A Note On Style

May 6, 2019May 16, 2019 by duskhorizon ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

It’s probably pretty clear by now that my style is different from that of My Little Pony’s official style, and sometimes jumps around depending on the context of what I’m drawing. I’ve tried drawing in the show style, but there are things I don’t like about it, and it gives me some trouble. And that’s totally fine, draw how you want to! Not good at drawing ponies at all? Sites like deviantArt have lots of helpful guides. Normally I don’t recommend this, but base editing is also an option too, as long as you credit the original designer of the base and link back to them (this is a must!!).

But anyhow, here’s a guide on switching between different styles.

When I draw, I tend to add extra fluff, change body shape, and add extra smaller details. Here, you can see I changed Pinkie Pie’s mane style slightly, gave her a grey underside, and made her hooves have color to match her cutie mark. I gave her a rounder, shorter body shape and a squarer muzzle. She’s got extra fluff, so that she looks more cuddly and friendly. If you’re going for a realistic style, it’s good to look at actual photos of horses and ponies to get a feel for how their bodies are shaped/how they move/etc.

Another example of something I like to do is add tail feathers on Pegasi and give them more wing detail:

Now for going from a personal style to show style. Typically the characters have one of two standard body types (male/female). But not every pony in the show uses them, and some of them can be fairly unique. These make the character stand out more, and contribute to that first impression that somebody gets of them. Age and lifestyle may play into a pony’s shape. It might be a good idea to perhaps consider what build you want your pony to have. Let’s look at a few:

The two with asterisks indicate the standard body types the show uses for female and male ponies. Images from MLP Wiki.

Here’s a quick guide on drawing eyes the way the show does:

All eye images on bottom taken from MLP Wiki

Now here’s an example of personal style to show style, using Dusk Horizon:

Here’s an example of my sketching process when trying to draw like this. I just grabbed that Pinkie Pie image from earlier and stared at it real hard to see the proportions and the placement of the limbs. It’s not perfect, I’m sure (my necks tend to come out longer), but it’s the closest to show style I’ve gotten so I’m pretty surprised.

When trying to figure out how to draw in show style, don’t be afraid to look at references. Sketching out the basic body shapes over a screenshot or while looking at one might even be helpful if you’re practicing (but don’t trace and then try to pass it off as your own work!). MLP uses vectored Flash puppets (though you don’t necessarily need a vector graphics drawing program or Flash), so it’s good practice to work in pieces, starting with the body, then the eyes, then the hair, etc.. Don’t worry about being perfect because even the show itself has mistakes and inconsistencies at times.

Because show style doesn’t typically use markings, we’re going to remove some of them. The face is more rounded, the ears are a very basic shape, and the legs have less joint detail. Usually only certain male ponies have separate hoof colors, so those get removed too. Things like traditional unicorn tails, curved horns, and extra feathers on pegasi would be changed here. In short, it’s all about simplifying. The show also uses colored lines, which is important to note–if the line color is light, just go over it with black first to be safe, and then color.

Fixing an Existing Character

May 2, 2019May 7, 2019 by duskhorizon ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Got a character that looks completely oof? Overpowered alicorn with bright colors that are harsh on the eyes, or that edgy black-and-red doom and gloom guy? Now, you don’t necessarily have to change these if you really don’t want to, but it’s understandable to look back at a character and maybe wonder why you made certain choices, or no longer be happy with how it looks. Taking what you’ve learned from the previous guides, it shouldn’t be so much of a struggle. Let’s look at an example:

Taken directly from my deviantArt, this is her description:
“Her real name is Glam Candy (PunkScene Emocore is her internet/stage name) and that’s her natural mane color (minus the raccoon stripes and the black dip dye), yes her eyes and magic are rainbow because she’s Worth It™
She likes raves, bubblegum, piercings and crazy makeup, glitter, music, bright af colors, vaping, puppies, playing guitar and baking cookies. I didn’t draw her cutie mark but it would be a guitar-shaped cookie with white chocolate chips.
Glam’s savage but also a sweetheart and will beat you up if she sees you bullying kids.”

Now, this is a character I made as a joke for some giggles one day, so she’s meant to be like this on purpose, but let’s fix her up anyway. She still has some viable traits here for her to become a good character, like a basic personality and the beginnings of what could be a nice color palette. We’ll start by discussing the process of changing her looks.

I started by removing all the accessories from her base design, the black stripes on her horn, and some colors from her hair. The yellow and reddish pink in her hair looked nice, so those were kept as her two natural mane/tail colors and adjusted their brightness slightly. Her legs got a light gradient and I gave her hooves to match my current style. Instead of rainbow, I made her eyes and magic color a light aqua.

For her stage persona, I looked at punk clothing for ideas on her outfit, and saw some neat black leather coats with belts and studded/spiked accessories. I used that as well as changed her piercings. I took out the spiked collar specifically because that has some… other implications… so yeah, make sure you when you’re choosing an outfit for a character, you know the purpose and usages of the clothing! Anyhow, I decided to keep the drippy, sparkly eyeliner and add eyeshadow since one of her traits mentions that she also likes makeup and glitter. Additionally, I made it so that she dyes her hair and hooves during shows to cover up her identity a little more and add some loudness to her look.

Finally, her cutie mark sounded interesting (don’t think I’ve seen a cookie shaped like a guitar CM before) so I decided to actually draw it this time, using the yellow from her hair and the brownish color from the hair dye. The bite mark might make it more clear that it’s a cookie, plus it looked cool.

Now for her story and personality details. Well in the original description, it says that her real name is Glam Candy, and PunkScene EmoCore is a stage name. So we can assume she’s a musician of some sort. She has a sarcastic streak a mile wide and can be fairly sassy when she wants to be. Judging by the fact that she dislikes bullies and seems to love having fun overall, we can tell that she’s also sweet at heart. She’s the friendly confectioner/baker Candy Coat by day, and the young ponies love to come by her candy shop so she’s grown to care for them dearly. But by night it’s leather jackets, hair dye, piercings, and belting out harsh lyrics for over-the-top punk performer Sour Core! We’re taking the part about vaping and puppies out of her bio because it seems kind of random, but otherwise the rest is fine.

A Mark of Talent

April 28, 2019 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:

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?

April 23, 2019April 28, 2019 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

April 16, 2019April 23, 2019 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:

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!

Helping Hoof

A guide for making MLP OCs

Tag: design