SorcerusHorserus

You're welcome- I hope you find it useful! Firefly was originally a character called 'Zephne Zephyr' who had a similar color scheme. The name stuck so I still use the nickname 'ZZ' pronounced 'zee zee' for Firefly. Her cutie mark has some resemblance to two Z's. I flip around between using 'FF' and 'ZZ' in my scripts and filenames. I recommend checking out Scott McCloud's book 'Making Comics', it's a great resource. If you are making a character-oriented story start with the characters and go into the what-ifs. "What if Gilda and Dash are in a high-school setting together?" "What do they want?" "What is standing in their way?" Keep throwing things at your characters and then give them space to react and change as the story progresses. Having a time frame for the story helps narrow it down. "This story takes place during Dash's sophomore year until she leaves school." Think about story arcs you want to have. "Dash and Fluttershy start off distant and become closer friends." "There is a drama-filled school dance." "Dash wants to join the varsity stormball team." The more interesting the story, the better. Don't fret too much about the art in the beginning. The art can (and will) get better along the way! Thank you! I saw people posting images of ponies on a forum in late 2010-early 2011. One of the pictures was a recipe for Pinkie's baked bads. I thought the ponies looked cute and I was familiar with MLP from having the G1 toys as a kid. The first episode I watched was 'Bridle Gossip'. I thought it was okay and didn't think too much about it afterwards. Then, a little later in Jan-Feb. 2011 I needed something to watch so I went back and started watching season 1 from the beginning. I binged all the episodes and was hooked! I doodled ponies on paper but didn't post anything online until I made a DeviantArt account to post entries to Equestria Daily's 300 word challenges. After that I made a list of digital pony picture challenges for myself to draw. That led into me wanting to make pony comics as well. I posted my first Dash Academy comic in August 2011. Thank you again for having me and for all your questions. It's been a pleasure!

Thank you! I started with a very basic outline of all the chapters and arcs (see an above post for an example of what Ch. 6's first outline looked like). When I get to a chapter I break it down further into strips. Then when I get to the strips I write out more specific scripts. These read like a play, with dialogue and stage direction. Sometimes I go through multiple re-writes of scripts before I ever start the art. The art part takes a while so I want to be confident in the script early on. As for the overall thing, you just have to do the best of your ability at the time. Some things might not work out as planned but you can't fret too much or the comic will never be finished. I think the main thing when you're starting out is don't get discouraged. Art and writing is hard to do. Like the saying goes, you have to make a ton of crappy stuff before you get to the better stuff. Put in the hours and you will see definite progress over time. And if you find that it isn't for you, it's okay to try out other pursuits. It can be hard to do, but don't link your self-esteem to likes/favs/page views. It's nice to have the support of others, but it's not what will sustain your interest. Being genuinely interested in your project is the way to go and will keep you coming back. Best of luck to you with your projects!

I do have a fondness for creatures from growing up on a farm. And I've always been interested in art. During the end of my schooling I started working towards becoming a scientific illustrator. For a few years I made traditional art for educational materials and zoology textbooks. Most was anatomy related- helpful stuff to know! The science illustration was the extent of my zoology career since I eventually found it quite dry and my art skills were stagnating. After watching MLP:FiM a light switched on and I threw myself completely into digital art and comics.

My main hobby is tabletop RPGs, both as a player and a DM/GM. The play style I enjoy the most is character-oriented. One starts with a premise and ideas for plot arcs and then plays to fill in the blanks. A good game turns into essentially an improv session, with the details of the story and world being created through play. It helps if the original set-up is interesting with potential for drama and intrigue. It's good if the interesting aspect can contribute to character stories (ex: magic is illegal). It's also helpful if the character has something they want to achieve. From this, you can ask questions: How do they try to achieve their goal? Who is for them? Against them? Do they reach the goal? What are the consequences? Thank you- I'm happy to be here! I don't follow the MLP comics so I can't speak towards that. As for the show, not very much. I think I've only had to tweak a couple lines of dialog. Derpy Hooves was 'Ditzy Doo' in the comic and I changed it to 'Derpy Hooves' after the fandom leaned more towards that. I am mainly using the knowledge from S1 since that's when I wrote the outline. I see the things established in canon as storytelling prompts to build from.

I have a soft spot for pegasi since their wings are so expressive. I've seen a few deer drawn in MLP-style and they are pretty darn cute. I also like the design of Queen Chrysalis and the OC changelings done by Siansaar. Can't say no to fangy-bug ponies!

I'm still learning, although I think the most progress happened during the first year of Dash Academy. Comics are art boot camp! Having a project with a finish line helps so much. I had drawn with pencil and paper before that, but not seriously enough to progress at a noticeable rate. After watching MLP:FiM I decided I wanted to learn how to make digital art and comics. I got a basic Wacom tablet and a free older version of Painter (and later SAI). After I found out I enjoyed it and was working for hours everyday on digital art I upgraded to a better tablet. For starting off I recommend a fundamentals program like http://drawabox.com/ Thank you! I had the story planned out until the end but I had no knowledge of the time it would take to make a fully colored multi-chapter comic. So in a way I knew but didn't.