of your OC ponies and failed. Also tried drawing a car and failed T.T. One day, i'll be as cool as you Rainbow Dash!