Sisters of Equestria

[CrystalRose 636]

For Christmas I made a series of drawings for my little sister about the sisters in Equestria. I thought I would post them here too. Let me know what you think!

 

 

 

 

 

As usual, they look better in real life as the scanner killed the colours, there is a lot of tone that you can't see here unofrtunately.

[GamerLuna7 207]

Awesome pictures expect the last, Luna will not tolerate Celestia. Nice drawing keep up the good and awesome art you doo

[Party Cannon 876]

They look like something that could be hanging in their respective homes. The style looks like a pony world's version of fine art.

 

I think the best one is your Luna and Celestia one, regardless of subject matter.

 

What makes the first 2 a tad strange is their apparent lack of mouths, which gives them a porcelain look if that makes sense.

 

Solid work!

Edited January 1, 2013 by Party Cannon

[CrystalRose 636]

Thank you very much!!

 

I took a picture of AJ with my phone and you can kiiind of see the kind of layered colour I used...

 

 

I just wish it showed up more on the scanner.

[BeatrixBow 119]

Wonderful! I am really attached to the Applejack & Apple Bloom one for some reason.   Nicely done on all of them. Oh, and congrats on the title too! I just HAD to click the link to this to see what it was about!

[CrystalRose 636]

They look like something that could be hanging in their respective homes. The style looks like a pony world's version of fine art.

 

I think the best one is your Luna and Celestia one, regardless of subject matter.

 

What makes the first 2 a tad strange is their apparent lack of mouths, which gives them a porcelain look if that makes sense.

 

Solid work!

Wow! That's a huge compliment, thank you very much!

 

As for the lack of mouths thing, I've noticed that sometimes I just leave them out, particularly if I'm going for a more serious or a more ethereal look. Only lately I've started putting mouths on.

 

Wonderful! I am really attached to the Applejack & Apple Bloom one for some reason.   Nicely done on all of them. Oh, and congrats on the title too! I just HAD to click the link to this to see what it was about!

Thank you so much!! And that was the first one I did, I love AJ's pose!

[Strawberry Tart 161]

These are wonderful. I'm going to critique them. 

 

The Good: 

• You've got Rarity's mane/tail down to an art (the curls and color are correct)
• You have your own style
• The shading is done correctly
• The eyes are beautiful
• The ponies are proportional (no large heads or tiny flanks, etc)
• The colors are correct

The Bad:

• AJ's flank and legs are a bit confusing (why is her flank so edgy? Why does her left back leg look disconnected?)
• The tops of Celestia's back legs look too skinny
• Luna looks like she's about to tip over (make her front legs be on the ground more. It's awkward the way you've got it)
• Sweetie Belle's tail looks like it's one color
• You forgot the stars in Luna's mane
• AJ's mane looks floppy (it's very volumous in the show)

Overall, very nice work. I'm jealous. Did your sister like them?

[TheSupremeLeaderOfChaos 1,211]

These are wonderful! Personally, I like the no-mouth look. It adds a really cool touch. I'm really impressed. I could never draw something as detailed and beautiful. Amazing work.

[CrystalRose 636]

These are wonderful. I'm going to critique them. 

 

The Good: 

• You've got Rarity's mane/tail down to an art (the curls and color are correct)
• You have your own style
• The shading is done correctly
• The eyes are beautiful
• The ponies are proportional (no large heads or tiny flanks, etc)
• The colors are correct

The Bad:

• AJ's flank and legs are a bit confusing (why is her flank so edgy? Why does her left back leg look disconnected?)
• The tops of Celestia's back legs look too skinny
• Luna looks like she's about to tip over (make her front legs be on the ground more. It's awkward the way you've got it)
• Sweetie Belle's tail looks like it's one color
• You forgot the stars in Luna's mane
• AJ's mane looks floppy (it's very volumous in the show)

Overall, very nice work. I'm jealous. Did your sister like them?

Thank you for the compliments and the critique! I appreciate the time you took to write that.

 

*AJ's leg looks a little funny, the pose I was trying to do is more of a human way of sitting (although I have seen dogs sit sorta sideways, I have no idea if horses do it though.) It was hard so it's probably not perfect but I am quite happy.

*With Celestia I wanted her legs to look skinny, maybe it's too much but I wanted to go for the ethereal look.

*She's supposed to be stretching upwards a lot to cuddle her sister, but maybe it is a bit unven looking...

*The scanner is responsible for that. She definitely has two colours.

*For the stars I contemplated using glitter, both Luna and Celestia have sparkles in their manes. However I couldn't find any glitter and I don't have a white pen to add it on with.

*You're right, it is a bit floppy. Whoops.

 

Thanks again! My sister loved them, thankfully. They took ages to do!!

Edited January 1, 2013 by CrystalRose

[Strawberry Tart 161]

Thank you for the compliments and the critique! I appreciate the time you took to write that.

*AJ's leg looks a little funny, the pose I was trying to do is more of a human way of sitting (although I have seen dogs sit sorta sideways, I have no idea if horses do it though.) It was hard so it's probably not perfect but I am quite happy.

 

*With Celestia I wanted her legs to look skinny, maybe it's too much but I wanted to go for the ethereal look.

 

*She's supposed to be stretching upwards a lot to cuddle her sister, but maybe it is a bit unven looking...

*The scanner is responsible for that. She definitely has two colours.

*For the stars I contemplated using glitter, both Luna and Celestia have sparkles in their manes. However I couldn't find any glitter and I don't have a white pen to add it on with.

*You're right, it is a bit floppy. Whoops.

Thanks again! My sister loved them, thankfully. They took ages to do!!

You're very welcome!

But I'm a bit confused. You contemplated using glitter and adding stars, but they're there? Do you mean they have stars in the show...?

I can imagine that they took ages to do! They're wonderful!

Edited January 1, 2013 by Strawberry Tart

[CrystalRose 636]

You're very welcome!

But I'm a bit confused. You contemplated using glitter and adding stars, but they're there? Do you mean they have stars in the show...?

I can imagine that they took ages to do! They're wonderful!

I just mean that I thought about putting a little sprinkle of glitter on their manes because in the show they sparkle. I thought that was what you meant!

[Scootalove 10,689]

Very good artistic pictures of Applejack + Apple Bloom , Luna + Celestia , and Sweetie Belle + Rarity. Not bad at all, but you know I can't really make pictures like that.

[Strawberry Tart 161]

I just mean that I thought about putting a little sprinkle of glitter on their manes because in the show they sparkle. I thought that was what you meant!

 

The manes do sparkle, and that was what I meant. I was just confused as to whether you put the glitter there or not~ 

It looks wonderful either way. 

[Pix3M 607]

I've seen many worse pieces and this critique is probably coming from one of the harshest brony art critics you'll meet (I'm an admin of the Best-of-MLP-FiM group on dA). But, I think opinions of all sorts are good to hear.

 

These are wonderful. I'm going to critique them. 

 

The Good: 

• You've got Rarity's mane/tail down to an art (the curls and color are correct)
• You have your own style
• The shading is done correctly
• The eyes are beautiful
• The ponies are proportional (no large heads or tiny flanks, etc)
• The colors are correct

The Bad:

• AJ's flank and legs are a bit confusing (why is her flank so edgy? Why does her left back leg look disconnected?)
• The tops of Celestia's back legs look too skinny
• Luna looks like she's about to tip over (make her front legs be on the ground more. It's awkward the way you've got it)
• Sweetie Belle's tail looks like it's one color
• You forgot the stars in Luna's mane
• AJ's mane looks floppy (it's very volumous in the show)

Overall, very nice work. I'm jealous. Did your sister like them?

 

Having your own style does not necessarily mean good. I believe that what's more important is whether a style achieves what it intended is what makes or breaks a style. At its very best, every minute detail of a person's style should be conscious and intentional. Anything which an artist have no control over, like not knowing how lighting works, will make them fall very short from what they're going for if they want realism.

 

For example, what if an artist wishes to draw a stylized pony that has some of the simplified charm of FiM-style but wants to add realistic anatomical features, but ends up drawing their faces to resemble more like dogs than horses? What if that was totally unintentional due to the artist not fully understanding equine anatomy? What if another pony artist aimed for 'beautiful' but ends up drawing their faces vaguely lopsided?

 

I can't say i know everything about what the artist was doing with this particular art style, but I think there are a few things we can bring up.

 

Shading is actually not done correctly. It is hardly there, but for something where shading is more visible, look at Celestia and Luna. They are pillow-shaded. You do not shade by darkening around all edges of a shape. Look at the moon - you will not see this sort of shading on the moon; only one side of the moon will be darkened/lit. Pillow shading is only correct if you have a very, very close light source.

 

We should also be very careful about the direction the ears are pointed at. For AJ and AB, it appears they are pointing their ears to their sides, but what little I've read about Equine behavior suggests that the direction the ears are pointed do not carry the message the art is intending. By not pointing ears in the direction to their sisters but to their sides instead, the effect I see suggests that they're not interested in each other or are really boring each other.

 

And as for AJ's back side, I do not recall seeing hind legs reaching higher up than the back. The tail is also breaking the illusion of anatomy because it is bent very, very far up. The tail is an extension of the spine. FiM-style likes to have tails raised up very high as it creates something more interesting to look at, but I think the angle they raise their tails is about the farthest they can go without breaking the illusion of anatomy.

 

Again, many worse pieces, and even the best of the best brony artists have room for improvement.

[Strawberry Tart 161]

I've seen many worse pieces and this critique is probably coming from one of the harshest brony art critics you'll meet (I'm an admin of the Best-of-MLP-FiM group on dA). But, I think opinions of all sorts are good to hear.

 

 

Having your own style does not necessarily mean good. I believe that what's more important is whether a style achieves what it intended is what makes or breaks a style. At its very best, every minute detail of a person's style should be conscious and intentional. Anything which an artist have no control over, like not knowing how lighting works, will make them fall very short from what they're going for if they want realism.

 

For example, what if an artist wishes to draw a stylized pony that has some of the simplified charm of FiM-style but wants to add realistic anatomical features, but ends up drawing their faces to resemble more like dogs than horses? What if that was totally unintentional due to the artist not fully understanding equine anatomy? What if another pony artist aimed for 'beautiful' but ends up drawing their faces vaguely lopsided?

 

I can't say i know everything about what the artist was doing with this particular art style, but I think there are a few things we can bring up.

 

Shading is actually not done correctly. It is hardly there, but for something where shading is more visible, look at Celestia and Luna. They are pillow-shaded. You do not shade by darkening around all edges of a shape. Look at the moon - you will not see this sort of shading on the moon; only one side of the moon will be darkened/lit. Pillow shading is only correct if you have a very, very close light source.

 

We should also be very careful about the direction the ears are pointed at. For AJ and AB, it appears they are pointing their ears to their sides, but what little I've read about Equine behavior suggests that the direction the ears are pointed do not carry the message the art is intending. By not pointing ears in the direction to their sisters but to their sides instead, the effect I see suggests that they're not interested in each other or are really boring each other.

 

And as for AJ's back side, I do not recall seeing hind legs reaching higher up than the back. The tail is also breaking the illusion of anatomy because it is bent very, very far up. The tail is an extension of the spine. FiM-style likes to have tails raised up very high as it creates something more interesting to look at, but I think the angle they raise their tails is about the farthest they can go without breaking the illusion of anatomy.

 

Again, many worse pieces, and even the best of the best brony artists have room for improvement.

You critiqued part of my critique. Critique-ception. 

 

First of all, I got the idea that AJ and AB's ears are slightly (though not much) pointed towards each other (even though I do not understand why one would go to such lengths to make sure the ears are definitely correctly pointed). 

 

Having your own art style definitely always means good, and I don't think you understood what I meant by that. Having your own art style means you are deviating from the norm and being yourself, and expressing what you yourself think art should be, not what others think it should look like. 

 

Having control over your art (or not) is different. I can have my own art style, but I may mess up a bit here and there. Everybody does, even the best artists. We are only human. 

 

We will never know what the artist intended with the shading unless they tell us - maybe they did want a very close light source (though I doubt it, and here you were right, Pix3M: the shading is not correct).

 

I also agree with you on the hind legs. If I'm going to be honest, they did confuse me a bit. 

 

But you forgot to mention the good things in the artists work. Not many people can re-create Rarity's mane like that, or draw eyes so well (eyes can be very hard to draw, but you know that, most likely). Critiques, in my mind, shouldn't be all harsh, because the artist can lose sight of what's good about their art.  

Edited January 1, 2013 by Strawberry Tart

[CrystalRose 636]

 

Thank you for taking so much time to reply to this thread.

 

But I'd like to address your critique.

The best critiques have positives and negatives. A positive comment is not "I've seen worse." I've seen your work and you are very talented, but ive also seen other "critiques" you've given other budding artists here and you're also a bitch.

 

Its not perfect. The shading isn't based on a light location, it should be and I will try it more in future because I love to improve. It is pillow shaded because my sister thinks it looks pretty and it's a present for her.

 

It's more stylised because I don't want them to look like horses. If i wanted to go for real equine positions I probably wouldn't have drawn pretend cartoon ponies.

 

I'm not looking for a million asspats, like I said I like a constructive critique. They're very helpful. But personally, I'm not keen on a marathon post about how bad you think my pictures are, and to be honest I have a name. I'm not just "the artist."

 

Try being nicer. You have Some good points, Your pictures are lovely, why can't your attitude be as nice?

[Pix3M 607]

You critiqued part of my critique. Critique-ception. 

 

First of all, I got the idea that AJ and AB's ears are slightly (though not much) pointed towards each other (even though I do not understand why one would go to such lengths to make sure the ears are definitely correctly pointed). 

 

Having your own art style definitely always means good, and I don't think you understood what I meant by that. Having your own art style means you are deviating from the norm and being yourself, and expressing what you yourself think art should be, not what others think it should look like. 

 

Having control over your art (or not) is different. I can have my own art style, but I may mess up a bit here and there. Everybody does, even the best artists. We are only human. 

 

We will never know what the artist intended with the shading unless they tell us - maybe they did want a very close light source (though I doubt it, and here you were right, Pix3M: the shading is not correct).

 

I also agree with you on the hind legs. If I'm going to be honest, they did confuse me a bit. 

 

But you forgot to mention the good things in the artists work. Not many people can re-create Rarity's mane like that, or draw eyes so well (eyes can be very hard to draw, but you know that, most likely). Critiques, in my mind, shouldn't be all harsh, because the artist can lose sight of what's good about their art.  

 

 

 

 

Even if art is about expressing yourself, again, sometimes an artist doesn't always achieve what they were intending.

 

I think I should make it clear that I already think the mere ability to draw is already a gift.

 

Thank you for taking so much time to reply to this thread.

 

But I'd like to address your critique.

The best critiques have positives and negatives. A positive comment is not "I've seen worse." I've seen your work and you are very talented, but ive also seen other "critiques" you've given other budding artists here and you're also a bitch.

 

Its not perfect. The shading isn't based on a light location, it should be and I will try it more in future because I love to improve. It is pillow shaded because my sister thinks it looks pretty and it's a present for her.

 

It's more stylised because I don't want them to look like horses. If i wanted to go for real equine positions I probably wouldn't have drawn pretend cartoon ponies.

 

I'm not looking for a million asspats, like I said I like a constructive critique. They're very helpful. But personally, I'm not keen on a marathon post about how bad you think my pictures are, and to be honest I have a name. I'm not just "the artist."

 

Try being nicer. You have Some good points, Your pictures are lovely, why can't your attitude be as nice?

 

I think it's funny because I have a different idea of what a good critique looks like. It seems that people have varying ideas of what a good critique looks like. On one extreme, some think they should be just asspats. I can name somebody with that mentality. There's the other extreme where others think they should be more straight forward for the sole purpose of letting an artist know where the critic feels there can be room for improvement. I can name a couple of people with that sort of mentality. I think the biggest issue is knowing what exactly people expect out of a critique. Some times, people take offense and don't like it when I critique, but I will tell you that there are others who practically kiss my feet when I do share my thoughts.

 

Plus, my pictures aren't as nice as you think they are. They're subject to the same tough standards I put everyone else's work. Some of my works, I don't even want to see again. If anything, I'm harsher to myself than I am on others. 

 

I don't think 'not perfectly drawn' means 'bad'. I don't actually think they're bad. There's more than enough things done well enough to not deserve that horrible label. If you want my idea of 'bad', 'bad' anatomy is horribly misshapen and has absolutely no illusion of anatomy. These drawings definitely do have an illusion of anatomy so there's no way I can call it 'bad'. 'Bad' coloring is super-saturated with horribly clashing colors that it throws your focus in places that have no merit. Your drawings aren't colored in such a way, at least with how it's presented on my monitor. I think there needs to be a huge distinction between 'bad' and 'not quite perfect' because that's not how I see art.

[Flutty 10]

Wow... Really? The last with Celestia and Luna... Just perfect! I don't know what to say about that.. It's really amazing and I would like to see more of your drawings And one question if you don't mind. How long are you drawing? And how long it takes to draw that kinda beautiful picture? (yes, yes.. its 2 questions =D)