Sean Mirrsen Improves His Art Through Ponies

[SeanMirrsen]

There's so little activity in non-RP sections on this forum, I sort of forgot about it. Not a whole lot to show since last time though, mostly practice of different sorts. And this:

I've decided to try my own take on the ubiquitous "HATE DETECTED" pictures around the net, though I had to ask around for help on the caption. I like how it looks so far. Now I just need to get around to adding Rarity's mech's tail to it, and it'll be done.

(the machine's technically the same as the one in the first post, but it's a chronologically earlier version, less advanced)

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

That's a good quote, is it from something in particular, or did you make it up from scratch?

[SeanMirrsen]

Nope, nothing in particular. It's not mine at all though, so I can't really say if it originally was. It refers to the usual "ORBITAL FRIENDSHIP CANNON FIRING" captioned images. In this case, it's not being done from orbit, so...

I also liked a different take, "I could be doing this from orbit, but this is the only way to be sure.", referencing Aliens, but ultimately the "look on your face" was more generically applicable.

Also, I've finished it:

I've been doing random acts of practice, i.e.

And my latest project so far looks like this:

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Is that a Strike Witches reference I see?

[SeanMirrsen]

Magical girls ponies with heavy machineguns flying on turboprop peg legs? Yeah, it's a Strike Witches reference all right.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Magical girls ponies with heavy machineguns flying on turboprop peg legs? Yeah, it's a Strike Witches reference all right.

That moment when I didn't know what the series was about (and that it was a 'guy Anime') and watched it accidentally, then wanted to finish to know how it ended. Now forever reminded by artwork and anytime I see art at Anime conventions.

[SeanMirrsen]

Otaku level challenge: Can you identify the mech?

Turned out pretty nice for forty-something minutes of sketch. I'd call her a Gundam Girl, but that's not a Gundam.

[MyLittlePonyTales]

Gurren Lagann?

[SeanMirrsen]

Eenope.

To save you the trouble, it's Zeorymer of the Heavens, from the Hades Project Zeorymer manga and some SRW games.

I wanted to draw Nightmare Moon as the Rose C'est La Vie of the Moon, but couldn't find a good enough reference pic. All I got is this group shot. (Rose C'est La Vie is on Zeorymer's stage left)

[SeanMirrsen]

Been drawing things in the past few days.

Beginnings of a nice Twilight image:

Trying out MyPaint, RD done in a realistic-ish pony design style that I want to make my default.

[SeanMirrsen]

Sort-of-requested picture of MyLittlePonyTales' ponysona:

Hope ye like it.

[SeanMirrsen]

New thing/experiment for today.

I've tried to determine the size of the ponies in relation to a typical human. (i.e. ideal-proportion 180cm-high human) The chart's in the image too, but I'm including the thought process behind it for clarity, so you don't have to read my scribbles.

The first consideration was that the ponies would look best, to us, and would have the least trouble fitting in, if their heads were roughly the same size as human heads. Altering the show design slightly, so that the pony stands at a somewhat more believable 3.5 heads rather than 2.5, we still get a pony that's roughly the size of a large dog. Hm. Well, handy at least. Perfect for children. I guess they aren't called "My Little Ponies" for nothing.

Then, Celestia I always for some reason saw as being roughly twice as high as the main characters, though it's largely inconsistent in the show. Sometimes her back is higher than the characters' heads, sometimes not... it's hard to tell, so I went with the "twice the height" notion, mostly because it allowed to put Celestia at a respectable 7 heads' height, quite enough to look into most humans' eyes, and to make them shield said eyes from her menacing horn.

So, a typical human being put at 180cm (and a typical skull size being, appropriately, roughly 23cm), we get the sizes for the "common" ponies and Celestia. Specifically, 80-something centimeters for a pony, with some variation, and roughly double that for Celestia. Whatever the in-universe evidence to the contrary, this is currently my "headcanon".

(yes, I understand that Twilight there should technically be rather larger if show proportions to Celestia are to be kept more faithfully, but that'd require altering proportions further towards realistic... or perhaps shortening Celestia's neck a bit. )

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

I know if you browse the web for a little while, you can find photos of real ponies that are about that size, though the proportions can be wildly different. Sometimes they have really stubby legs and sometimes not. One thing is certain though, no matter how you slice it, their eyes are huge.

[SeanMirrsen]

It's my birthday today, and since I'm not about to request a birthday-themed picture from anybody (me being an artist myself), I made one myself. Sort of a quickie sketch with some linework.

Southern Sky really needs to improve her cooking skills before she tries to experiment with meteorological confections again. In my experience, meteorology and cooking are like hot and cold air currents - it's better if they don't mix.

[SeanMirrsen]

Some pictures I've done lately for a few different people:

Birthday picture for one Alex Gann, a.k.a. Slag"

Characters and scene for ShadowOfTheSun and Beeskee

Spontaneous pic for Tectonic Robot, depicted as a Teutonic Robot

Character pic and scene for Tectonic Robot

Characters and scene for Tectonic Robot and Maslab

[BaconofChaos]

Cool stuff Sean!

What's up with the giant baby-faced man in the fourth spoiler?

[SeanMirrsen]

I wanted to draw a horrorterror. The two things that immediately came to mind - a giant teletubby or a giant 3.5G pony - I couldn't remember the design of offhand, thankfully, so decided not to endanger my sanity looking them up. So I went for something randomly creepy and vaguely terrifying.

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

My little human, A~aaaaah! (scream of terror, on that last one. ) Also, pony armor is always fun to draw. I don't know what kind of pony would have such an imposing looking crest, but it looks neat anyway.

[SeanMirrsen]

Well, it's not quite a pony, it's a pony robot. It's also a teutonic robot, as in the Teutonic Knights. The crest and armor are modeled off theirs.

Some more pics:

Kem, a griffon engineer OC for Athaniar:

Masque, an eccentric sort-of-thief OC, for someone known as Vinyl:

A circus pony OC whose name I don't recall, for Tectonic Robot and monkeyboyinc:

Maybe I should start one of those gallery thingies? I don't really need the hosting space, but at least it'll have all my relevant stuff in the same place.

How does one go about starting a gallery around here anyway?

[MyLittlePonyTales]

dat Griffon.

Also, just click on the Gallery tab, hit upload on the right, and make a new album. It's super easy.

[BaconofChaos]

Awesome stuff Sean! I like the griffon picture. Very steampunky.

Masque, an eccentric sort-of-thief OC, for someone known as Vinyl:

A pony Mask☆DeMasque? Nice!

[SeanMirrsen]

Glad you like these. It's good to make a few consistently nice drawings for once, normally my art quality is all over the place.

Ideas, though, usually keep a consistent, low to moderate level of inanity, with only short spikes - such as this latest one.

Some of you may be familiar with the character concept of "futashy". If you aren't, consider yourself lucky and don't look it up. (it's NSFW)

Ostensibly, the character was originally made simply due to the pun on Fluttershy's name.

Recently I realized that there's more than one pun to be had here.

(image safe for work, maybe a little not safe for sanity)

Yes. Footashy.

May have been done before, but if it was I haven't encountered it. Still, kinda... interesting.

[SeanMirrsen]

More of the pony Mask☆DeMasque.

[PurpleBird]

That would be a sweet OC... (I mean if they aren't or anything)

Good job on your mecha pics!

[SeanMirrsen]

Okay, long time since I posted here last, let's see what accumulated in my art folder in the meantime...

Aha. Going in chronological order of pictures being started on:

The circus pony OC seen earlier, whose name is... Nightshade? Something like that.

Two versions, because the first was deemed a little out-of-character by the requester.

Okay, this.. er, this is not pony, but was made due to a comment on our #ponythread IRC channel.

Nutmeg, were-timberwolf pegasus OC

An.. alicat, basically winged cat, done as practice for a bigger picture.

This is one of the two pics I'm working on right now. OCs Second Hand and Midnight, plus Vinyl Scratch, all being dressed up by a grown up Sweetie Belle.

Quick OC picture for Topaz

Some attempts at designing a wrestler pony character, as a request.

Picture with said wrestler pony character. Tell me if it looks inappropriate please, though nothing of the kind was intended here. Wrestling is just a very full-contact sport. Which I know rather little about, admittedly, but still.

Earlier-mentioned "bigger picture", in late detailing stage. That background is going to be the death of me.

Random pic of my OC, Southern Sky.

Attempt at drawing Cadance. I really need to work on an good alicorn design template.

My OC, Southern Sky, next to another OC referred to as The Ponithid. It's a long story.

I've left out some of the more random ones. ^_^ The two big pictures are the ones I'm probably going to work on in the immediate future, but if you have character requests, I'd be happy to try my hand at 'em. Even if my catchphrase is "I don't promise anything", my track record has been holding at "decent" so far.

And, er, I decided I'd be just wasting yer server space if I upload all this to the Gallery. This isn't an imageboard, it's a forum, having a gallery seems... I dunno, superfluous? I'd rather keep everything in one place.