Kay Dreamer

@@Joseph Stallion, I like the sound of the sample you uploaded. Swing me a copy of the lyrics and final instrumental version. I can't promise when I can actually get this recorded, but I have the equipment to do a decent job. This is OLD, but still a reasonably accurate example of me singing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dhAdTDuDy4

I think I did most of my growing last year, when I started my graduate diploma in teaching. I realised quickly that teaching was EXACTLY what I wanted to do and I excelled in that course, landing the highest grades I'd ever achieved in my many years at university. I was extremely proud of my dedication and drive throughout that year! This year I've moved out of home, I have a full time job teaching at a wonderful high school, and I'm trying to learn to be a real adult. I feel a bit overwhelmed this year, in all honesty. There's not much energy left for personal growth, but I think surviving will be an achievement in and of itself. Once I'm comfortable and secure in what I'm doing, there'll be room to strive for excellence again.

@@Aurelleah, That piano roll interface is extremely fascinating! In many ways, that's like a new form of music notation. It doesn't quite cover my need for a inclusive program which incorporates traditional notation, because I still need to teach the students how to read and write music on a western stave... But it seems a LOT more versatile than Garageband or Mixcraft are. Come to think of it, can you load an existing midi track into the program and change the instruments to those much nicer ones you used? Sibelius is a traditional music notation program with midi export capabilities. I could create a workflow from Sibelius through to FL Studio... Write a melody in Sibelius, export it as a midi track, and then arrange it using the far superior instrument library in FL!

@@Miles, I'm not 'advocating' people do anything. But a lot of people will lose resect for him over this, and I think that's fair enough. It's a natural consequence in response to what he did. He'll need to earn that respect back through legitimate hard work. I will say this in his defence; the apology he wrote is mature, contrite and it doesn't make excuses. That impressed me a fair bit, and if he proves his words are sincere, he'll earn back that lost respect. @, Selling a large volume of prints at cons does actually have an effect on the financial success of the other artists selling there. If everyone's giving their money to one guy, there's less to go around. If that one guy is getting all the attention because his artwork is phenomenal, that's fair enough. He obviously worked hard for it, and deserves the reward. But when that one guy is selling quickly traced work, that's just plain wrong. I know he is capable of drawing his own original work. I don't think his original art is particularly good, but it's certainly preferable to tracing. It's actually a fact that Hasbro (or at least their lawyers) feel more threatened by traces and show-accurate art than they do by the sale of more original art styles. The reason some of the biggest fan projects such as Button Mash and Fighting Is Magic were CMD'd was because Hasbro felt these projects were too accurate, too polished, and could therefore be mistaken for legitimate MLP spinoffs endorsed by Hasbro when they weren't. This threatened the integrity of their brand. By choosing to value show-accuracy over everything else, especially to the point of blatantly tracing work, artists like Drawponies actually threaten to draw the ire of Hasbro's lawyers and could, by association, threaten other fan artists with the same. Anyway, disregarding all the legal voodoo, he did was wrong. Whether you think it's being blown out of proportion or not, profiting off traced artwork is unethical and the repercussions he is facing now are a natural consequence of that dishonesty and laziness. Hell, he admits that in the apology he wrote on DA. That apology is a good step in the right direction toward fixing this, and I'll say it again; I was actually impressed with that. @@Aurelleah, Problem is, he basically was tracing a drawing line-by-line then filling it with colour. He'd add some sparkle to it, sure, but artistic terms it is very much considered theft. To further your analogy, drawing is assembling a variety of parts - colour, form, shade, line, etc - and assembling them on a canvas. 100% of what you use has been used before, but the art is in how you put them together. Tracing is like taking a popular song, changing some of the lyrics around and trying to claim you wrote it.

@@Aurelleah, Interesting! So the instruments are loop patterns, similar to Mixcraft or Garageband? Is there any way in which one can use a midi keyboard or notation software to input sound at all? (Sorry, I'm a music teacher. I'm on a bit of a hunt for the holy grail of music software. Ideally, I'm chasing something which can combine loops with limited traditional notation and the option to record digital input through a midi device. Basically, something which would appeal to every student of every ability level. So far, I haven't found it. xD)

@@Miles, By "lose his livelihood", I don't mean that Drawponies should be turfed out onto the street and made to beg for handouts. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. But he made a substantial income from this. To be frank, he doesn't deserve that. If he needs to go back to a part time job to make ends meet while he rebuilds his reputation and fractured fan base to the point where he can once again make a living off original art, I think that's fair. I'm not saying he should never agin be able to make art his career, but he'll need to work hard to regain what he's lost. Yes, people deserve to be forgiven for their mistakes. But that doesn't mean one gets to dodge the consequences of one's decisions. Bad consequences are a natural result of bad choices. For Drawponies, the loss of his fan base and some income from his art is a natural (and probably unavoidable) consequence for choosing to trace his art. I certainly advocate forgiveness, but it will take a while for him to earn back the respect he's lost today.

@@Aurelleah, It certainly has a very 'grand epic' vibe to it, and I love the percussion you've chosen! To me, it paints a picture of the Mane 6 embarking on some great adventure. The driving strings and almost ethereal flute also help. What program did you use, if you don't mind my asking?

@@Lil'Cinnamon, @, @@Miles, The real issue isn't that he traced his art. I have no respect for people who trace, it's absolutely useless as a method for improvement, but it harms no one when done for personal use. However, the line is crossed when you start making money off your traced works. This guy took his traced art to conventions and sold it there. He's traced art and profited from it. That is unethical and dishonest. His ill-gained popularity also drew customers away from artists who were doing the right thing and creating original work, siphoning profits which might have otherwise gone to people with genuine talent. It is true that all fan artists who sell their work exist in a legal grey area. We know that. Most companies turn a blind eye because the growth of a fandom depends on fans generating creative media, and a big fandom will spill money into official merchandise. (In short; our existence boost the value of that company's IP. That is true of fans who create art, host fan sites, make plushies, make videos, write songs and write fan fiction. By saturating popular culture with all things MLP, we help Hasbro make more money!) However, we artists maintain standards among ourselves. One standard is that artwork is expected to be original, and created entirely by the artist selling it. Directly copying show assets line-for-line and selling these slides outside of that grey area we exist in. We are tolerated by companies like Hasbro because we adapt existing IP into original work with it's own artistic merit, in such a way that doesn't diminish the company's profits. Making a quick buck by tracing elements directly from screencaps has no intrinsic artistic value whatsoever, and being traced from a screenshot out of the actual show places it on morally dubious ground. The 'art' wasn't drawn by him; it was drawn by the animators on the show. Why should he profit at all? Fan artists put their metaphorical blood, sweat and tears into creating original work. These things take hours. Creating art is not fast, nor is it easy. So for someone to claim cheap traces as original creations and profit from them spits in the face of legitimate artists. (For the record, I don't particularly care for art which resembles the style of the show to the point where it's basically indistinguishable. Part of the point of fan art, in my eyes, it that it's supposed to offer a unique interpretation of a character which wouldn't exist otherwise.) While I think it's wrong that people are harassing and tormenting Drawponies to the extent that they are, what he has done is wrong and he certainly deserves to lose his fanbase and livelihood for it. It's a hard lesson for him to learn, but perhaps in the future he will come to appreciate the value of hard and honest work.

@@MiniKirby123s eyes are fairly close to what Lyra's look like. Just brighten the yellow down the bottom, and make the darker parts at the top a more orange-ish red. Never be afraid to load an existing image into your art program of choice and use the eyedropper tool to pick up colours. I certainly wouldn't suggest becoming dependent on it, but it can teach you a whole lot about how colours relate to one another.

Hey @@AmberDust! Colours are an extremely tricky thing to master, and a classic mistake of artists who are still learning is over-saturating them; making them too bright. This is mostly what Amber is suffering from, though the blues and greens don't really relate well to each other either, which makes the issue a little more prominent. I do think @@Blue Moon is very much on the right track with his recolour, though there are a couple of things that can be improved. I've built on it a little bit, and tweaked a few things. What I did: Desaturated the teal colour of her body even more, and lightened it slightly. Brightened the light blue streaks in her mane to a colour closer to the teal body colour. What this does is unify the colour scheme of her mane and body, whereas before they looked like they belonged on separate ponies. I also darkened the base blue of her mane slightly. (I tried doing the same to her cutie mark, but the paint bucket wouldn't work there and I can't be bothered firing up the cintiq tonight.) Brightened her eyes. If there's one part of a pony which can afford to be bright and saturated, it's the eyes. Changed the orange colours to a rustier yellow, closer to actual amber. The yellow also works much better with the greens and blues. Orange is a very temperamental colour to work with. Keep in mind, many artists (including myself) will use the painting process to unify colours throughout a composition. We can get away with using colours which shouldn't, strictly speaking, 'work' with each other because we smear them all over the canvas. (I used a similar trick by adding the greenish-blue streak to her mane.) When your image is in block colours though, like this one, it's extremely important to make the colours themselves work together without that, and to use elements of each colour in various spots to trick the eye into seeing that same unity you'd get with a painting.

That awkward moment when you're too short to turn on the roof-mounted projector in the classroom, even in heels, and you need to ask a student to do it for you. (It's now become something of a running joke with most of my classes. ) Also, that awkward moment when you lose your train of thought while explaining something, and you need to ask the class what the hell you were talking about.

Hello, Timemagetim. My name is Kay, I'm currently helping with character reviews here in EqE. I've looked over what you have here so far, and I must first say - well done! Howling Wind seems like a unique and interesting character, and I do believe he'll be a good fit for many roleplays here in EqE. Since you requested for someone to look over what you have so far, I'll leave my observations on things that need tweaking or changing below. The personality section repeats itself a fair bit between the two paragraphs. For example, you mention him being cranky during the daylight hours three times throughout the two paragraphs. It only needs to be said once. You also mention his helpful nature and his fondness of pranks a fair bit. It may be a good idea to look over those two paragraphs a few times and rework them to cut down the amount of repeating information. (This is me being extremely nitpicky though! It's simply good writing practice I'm encouraging here, nothing more.) #i'mnotactuallyanenglishteacher In addition to describing his cutie mark, we also ask for a brief explanation of the talent it represents. In Howling's case, I'm assuming it's his affinity with creatures of the night? Backstory I'm not sure about the presence of morse code in Equestria, but I'm not opposed to it. It fits into the general level of technology (and overall historical era) we see in Equestria. I'll need to run it by the other staff and get back to you. One thing I would suggest though, is that you clarify where Howling's grandfather learned it. Morse code isn't something every pony can understand. Perhaps he's a retired member of the Royal Guard? You mention Howling never learned much about how to manage clouds, but then later mention him managing clouds with a pegasus crew at night. Perhaps you could briefly describe how he picked up the skill later in life? OR, alternatively, you could choose to keep him being very poor at managing clouds, but give him a role as a 'night-watch' pegasus who alerts the weather crews should something go wrong with the weather after dark. Maybe he trains messenger bats to help him or something? Just tossing ideas around, but it seems to me his special talent seems to lie outside weather management. Finally, I'd suggest proof-reading the backstory a few times. Once Howling is accepted, you can no longer edit this page. And trust me, there's nothing more irritating than finding a spellchecker mistake or a dodgy sentence in your character bio after you can no longer change it! Best to do it now. He's looking great so far, though. Once those few things are taken care of, I'll happily swing by to have another look.

Hi, Lektra. Our apologies that is has taken so long for us to get around to looking at your character. Eloquence and I will be working with you from this point forward. Hopefully we can clear up a few issues which will allow you to edit her into a form acceptable for the EqE section. Design First of all, her design. As you have been informed, the only patterns permitted on an OC in EqE are naturally occurring ones, such as the kind you’d find on actual horses. Unfortunately, no matter how you explain why Lektra has lightning bolts on her legs, this physical trait is not acceptable here in EqE. I understand your concerns about her art: however, as Hunter mentioned, removing the bolts is a very easy process for anyone with access to an art program. I could also do this for you, it’d take me all of five minutes. The wings are another matter which will be discussed in more depth further down. Where the art is concerned, I’m willing to hand-wave that as a kooky experiment which will probably explode when she turns it on. She can’t fly. Or hover. If you want a character who can do those things, you should have made her a pegasus. Magic and Abilities It is mentioned in the rules for EqE that all unicorns need to have the spells they are capable of performing listed. What you have listed under ‘spells’ are actually two overall abilities. This is too broad, and you need to narrow down and focus in on what Lektra can do. For instance: Elemental Magic: Electricity (Zapping people, etc.) Animation Spell: (The ability to make electrical things move by manipulating the electricity inside them. Should be limited in range, and larger constructs should tire her more quickly. This should not work on things she has not invented or tinkered with, in order to keep it from becoming overpowered.) (It is assumed all unicorns can use Telekinesis.) By limiting her in such a way, you refine what she can do down to those things essential to her talent, and prevent her from becoming overpowered. Basically, if an OC is approaching the level of what we’ve seen Twilight do, that magic is too powerful. Remember, our OC’s are supposed to be closer to background ponies than they are to the Mane 6. There are a few things listed in her magic and abilities which are definitely not allowed. These need to be removed. They are: Giving artificial constructs intelligence. This is god-like, and WAY outside what a unicorn should be able to do. She can’t grant sentience, full stop. I doubt even Celestia could do that. Metalbending. Sorry, but Lektra’s element seems to be electricity. Unless she can bend it using telekinesis, she’ll need to use a hammer like everypony else. Keep the animation spell non permanent; or at the very least, make a permanent casting something she needs to work on over a longer period of time, and something which will still wear off unless recharged every few months. Genius level intelligence. We get it; she’s clever. You don’t need to overstate it. This would be better mentioned in her personality section. Engineering aptitude. Again, something which can be explained in her backstory and does not need to be outright stated again. Keep the ‘Other’ section for her spells and robot. You’re over-explaining far too much in the ‘Other’ section. We don’t require a blow-by-blow about how her animation spell works, what her electrical manipulation is called, or what magitech is. We just need a list of her spells, and a small amount of elaboration on anything which is unclear. Sparky First of all, let me assure you that I don’t have a problem with Lektra having an animate pet robot. It suits her ‘mad genius’ vibe. However, presently, Sparky is WAY too versatile and overpowered, and his abilities need to be massively curtailed. Basically: No transforming. Choose a form and stick with it. (Probably best to use the one in the picture.) No sentience. This follows on from what was mentioned in the magic section above. Remove the parts at the bottom where you justify how he works/how he’s canon. You won’t need them in the final version of her profile. You can’t make edits once she’s accepted, so it’s best to clear away those extra explanations now. (I like the bit about being 85% mechanical and 15% magic though, that’s quite cute and you’re free to keep that in his description.) I’m okay with Sparky rolling about and doing cleaning, taking care of Lektra’s day-to-day needs and so on… and if she wants to behave like he’s a sentient being, that’s fine. Again, it suits her quirky personality. But he needs a single form Little Stuff The following are much smaller issues which can be quickly patched. Where it mentions college education, you can say she acquired a degree in experimental engineering; we have made allowances for various universities in EqE, and it’s not impossible for her to have achieved a degree via written correspondence. Just keep it vague, and you should be fine. Kid needs to change to foal. The magical cart and self-cooking stove are a little too advanced; they’d require the machines to have an awareness of their surroundings. The automatic brooms are fine, though. While having the Ponyville folk be a little averse about Lektra and her inventions is okay, be careful not to describe her as being too much of an outcast. Ponyville learned that lesson from Zecora; they wouldn’t be too harsh toward Lektra. While it is completely fine for Lektra to have ADHD and Aspergers, keep in mind that those specific names are not necessarily canon to the Equestrian world. Being a completely different society, Equestrians could have entirely different names and approaches to understanding mental disorders. These terms should be kept in the “other” section and elsewhere you should just describe the symptoms she displays and how they affect her life. This also provides the benefit of giving us a much better understanding of your character, as different people (and ponies) experience the same disorder in different ways. (I see that this is how you have it now, and that’s good. There’s nothing to change here, just making sure you know how to portray these things going forward.) Finally: The above requests regarding changes to the character are not up for debate. If you wish for Lektra to be a part of EqE, she must fit within established canon without being overpowered. We have a long road to travel in tidying up and condensing this app before Lektra is ready for acceptance, but I 100% believe it is possible. Lektra is an interesting character who I’d very much like to see here in the EqE section; she just needs to come down a few notches in power level and she will be a wonderful addition to our world.