95% Chance

It's a damn mystery as to how it gets so dirty, I just cleaned it yesterday. I blame my roommate.

Sod it, I never get to brag about myself, and I just got a haircut too! Wear sunglasses if you dare open, IT'S ABOUT TO GET HOT.*shot*

Just coming in to post this and zip on out.

This bed isn't big enough for two burly stallions.

Hello hello! Your favorite numerical probability here for the first time! Granted, not the first time I've written, but the first time I've linked to something I've written on this site. Anyways! Since this is a fic in progress I didn't think it appropriate to drop it in the Pony Artwork section, I figured I'd throw it right here and let you all follow along with its progress (if you want!) I can say that by following it along here, you'll most likely be the ones getting snippets of what I work on before I actually post it to the fic proper, so... That's a plus, I think. Anyways, I tend to write longer chapters as the story progresses, and there's no set word length for my chapters, not even an approximation, so please don't be dismayed at the first chapter's... Bite-sizedness. Not a word, but I'll roll with it. I'm gonna stop typing now and let you read the only chapter I've got up so far, next one to be completed within the week!~ http://www.fimfiction.net/story/314321/recollections-on-undeath

Abandon hope, all ye who gaze upon mine clothed and shirtless visage.

It might have something to do with the file type. I know .svg's have problems with older/newer versions of AI. Unless it's not a .svg and just a .ai file. I'm no expert, but I know that Illustrator is real finicky with its file types and its versions. Shame about losing the work though.

I'm glad to have been of some help to you all! If I could get this pinned it would certainly help, but I'm happy that others can simply stumble upon it and pick up some nice little tidbits here and there!

Alright, I've gone through and removed all references to it being a separate country/landmass and emphasized her hometown being just that, a city/town. As well as having gone through and made a few other minor fixes here and there.

Let me first start off by saying that I am not the be all end all opinion man on the matter. I'm simply starting this topic for twofold reasons: One, I absolutely love seeing lovingly created OCs with a lot of heart and effort put into them, and two, having created so many OCs myself and being both reasonably skilled in the art of the pen and digital art, I can offer a lot of help to those that need it. I encourage you to add anything that you also think is important for creating an OC into this thread, as I believe that it will benefit everyone! I shall be starting off by posting a handy little rundown on what I've learned so far, complete with a few examples! *ahem* There are generally 5 parts to creating an OC. Personality Appearance Color Cutie Mark Name Going in order, and assuming you aren't creating a ponysona, personality comes first. This is usually where you come up with your OC's defining character traits, and how they act in different situations based on how they were raised, life experiences, inherent genetics, etc. But to try and boil it down, I usually ask the following questions: "When faced with new experiences, how does your character react, respond, and feel about it?" "How hard will your character work to achieve a goal and how good are they at doing it?" "How comfortable is your character around others?" "How nice (or not) is your character, and how do they regard others around them?" "How emotionally stable is your character, and how will they react when the unexpected happens?" Granted, these are very big, sweeping general questions, and creating a character will boil down to more specifics regarding the above questions, but they're good jumping off points. For example, the character in my avatar, Anchors Aweigh, is a quiet, stoic stallion, but is generally friendly and helpful. He rarely goes out of his way to converse with others, but will always lend an ear to listen if needed. Appearance is probably the most nebulous concept to try and explain, as it's the most nuanced and up to the creator most of all, but I'll do my best to impart my knowledge on the subject. Most pony OC appearances are made up of 3 core pieces; those being the body type and gender, eye shape, and the mane and tail. The body type for mares generally doesn't differ too much between the average mares in the show, but select characters like the Princesses, and the model mare body type (like Fleur de Lis) are some outliers. Stallions seem to have the more varied body types, with the average ones such as Braeburn, workhorses like Big Macintosh, or Clydesdales like Troubleshoes. There's no hard and fast rule for choosing body types, nor is there anything saying you have to choose just those. The eye shape is (for mares at least) the most prominent way of gleaning personality and character just at a glance. Here is an example of how eye shape is important: just by looking at their eye shape alone you can tell how drastically these two ponies' personalities differ. Using the above as reference, look at the mane of both. Generally you want to think of something that isn't too crazy that can also convey personality. The blue mare above seems to have a somewhat proper, almost reserved mane style, while the peach colored one below has a much fuller, more voluptuous mane that almost seems a bit wild in a way. Again, there's no rule for mane styles, and it's mostly personal preference. Color is a huge, huge part of making an OC. A bad color scheme can absolutely destroy it just as much as a shallow personality can. Picking out a coat color usually comes first, as it's the basis for what other colors of your OC come afterwards (those being the mane, eyes, and outline if you're using show-styled artwork). For coat colors, you want pastel colors, different shades (adding black), tints (adding white), or tones (adding gray) of pure colors. It should never simply be a pure color, as those are generally reserved for accents or clothing. Next comes the mane and tail. They should always match. There is no exception to this, and if there are, it does not look good. Mane color should not be the same as the coat color, and the mane color should be complimentary, or analogous. I haven't found a combination of highly contrasting colors that work, so I tend to stay away from them. It's also much easier on the eyes, and seems much more natural. As a rule, try and stick to one mane/tail color, two at the most. Three colors only complicates the design and makes it seem erratic and unfocused. This is not to say that it can't work! It's simply easier to work with one or two colors. I would suggest reading up on some basic color theory, as it helps immensely when picking out a color scheme for your OC. Here is an example of a primary color used for an article of clothing on one of my OCs. Note that her clothing all use colors that are next to each other on a color wheel, and that the scheme of her clothes eventually bleeds into her color scheme further along on the color wheel. Next comes the cutie mark. Please, don't take something hyper realistic and stick it onto a flank then call it a day, it's very jarring. The cutie mark should of course relate to the special talent of your character, that much is a given. But you may not know that most cutie marks only incorporate 2 to 3 colors in their design. More than 3 will complicate the design of the butt stamp, and end up looking like a weird blotch. Simple designs are best when it comes to cutie marks, but should be informative enough to give a rough idea of what a special talent might be. Unfortunately, I don't have any examples of cutie marks I've made to show here. EDIT: Here we have a nice little update regarding cutie marks! In show styled artwork, cutie marks do not have the same outlines that characters do. They are flat, and as said above, usually consist of 2-3 colors. Granted, these are only some I've made, and you are free to look up and research others shown in the show to get a better idea of what they're like. But be creative! Experiment!~ And finally, the name of your OC. usually this will coincide with their cutie mark, but this isn't always the case. Nobody can name your OC for you, of course, and it's personal preference. But from what I've seen and researched, most pony names range from 2 to 4 syllables in length. (Twi-light-Spar-kle. Ap-ple-jack. Pink-ie-Pie. Big-Mac-in-tosh. Brae-burn. Sun-set-Shim-mer. And so on and so forth.) Names in that syllabic length tend to roll off the tongue easier, and are more pleasing to the ear. Granted, I'm not the expert on the subject, so take it as you will. Hopefully I've been of some help to you, and I hope I haven't needlessly complicated the process, but I love seeing well created OCs. If you need any further help, you can always ask me directly and I would be happy to lend a hand.

I tend to prefer a supportive damage dealer, sort of like an Engineer if you will. If something screws up then I like to be able to do something about it, while at the same time I like to dish out the pain. Plus, they sometimes get a weapon that excels at creating a big boom, I like it.

It means a lot of cheap candy in the following weeks. I can't really bring myself to be bitter about it, nor can I really go crazy over it. I remain firmly neutral.

Nope, and it's mostly my own fault. I just can't bring myself to try and jump through a bunch of hoops to end up unhappy. I figure that it'll happen when it happens. Still, I'm tentatively hopeful that I'll be able to find someone that I can make happy as much as they do me.

Aww come on there's rust EVERYWHERE I TOLD YOU TO TAKE OFF THE ARMOR BEFORE YOU CAME TO BED

Your ears are taking up half of the bed and I've only got so many covers to go around.