Pix3M

I have a hunch that all EQD really cares is what the art is about. With that considered, I'm concerned this piece isn't gonna make it to EQD either because I'm not aiming for cuteness that most fans seem to fall for, but rather something supermodel-like to go with that dress idea. Makes me wonder... what's the last piece that got featured in a drawfriend that doesn't focus on cuteness at all?

EQD's standards do not appear consistent at all. I've seen pieces that were merely okay (to me at least), but very good pieces at the same time. If there are reasons why my other works didn't make it, it's because somebody isn't telling me something.

Sorry if I sound like I spat on your hand. Sometimes, it is genuinely hard to tell how much critiques somebody wants. I've been at the receiving end of this at least twice, but nothing but good came after that.

Haha, I guess we are indeed two different people with different attitudes. But, from experience, I am not somebody who will go for the "I won't change them if the people I do it for like it this way and they seem to" attitude, and for a very very good reason. I can understand not changing the artwork if you're not interested in spending any more time on a piece and wanna move on, but what I think is far better is to know how to make future pieces better to leave a much better impact on people. I've seen pieces before I was like "wow!", but after spending a bit of time looking at them, I start to not like the piece as I saw mistakes that made it far more difficult to appreciate. It is also incredibly easy to find people who will like your art if you have the mere ability to draw. I was once told a saying which goes like "In a world full of blind people, the one-eyed is king". There are lots of people who can't really draw, so it doesn't take much to impress them. However, I think a more interesting goal is to see if you can get more people to start to care about your works, or possibly even impress the toughest of critics. Sometimes, it takes a very harsh critique to know everything you did wrong and everything you could have done instead to get more people to stop and care about your works. But... if you're not interested in improving to get better, then what is the point of saying that critiques are welcome? That kinda throws me off, you know?

I wasn't talking about her leg length, but hoof size. I'm not sure if we're understanding each other. This was what I meant. Source of horse legs pic: http://fav.me/d4y9l50 I prefer to say that it was intentional instead of calling it freedom of art. Really, I could see 'freedom of art' as an excuse to dodge any possible critique possible when convenient. This was what I was seeing: Source for wolf pic: http://fav.me/d4kjntc Bad news indeed. =( If you want it to be more natural, it shouldn't hurt to have your shading show consistent lighting sources. And a fun thought... being able to wrap your head around shading and light sources can really help you tell if a photo was shopped or not.

It helps a lot to draw guide lines using vanishing points and such so your works start to have an actual perspective, and thus more convincing. Notice how the horizontal lines don't appear parallel?

Here's an idea... instead of using that gradient in the background... you create the same thing but with the same effect used around the lightning symbol?

EDIT: If this piece seems perfect to you, read this post: Which critiques what I manage to get done here and has a newer version of this piece: http://mlpforums.com/topic/37832-could-use-input-for-a-new-pixelling-style-of-mine/#entry904112 Ofc, this isn't even finished, but I've finished enough to show the general direction I'm heading. I could supposedly seek opinions from people who can give truly useful art critiques, but I would rather ask around for layman opinions of this style as it seems tough for me to know what the fans like. Any opinions of this art style or body style? As for me, I've been interested in heavily upgrading a much older art style with new pixel tricks I'm confident I'm very good at now. Then, I wanted to experiment with a body style that aims for beautiful rather than cute, thus the tall, slim style that I believe goes very very well with this dress from the suited for success episode. But... think this will make it to EQD? I'm looking forward to actually getting something in a drawfriend after being declined so many times. -_-

Well, sorry for having less than a year of srs art hobbying, but I can tell you that helplines do not actually help you achieve results that resembles the show accuracy many people want to shoot for. They're awesome for coming up with something close, but helplines don't help you say... draw ponies at a show-accurate head-to-height ratio. I've drawn enough ponies using helplines to notice that I always draw them with a smaller head for their height. From experience, the best way to go for show-accuracy is to reference something that's show-accurate. Unfortunately, that means copying via drawing what you see, not what your flawed memory thinks it is.

Hmm... Lemme see how far I can get with critiquing this. I can look at the shape of the head and level of detail on the manes and tails to guess that you're going for something a bit more realistic than show-style. Kinda hard to tell what might be a mistake or what was intended when we go with an original anatomical style and can sometimes be hard to critique. Sometimes it's hard to tell what's a mistake and what's intentional. It may be worth keeping in mind that real horses have legs that vary quite a bit with the thicknesses of their legs. Their hooves are quite a bit wider than the skinnier parts of their legs. Show-style legs are straighter and have more consistent widths, but they still flare out the thicknesses near the hooves. The hooves you have here are completely straight, which doesn't really follow either realistic or show-style anatomy. I'd probably call this a potential mistake as straight legs are less real than even show-style, which to me goes in the wrong direction for going for something more real. I also believe hoof size should be consistent for every leg. Pinkie's front hooves are visibly smaller than her back hooves. Hoof shape is also slightly inconsistent as they're differently angled at their front tips. Pinkie's back leg is also bent oddly. The joints where they bend are bending in wrong directions. The first joint from the hip is supposed to bend back like our own knees, and the second joint bends forward like our ankles. The snouts here are much larger than show-style. Pinkie's snout seems to me as enlarged pretty much straight-forward. I wonder if her nose would look better if we tried avoiding that large curve on her jaw. It's not something you see in real horses, and it's exaggerated from show-style. Pinkie's snout also looks angled farther down than show-style considering her ears seem to me to make her face to be level. Bubble's snout also resembles a wolf's with its basic shape. I notice there's a lot of fluff in their tails. What throws me off are the lines that start from the start of the tail, which suggests straight hair instead of the chaotic curls the outlines of the tail really suggest. I also have a hunch that Pinkie's flank could have been executed better, but I can't remember what a horse or a show-style pony looks like when they're lying down. Shading is also a bit wishy-washy. It's sort of there, but it doesn't feel convincing. Their manes were also not shaded (did you forget?), and I am not sure what your intended light source direction is. Your shading is hugging your edges with a seemingly uniform manner, and that's not necessarily what shading looks like. The moon for example... its shading never uniformly hugs its edges. Pinkie's open eye is also slightly uncanny as there isn't a light spot to keep it from being so. And a last minute thing I noticed... where are Bubble's back legs?

If you want realistic, it's very helpful to use references. I used to think I can draw great clouds until I realized they looked like crap because I wasn't referring to real actal clouds to base off of.

They sell ACTION figures for My Little Pony toys? Next thing you know you have batman hair brushable toys. Haha. Or was that a custom made toy you got?

There have been two game projects named Equestrian chronicles.. just a heads up in case you wanna know. It would suck if people would confuse each other if a lot of people are confusing names.

Going vector will make it much easier to draw straight smooth lines as long as you use the fewest anchorpoints possible. The pupils also appears to have cataracts since the eyes are not black, and there's a darker color used on the outline. Eyelashes may benefit from using the same color for both top and bottom. Show accurate eyes are also not as almond-shaped as yours. Pose also seems awkward as front legs seem to be put together but back legs are spaced apart, and hooves are inconsistently curved. I am not seeing how the body is off aside for the rump which can be rounder.

I am not familiar at all with fallout equestria since I'm usually more preoccupied with other stuff, but what is their art style like? Is there a good pic of exactly the art style you were going for?

Yeah... I didn't think it was entirely your work. It's very easy to claim something as your own work simply by presenting it like that. Eh, gotta be careful so people don't get their undies in a bunch when they notice that you're not being completely honest.

People don't consciously want conformity. People are weirded out by the unusual.

How do you improve so quickly? Looking at your other works, you basically went from flat shapes to giving actual form among other things.