NuSun

Wow, awesome resource site, thank you! It just so happens that the first post was about blending Still, if anyone has a method they favor, let me know here so I can compare and contrast to other methods I pick up. All tips would be helpful!

Regular ship fics or even clop fic shipping, if it's well written, then yes I like ship fics. I just enjoy good, meaningful ship fics of all kinds because the character portrayals and situations can make for a very entertaining read that can be heart felt and/or funny. As for artwork, if it's well drawn then they're cool too whether being cute or humorously suggestive, though the highly explicit ones I can't really like for the most part since they become really absurd and ridiculous.

Well for the most part, being a Brony is comparable to being a fan of Star Trek, whatever they're called, while being a furry is feeling a strong appreciation towards anthropomorphic characters, something along those lines. I've honestly been a furry for years and I still don't have a full definition on who we are. Now I can also argue that since these ponies have a lot of human traits then sure, bronies do have some degree of furry in them, which brings me to ask what's wrong with being a furry? Not all furries are so called weird, socially awkward perverts that constantly dress up in fur suits and draw pornography, as a matter of fact the cos-play are found in the minority margin of furries, I'm not even remotely interested in those suits. It's just furries get so much flak because the most extreme aspect of furs got media attention once creating the false image known today. So I wouldn't worry about being some furry in the first place. If it's the perverted, weird label you're afraid of thinking about, then don't worry because not every furry is that way, you don't have to be either. And if you're still worried, then Bronies is just a fan label so there's nothing to worry about at all. ^^

Okay, I'm always in desperate need of advice, but now I think I need it more than ever! I'm practically new to digital art, I just mastered clean line art (finally!), but now I have a great dilemma in painting. It's mostly blending, shading, and creating gradients over large spaces of color. So, please can anypony post the methods you use on digital painting? I would like to know what tools can be used, what settings can be used, and how soft or firm my paint strokes should be on any given area. I know if you use different tools in the software you can get different effects and textures in the paint work, so I just want to be informed on as many methods as possible, try them out, and see which I feel best using. I use Photoshop CS5, Paint Tool SAI, and I have an Intuos tablet if any of this helps. Thanks guys!

I was in your position about three months ago where I mainly debated between the Wacom Bamboo Create or Intuos4. I strongly recommend the Wacom Intuos4, actually I think Intuos5 just came out but I'm sure if there's a price difference on that. Reason why I chose Intuos is because the bamboo doesn't have the tilt sensing function (tilting the stylus to change the angle of the brush tool), and the Intuos has more variation in pressure sensitivity. Though, since you're using Gimp I don't know if changing the angle of the brush is an option in that software. As for size of the tablet, that's truly based on your preference whether you're used to drawing small sketches on a regular 8.5 x 11 copy paper or using the whole piece of paper for all of your drawings. I got the Small size and love the drawing space on it since I'm used to drawing in a small sketch pad. Check your local electronics store too to compare prices between the Bamboo and the Intuos. For me it just so happened that the Bamboo Create was actually the same price as the Intuos4 Small at my local Fry's Electronics store which instantly made my mind up.

Now that Derpy's name was mentioned and she got in some lines, all I can ask of is for DJ Pon-3 to have at least one line; just one, please?

Enjoy ^^

Florence and the Machine is amazing! Never knew I would enjoy that kind of music, and I found them from a PMV, which is sad. I'm mostly a metalhead and have been for the longest time, mainly listening to the modern bands but I like the older ones too. I listen to all kinds from the most brutal to even the most subtle, like going from Job for a Cowboy to Angra, but I primarily prefer the more melodious bands like Sonic Syndicate, In Flames, Angra, and All That Remains. Recently though, thanks to some brony musicians, I opened myself back up to dubstep after hating it with a passion because my freinds kept force feeding me the stuff. I just listen to whatever sounds interesting like Flux Pavilion and Dubba Jonny as well as other electronic music like Wolfgang Gartner and Deadmau5. The only kind of music I know I will not enjoy are mainstream pop and hip hop. However, I do enjoy hip hop and rap from the 80's and 90's though, like NWA, Bone Thugs N' Harmony, Eminem, and Snoop Dogg off the top of my head. Not only was I born and raised listening to those artists, but even in this day and age they are still considered really good. I just don't listen to the new stuff anymore because it all sounds like garbage for me.

Most of my favorite music artists comes from metal, some OST orchestra tracks, and recently thanks to DJ Alex S., dubstep and other electronic music: All That Remains, Amon Amarth, Angra, Arch Enemy, Children of Bodom, DevilDriver, Heaven Shall Burn, In Flames, Killswitch Engage, Parkway Drive, Rise Against, Soilwork, Sonic Syndicate, Sylosis, Times of Grace, Trivium Wolfgang Gartner, Flux Pavilion, Dubba Jonny, Nero, Datsik, Deadmau5, Bass Nectar And the soundtracks of Halo and Ace Combat series. Those aren't the only artists I like, not even close, and The Living Tombstone is my favorite brony musician.

All time favorite, because this was the first brony content to make it into my Youtube Favorites playlist ever. (Lots of swearing btw) Other content includes the PonyDocks collaboration PMV, It's Pinkie Pie Boats!!!, and the song "Gimme RD/Of Loyalty", the best metal instrumental I've heard by bronies.

I actually got a lot of my influences from the fandom. The artwork I saw drove me to be more devoted towards my hobby of drawing. I've always wanted to get into digital art for the last two years, but then seeing the artwork and how cool the artists are got me into drawing everyday for the past month and a half. I even got myself a graphics tablet a week ago to get started in going digital. The fan music got me into dubstep and other electronic genres of music, as sad as that sounds, and I've always despised dubstep before because my friends kept force feeding me it. I used to purely listen to metal. Finally, I learned to be more open about what I enjoy instead of just hiding away my interests. I don't declare that I'm a brony but if someone mentions MLP I'll be on it.

Long Story Short: heard about the show, was a hater for a while, gave it a chance around April 2011, was alright about it, watched the available episodes, liked it a lot but didn't really care for the fandom, became a brony shortly after season two came out. If you're interested in hearing all about it... I first heard about FiM I think about two months after it initially came out when I kept seeing fan artists talk about it on websites like Deviant Art. I ignored it at first, especially after seeing a little fan art pop up here and there. But one by one, my favorite artists began doing fan art about the ponies, and when that combined with seeing ponies showing up everywhere across image sites I started having the typical anti-brony thoughts. I mean, brightly colored ponies based off of My Little Pony, what was happening to this world? I couldn't understand, didn't put any effort in trying. All I know was they were everywhere and was getting annoying to find. That's right, I had the typical anti-brony thoughts aimed towards the fans for a while. What a fool I was. Probably around four months after beginning my hate (oh how I hate recalling those times), I continued to see more artists and fans talk about the cartoon, so I did my own little research to find out what's so captivating about it. Articles and professional reviewers actually called the cartoon good and promising. Good, how? I ignored the reviews, but my curiosity continued to build for a whole month until I finally watched the first episode with the volume barely audible as I kind of felt shame for succumbing to something so, I guess "girly" would be the nicest term here. I was expecting a good story line. I got that from the intro of the pilot episode with the explanation of day and night. I was thinking, "Not bad. Really different from the newer cartoons." Then the theme song came on and my finger was a small sliver away from closing the Youtube window, but I endured it. As I watched, I did agree with the animation actually being catchy, and I even chuckled at some parts due to really underestimating the comedy. Twilight getting her quest to make new friends also got me to almost close the window because of how cheesy it sounded, so I just prayed that it would get better like everyone kept imploring. Then the characters were introduced, and I was already familiar with most of them due to each review I had read including their brief synopsis of the mane 6. I found I actually enjoyed some of their individual traits just enough to keep watching. By the end of the pilot episode, Nightmare Moon appears, I found I actually liked her design, and finally, "To Be Continued." By this point, I sort of recapped my thoughts on it. Mostly I thought the show was okay mainly because I didn't feel like I was going to like the characters (I especially did not care for Pinkie and Rarity, at the time of course). My conclusion was to finish the second episode to see what happens. The most significant reaction I had was Pinkie's "Laughter Song" because this was the closest I came to giving up on the show entirely. I am not too fond of musicals, especially if it's going to come from a show aimed towards little girls. I liked how Twilight was apprehensive about her breaking into song, but that was it. Next, the ending of this episode, which I didn't have that many problems with because I didn't expect much of a climax. Plus, it's the pilot episode. Now, I read the youtube comments and see they're all flooded with comments like "I'm a guy and is liking My Little Pony." For some reason, I kept watching more episodes. Maybe it was because I wanted to give FiM more chances since the fans boasted it gets better. They were right, by the time Gilda makes her appearance I admitted to myself that I really enjoy this show. Eventually, I find Rarity is not the stuck up pony I thought she'd be, I actually like her and admire her work ethics a lot, and Pinkie is the comical one of the bunch instead of the annoying airhead. Now, I follow EqD posts daily, love Pinkie's Laughter Song, and find Pinkie Pie is my second favorite pony Sorry for the long story XD

Hello, I'm pretty new here too, so hope you enjoy your stay ^^ I gotta ask though, how did you get your signature, or how does anyone get their signatures to be customized in general? Yours is pretty neat

Thanks a lot guys for the warm welcomes! Just out of curiosity, where is that character from WilyKit?

A pleasure to meet you, Outlaw.