Month: April 2019

A Mark of Talent

A Mark of Talent

by duskhorizon ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

We’ve yet to talk about a small detail that makes a big deal: Cutie Marks! In the pony world, these marks are culturally important as they sort of define what a pony is good at (their “special talent”) or something that sets them apart, which may have a hand…hoof…in determining their life pursuits. A Cutie Mark (or CM for short) may involve a pony’s personality, their favorite hobby, or their job, but keep in mind that this does not necessarily have to be the case. As My Little Ponies were originally often named after their mark, it’s not uncommon to design the mark in relation to the name or vice versa. Of course, this might not always work out. Cutie Marks can be as plain-faced or esoteric as one wants. It might even be possible to weave multiple meanings into the mark. Let’s look at a few:

Cutie mark images from MLP Wiki

Colors are also important. You want to make sure the CM fits with the color scheme and stands out. If your character has a small palette, you can introduce a new color in; if your character has a large palette, best to make do with what you’ve got already. I recommend using colors from the character’s existing palette that don’t already appear in large amounts. So for Dusk I might use pink or red, perhaps introduce some green. In order to check if the colors work, it’s a good idea to take the base coat color and experiment on top of that.

As far as design goes, we want to lean on the side of simple. An overly complicated mark might be too difficult to redraw over and over again and it can be annoying after a while. But too simple and the mark might come off as “lazy”. Sketch up multiple ideas until you come up with one that fits.

For Dusk, I wanted her mark to have something to do with those succulent plants she keeps. For example, the first mark is supposed to represent nurturing new ideas, with a drop of water falling from the thought cloud onto the plant, while the second one reflects a talent of drawing scenery by having the plant’s pot also be a paint cup. The third one is a simpler design and the fourth one is a modified version of the second. I like the fourth one so I’ll try that.

Cutie Marks are a bit easier to do when you have a vector drawing program, so that you can make sure your lines are smooth and everything is symmetrical. Since I only have Photoshop, I had to make do with the various lasso tools. Admittedly, cutie marks are something I tend to have trouble with. It could use some polish later, but for now it’s a good starting point. Dusk seems to like it!

What’s the Story, Morning Glory?

What’s the Story, Morning Glory?

by duskhorizon ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

We’ve got the looks part down, but what’s a pretty face without a name and a story? We need to get to know our Horse With No Name.

Sometimes a name just pops up in your head and sticks, and sometimes you get an idea of what you want but aren’t sure, so you have to work to figure out a name. One of the pictures I used for this pony’s colors is of a mountain and lake at sunset, and the first thing that popped in my head upon looking at the character was “Cielo”, the Spanish word for sky. Possible names might include Valley Sky, Sundown Lake, Twilit Vista, Cielo Nublado (Cloudy Sky), Dusk Horizon. Having trouble because you like multiple names? Make it a nickname, combine names, or save it for a different character. I like Dusk Horizon, so I think I’ll go with that and save Cielo for another character—the name might fit a pegasus better.

Color and species are only two things to consider when picking a name. If you have an idea of the character’s personality, you may also want to implement that. Things like Sunny Smiles, Gloomy Grey, or Valor Heart would be examples. For a fun twist, maybe make the character’s personality a complete 180 from their appearance and/or name. It keeps them interesting, and makes it less easy to judge a pony by looks alone.

Gloomy Grey with her dull colors and dour expression seems like she’d be a grump and Sunny Smiles with her warm palette seems super friendly, but for all we know, Gloomy is a helpful sweetheart and Sunny could be a real jerk. Valor’s colors and name are reminiscent of the Royal Guard, which might reflect his family’s values or what he is expected to be like.

Backstory and personality are essential in adding depth to a character, and we’ve already been working towards creating these things a little. This character is really only going to be a mascot for the blog, but it’s a good idea to give her some background info so that it’s easier to be attached to her. Backstories don’t have to be overly complex or convoluted, they can be simple and sweet. It depends on the context the character is going to be placed in (A dark horror story? A lighthearted adventure? Gripping action scenes? Intense romance?).

For Dusk, I get an adventurous and playful but also tenderhearted vibe from her. Perhaps she’s also the kind of pony who likes to sit down with a warm drink and enjoy a day inside during bad weather. Her hobbies are painting landscapes and taking photographs, and she loves succulent plants, string lights, and rock salt lamps. As for her background, she’ll be a young unicorn who just started living on her own, maybe she rented an apartment at the outskirts of a city where she can do her artistic work. She went with her parents on trips to the countryside and to art museums, which influenced her tastes. Her father is a pegasus and her mother is a unicorn; I might expand on Dusk’s parents and her relationship with them later, but this is good for now.

Intro to Pony Design

Intro to Pony Design

by duskhorizon ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

There’s so much to think about when making a pony: colors, species, appearance, name, talent, hobbies, life story… Let’s step back and start from scratch. A good place to start would be the species of the pony and the color palette–we’ll establish some personality along the way. For colors, I recommend colorpalettes.net. You can always change colors later. For species, the big three are Unicorn, Earth Pony, and Pegasus. There are other species in the MLP world, but this is a basic pony guide. Bat ponies are also a common choice if you’re feeling spooky. There are hybrids, and of course, Alicorns, but it’s generally a good idea to save trying those kinds of characters for later, because they can become overpowered and conflicting pretty easily.

So here’s a color palette I’ve picked, and since I don’t have a lot of them, I’m going with a unicorn character. I’ve begun with an outline of her body. How a character looks is important, as it’s the first impression someone gets of them. Their expression/eye shape and hairstyle tends to reflect what people expect the character to be like (though it’s best to not always judge a book by its cover). Here’s some examples of characters from the show:

Pictures from MLP Wiki

She’s going to be the mascot, so we want her to look friendly and fun. If she were a model or royalty, she might have longer hair in a more complex style; more manual labor might mean hair cut short or tied back. I see a lot of pegasi with wind-swept hair styles, which makes sense since they fly a lot. For hair colors, you can do stripes, single colors, or even gradients. Ultimately the style is up to you. The goal is something unique that fits the character, but isn’t too over-the-top. Markings are not often used in the show, but if you’re drawing in a different style, they’re fine. Just try to use them sparingly and make sure they don’t clash.

I started with a soft, neutral grey for her body. I like to put some markings on my characters, so I gave her some pretty simple ones that I wanted to try out. I liked the dark purple on the top palette, but it was too dark in comparison. The blues looked nice as hair colors, plus I also really liked that red and wanted a stripe that stood out/separated the locks of hair. I went back and forth between the three yet-unused colors on the bottom palette for her eyes, and decided on the peachy pink since the green didn’t contrast enough and the darker pink was a bit too close to the red in her mane. I always make hooves on my characters, so I matched them to her eye color.

Because she’s a unicorn, she’s also going to need a color for her magic. Usually I just make the magic color match the eye color since the show often does that, but it’s not a hard and fast rule. Try to pick a color that fits well with the pony’s color scheme, or has good contrast like the eyes if it’s a very simple palette. And there, we have our character!