Dunes

Sapphire beamed at the compliment, and bowed in return. “You’re like to make me blush, Mr. Timbre. I’m surprised I only just heard of ya tonight, with a voice like that. Where do you usually perform?” That pony had some pipes – it’d be a crime if he didn’t have regular gigs. She knew jazz didn’t tend to be as popular as, well, pop, but a singing voice as good as his was hard to come by; that should count for something. (She knew all too well it often didn’t end up counting like it ought to, though.)

She hopped off the stage, shaking her tail with a flourish as she landed. “That felt just like bein’ back at home, makin’ up songs for Papa and the dock ponies.” She laughed and ran a hoof over her mane, trying to smooth it out of her eyes. “Well, except I got way better accompaniment this time.”

The crowd was getting sleepier, more drunk, or both, and the sticky floor was getting progressively stickier. The muzzy tang of alcohol hung in the air with the distinct smell of… breath. Sapphire yawned, inhaling deeply, and made a face at the nasal assault.

“Eugh. Smells like it’s time to wrap things up here. Care to join me for a walk around Canterlot? Oughta be a little more breezy and smell a little less sleazy out there.”

I meant how thick the individual pages were, yes. Computer paper answers that question just fine though.

Have you bound books before? This looks really neat and nice. (Not that I know a lot about bookbinding...)

That's cool! The drawings were always what inspired me. I saw a movie recently -- the Secret of Kells. All the animation's inspired by the style in the Book of Kells. It's gorrrgeous. If you're interested in that kind of thing, it's a great movie to watch.

Out of curiosity, what weight is the paper you're working with?

I can just imagine a pony-inspired illuminated manuscript in there, with lavish little paintings and calligraphy explaining Equestrian mythology.

Man, that Sapphire Shores best not be real. She's not a unicorn! D:

I hadn't commented so far because I couldn't come up with anything more coherent than sitting slack-jawed at how great that looks. Is it going to be a sketchbook? That would be the most amazing sketchbook ever.

Oh, shoot. Tumblr doesn't let secondary blogs do all that social stuff. I think I may have to delete it and re-make it on a second account. Or... would it not matter?

Tumblr is confusing!

Yeeeah!

It even got a question! So now there's TWO posts. YES.

Now to twiddle my thumbs for a while. XD

This is fun. I haven't really let myself sit and do cartoony fun stuff for a while, for whatever reason.

Still trying to nail down a coloring/shading style for it, though. I don't want to make it too detailed, or I'll never keep it up.

Darn tootin'!

That... was the perfect response. XD

One-way trip? If I could bring my family and my practically-sisters with me. We could all be ponies together! If I had to leave them, I doubt I'd go. I love 'em too much.

Back and forth? Then heck to the yes! Even if I were stuck as a human, I'd probably still go once or twice to check it out. See what poison joke would do to me. If I got to change into a pony every time I went... My family would probably only see me on holidays. XD

I'd probably be an earth pony. That, or a unicorn, but I have an affinity for earth ponies. I like that whole "one with the earth and the critters" thing. I've always wanted to have my own little mini-farm setup, anyway, so it'd be perfect.

As for smell... There was a bathtub in the show once! I'm going to assume they have running water and some kind of sanitation setup. >.> I'd hope sentient ponies would clean up after themselves.

I DUN DID IT.

Bam! Theme/layout/whatever still pretty simple, but, whatever.

QUESTIONNNN: Is the text readable like that? If not I shall either use a typeface or force myself to slow down when I write.

For some reason, I tend to see Flutterdash as a close-friends type relationship, and then I end up spinning it that one of them likes the other but it's not mutual in that way, never will be, and someone gets left heartbroken when the other falls in love with a stallion.

N-not that I'm projecting or anything...

Of the common Dash 'ships I see, though, Flutterdash is the one that breaks my head the least. I never cared for Appledash. Yes, I do turn characters into lesbians in my head (because I am starved for gay characters; The L Word sucks, there are only so many Sarah Waters BBC adaptations to watch, most mainstream gay characters are either terrible or are treated terribly within the show, and God help me if I ever see another "two lesbians try to have/adopt a baby" storyline, RRRGHHH.) But even though they're both tomboyish and I could easily picture them as gay, I see them as more... lady-bros. And none of the other ships with Dash really appeal to me, either.

I liked the FlutterDash logic Dessa posted. That's the kind of reason I'll often read fics with them in it.

That does concern me too, the burning out thing... But then, if I never try, I fail anyway. And so long as I ended up with enough people paying attention to occasionally ask stuff and give me fodder to use, I'd be fine. I don't really need to be Tumblr-famous or anything. I just want an excuse to draw cute ponies. >.>

So I think I may have just answered my own question about whether or not to do this. >.>

Haha, the yeti thing is my own personal blog. I just posted the pictures there to put them all in one place without having to upload them individually through FTP and linking to them one by one. I figured I'd save putting up an actual Tumblr for that character until I made a decision one way or the other.

That does concern me too, the burning out thing... But then, if I never try, I fail anyway. And so long as I ended up with enough people paying attention to occasionally ask stuff and give me fodder to use, I'd be fine. I don't really need to be Tumblr-famous or anything. I just want an excuse to draw cute ponies. >.>

I went and found the older topic. These drawings show that you're more comfortable drawing them now, I think! The lines looked pretty hesitant in your older drawings, and in the sketchier tablet pictures, they show a lot more confidence. And I really like the sketchy, expressive lines you used.

I would suggest is to make sure that any white you leave in your picture while coloring is deliberate. The airbrushing looks streaky in some of these. Something that might help with that is to turn the brush hardness all the way up so the edges aren't fuzzy at ALL, filling in your colors, and then going back in with the soft airbrush to add shadows and highlights.

Also, I would definitely, definitely do some studies of real horses and ponies, too, if you haven't already. I know MLP ponies (especially G4) are very simplified and operate a lot more like rag dolls than real horses. But having a feel for how horses move and how their bones and muscles are structured will give you more knowledge to pull from when you are drawing FiM ponies. That goes for any cartoony style, too -- study and draw the real thing, and your simplified versions will look so much more believable.

Keep at it! I think you've made some good headway since that first post.

So. Those ask blogs look fun. They look really fun and I want to do one.

So I made a mock-up of a start for one. I'm using a tweaked version of this character (who is now less mean-sounding, and more along the lines of 'well-meaning curmudgeon with borderline PTSD'. Still handicapped former military who's gone into teaching in a run-down school, though.)

POINT OF POST: Is this a start-off that has been done a million times or something on blogs that I've missed? Does it sound like a decent enough concept? Would you ask it things and/or possibly follow it if it were an actual blog on Tumblr? (Assuming you are the kind of person who follows ask blogs on Tumblr in the first place, that is.)

I am 100% accepting of feedback and criticism and whatnot. It would be a little more polished up and would likely look along the lines of this, albeit without the textured background.

Normally I'd be all "to heck with it, I'll do what I want 'cause I want to", but since the ask format kind of relies on audience participation... I'd like to know if it would be able to expect any!

Thanks y'all!

Sapphire nodded at Timbre as he hopped up on the stage. She closed her eyes and swayed as he started to sing, humming in harmony with him as she got a feel for the rhythm. His strange syllables and nonsense words came in a fairly fast succession, hitting upbeats and downbeats and all the little beats inbetween. Words long and slow would be the key here.

“I can’t wait,

To be home,

a—gain…”

Each word hit the downbeat and held through the bar, her voice ringing like a bell, allowing Timbre’s singing to come through.

“With the ships

A – shore,

Light spills

Out your door…”

Crescendo gave way to decrescendo, and back again, never leaving a note without a direction. Her jaw trembled sympathetically with her vibrato – a bad habit she’d learned before training properly, and one she was still trying to kick.

“I’ve come a long, long way,

Just to see

Your face,

Come and warm my heart…”

She realized she hadn’t opened her eyes once since Timbre had gotten on stage. It was as if her entire world had become the lilted melody he was singing.

“But we’ll always be

So far apart,

I’ll just be off again

Come morning sun,

And that’s just the way

It has to be.

I’ll be home again,

Just don’t wait for me.”

Her eyelid tickled as a tear welled up, but she blinked it away as she opened her eyes. That wasn’t anything like her normal music, but the words had poured out of her. She wasn’t even sure who she was singing about. She felt startled at herself.

Shaking it off, she exhaled and grinned at Timbre. “Heck of a duet, Mr. Timbre. Heck of a duet.”

Crystal smiled at Arrow when the filly ran over, relieved that her cruel little joke’s effects had worn off without ill effect. She supposed that the desert really wasn’t the place for things like that. She’d never been much of a prankster; she always ended up feeling guilty. It seemed the little one wasn’t holding a grudge, at least.

She perked up at Telki’s offer. Fresh fruit? Full of water and everything? Her mouth watered at the thought of it; she couldn’t hide her expression of filly-like glee. “That would be awesome, Telki!”

She’d been looking away when Arrow stuck her tongue out at Milky, and missed the rude little gesture entirely. She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head at Milky, who had angrily flown up to the ledge. “What’s with you?”

Thanks! After many attempts with unsatisfying results, though, I've started trying to insert my own style into Ponydom less... realistically? It never quite looks right when I try to draw them more like I'd draw a real pony. Been working on getting them to look like I drew them (rather than looking like I tried to copy right offa the show) in other ways, though.

EDIT: blerg, question retracted until I fix the presentation to my liking.

I'm not 100% sure. Last... october? november? Maybe?

I resisted for a while. Then I was at Walmart, spotted an Applejack, and thought, "Well, heck, I'll just get my favorite character. That'll be the end of it."

Then I got the rest of the main six.

Then I got Celestia, Luna, Cheerilee, and the CMC. Then people just started buying me ponies. Which is fantastic! But I went from having one pony on my computer desk to having to install a shelf just so I'd have a place to put them. >.> I have all the McDonald's ones from this year, too. Plus a Celestia from last year! My mentor teacher took it up from a kid last semester, and they never came back to claim it, so she let me have it. SUCCESS.

Now I have MLP bedsheets, a pony pillow, a pony blanket, an entire pony shelf (and I'm running out of room)... I'd have a pony plush except the ones that hasbro sells are creepy looking and I couldn't afford one of those awesome custom ones that artists make.

GUESS WHO PASSED HER CERTIFICATION TESTS. This lady, right here. All that time studying paid off!

I'm back!

Alright. I'm in the home stretch. I have my Art Content certification test next Thursday, and my PPR exam the Thursday after. Until I've gotten both of those tests out of my way, I am gonna go on a bit of an internet sabbatical. I'll be back in two weeks!

Is the goal to show extreme examples in the show, or a representative clip?

Coming up with something average is kinda hard, but TS's soapbox moment in Feeling Pinkie Keen shows off typical PP, typical TS, and a typical conflict.

The goal is to show how different visual characteristics can affect the mood of a piece. The Hedgehog clip is very muted in color, highly textured, and the characters are more realistic looking. Ponies are brightly colored, vectored, and cute. MLP does have its tense moments, but it definitely has a different feel than the russian animation short, which is much more subdued. I'm gonna use it as a segue into talking about paintings, how the dissonant colors and jagged lines of a Picasso create a much different mood than the delicate, cloudlike brushstrokes of a Monet. That kinda thing!

I'm loving these clip suggestions so far! Thanks everyone.

I was a Trekkie way before I was a Brony. John DeLancie 4 LYFE.

That there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for why the Apple family keeps pigs. D: