Sisters

[Neon Fire 473]

Drew this last night.  It's not the best, since I kind of quickly sketched it up, but here it is!

 

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12151853/

Edited November 27, 2013 by Neon Fire

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,825]

Nice attempt. Keep practicing. It's a good start. 

[Star-Gazer 202]

While it's nowhere near perfect, it still looks pretty good. Just keep practicing. Look at pictures on the internet, not just for inspiration, but to see how lines go together to create three dimensions. See what sorts of styles people use, and try to find one that works for you. ...Did I really just say all of that? 

I don't even know...

Edited November 27, 2013 by StarGazer588

[Neon Fire 473]

While it's nowhere near perfect, it still looks pretty good. Just keep practicing. Look at pictures on the internet, not just for inspiration, but to see how lines go together to create three dimensions. See what sorts of styles people use, and try to find one that works for you. ...Did I really just say all of that? 

I don't even know...

Thanks, I actually do that and this was a sketch that literally took minutes so it's not as good lol. I actually have older pony pics I prefer, but like I said, this was rushed and done in minutes

[Silverwisp the Bard 2,354]

I'm sorry, but I'll have to agree with @@John; as of yet these aren't any good. I know taking criticism like that isn't easy, but people simply telling you that your stuff is awesome is not gonna help you to become a better artist.

[Neon Fire 473]

I'm sorry, but I'll have to agree with @@John; as of yet these aren't any good. I know taking criticism like that isn't easy, but people simply telling you that your stuff is awesome is not gonna help you to become a better artist.

 

Not even the dragon one I linked in the post?

[Silverwisp the Bard 2,354]

 

 

Not even the dragon one I linked in the post?

The linework isn't bad, but the whole thing looks rather flat and the colours could use some desaturation.

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

Providing criticism is fine, so long as it's useful and doesn't belittle the artist. There's never any excuse for being rude, and nobody will really care about your opinion if you are, whether or not your assessment is correct. Honesty is good but it needs to be laced with tact. One's perspective is of little worth without it.
 
 
I've removed several posts from this thread that were steering it off course. Be a little more careful in the future.
 
@Neon Fire, you should embed the picture in the original post. If you don't want to host it on DA, just upload it here.

[John 793]

Providing criticism is fine, so long as it's useful and doesn't belittle the artist. There's never any excuse for being rude, and nobody will really care about your opinion if you are, whether or not your assessment is correct. Honesty is good but it needs to be laced with tact. One's perspective is of little worth without it.

 

 

I've removed several posts from this thread that were steering it off course. Be a little more careful in the future.

 

@Neon Fire, you should embed the picture in the original post. If you don't want to host it on DA, just upload it here.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmRAGl1BOiQ

 

Sad face ----->  

 

But yeah; apologies.  I was a bit rash.

[Neon Fire 473]

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12170307/

 

Just redid the picture.  It's slightly different, but my friends said this was very much improved ^^

[Sir Wulfington 276]

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12170307/

 

Just redid the picture.  It's slightly different, but my friends said this was very much improved ^^

 

 

Let me ask you, do you think it's good? Do you honestly think it's good? Do you look at it and feel pride? Satisfaction? I'll get to my criticisms and advice for improvement later today, hopefully.

 

Alrighty, now that I've had some time, here's my thoughts on your picture.

 

(This post is NOT a personal attack on you, it is meant to be constructive criticism and advice to help you become a great artist)

 

First off, I assume you used MS paint. I wouldn't recommend it, since I'm not experienced and I haven't seen much good MS paint art. I would suggest you use pencil and paper. I'll get to materials later in this post.

In both your pictures, there are a few things wrong that stick out to me severely, but let's just start out with the idea itself, it's just not a good idea, plain and simple. a frontal view of Rainbow Dash sitting while smiling at Scootaloo, who's standing on Rainbow Dash's one raised front hoof, while she looks out front atop to the side with a huge smile on her face.

 

My problems with it are that it looks.....awkward, if Rainbow dash was gonna hold her up to the sky, why do it in such a strange manner? She looks stiff when posed like that. It just doesn't look good, artistically speaking. Secondly, Scootaloo is standing at the edge of Rainbow Dash's hoof, she should be standing on the bottom of her hoof, the way you have it just doesn't look right.

 

My next complain is with the scaling, there's too much unused space in the picture. When you're doing a piece of art with subjects (RD and scoots in this case) and no background, and the subjects are meant to be the focus, they need to take up almost the entire picture, leaving very little space around them. When you leave as much space as you did, than it doesn't look like they're the focus anymore, and with not enough to fill in the space, it doesn't look good.

 

Now onto proportions,  the second version is noticeably better proportionally than the first, but it still has issues. It's hard to explain, the best way to learn what to do is to study with properly proportioned pictures of the characters you're drawing as references, to know how to do it. Also, check what your pictures look like in a mirror to know for certain there are no proportional flaws (the mirror will show you what you can't see otherwise), and make sure to do it before you've done something you can't erase, or else you gotta start over.

 

Next, lighting and shading, you need to study how lighting and shading works, to know how light effects different types of surfaces (fur, skin, metal, wood, etc.) and how light casts shadows on objects (as in, you need to know where the light is coming from in your picture and how it would effect the subjects of your picture, via reflections, shadows, etc.). Basically find a guide on realistic lighting and shading to know what to do. All I can say for your picture is that you KINDA did it right (if the light was cast at a downward angle from the right), but not enough. Light and shading add depth, preventing your subjects from looking flat. It's extremely important.

 

Now that that's all said, my only other advice would be to learn how to come up with a good idea, like I think I could see a good idea that would be AKIN to what you did (rainbow dash holding scoots up in the sky in some manner), but your idea of how to do that was not good. Look up some truly GOOD pony fan artists work, on a site like deviantart, and study what they do, what kind of poses, expressions, angles, etc. they do in their art.

 

Ultimately, you want to be able to come up with ideas in your head on your own, like get inspired, you see something, and go, "hey, that gives me a great idea for a drawing!" (But DO NOT rip off other people's work, don't use their pictures as references for your own work, to practice, sure, but only for practice). And learn how to execute these ideas properly too, by learning proper light and shading, angles, poses, expressions, proportions, all of that. I'd suggest studying real life pony anatomy to learn how pony's are able to pose and move (the show seems to use realistic pony movements), so you'll know how to properly pose the characters.

 

And when I say "study what good pony artists do", make sure to focus on their pencil drawings, to see how they do shading with pencil. You can and should check out their digital work (if the ones you're looking at have any) but don't use them as reference guides, because something digital just won't transition well to pencil, so you'll want to use pencil drawings as reference guides, so you'll know exactly what to do with a pencil.

 

Finally, tools for drawing:

 

Strathmoore Acid Free Sketch Papper, a Kneaded Eraser (it can be molded to fit any shape you want, I'm sure you can figure out why this is useful), and a general's 9xxB graphite pencil (it's non-reflective, which is great, but if you can't find one, get an 8 or 9B (so that you can get really dark black lines that make the picture look more lively).

 

 

I hope this advice was helpful, and makes you into a great artist, but you need to be willing to LISTEN and accept my criticisms and advice, or you will NEVER improve, plain and simple.

Edited December 1, 2013 by Sir Wulfington

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

*Amazing wall of text *

 

I agree with what she said. But, I must say, it's a lot better from the first one. Keep trying!

[Neon Fire 473]

Let me ask you, do you think it's good? Do you honestly think it's good? Do you look at it and feel pride? Satisfaction? I'll get to my criticisms and advice for improvement later today, hopefully.

 

Alrighty, now that I've had some time, here's my thoughts on your picture.

 

(This post is NOT a personal attack on you, it is meant to be constructive criticism and advice to help you become a great artist)

 

First off, I assume you used MS paint. I wouldn't recommend it, since I'm not experienced and I haven't seen much good MS paint art. I would suggest you use pencil and paper. I'll get to materials later in this post.

In both your pictures, there are a few things wrong that stick out to me severely, but let's just start out with the idea itself, it's just not a good idea, plain and simple. a frontal view of Rainbow Dash sitting while smiling at Scootaloo, who's standing on Rainbow Dash's one raised front hoof, while she looks out front atop to the side with a huge smile on her face.

 

My problems with it are that it looks.....awkward, if Rainbow dash was gonna hold her up to the sky, why do it in such a strange manner? She looks stiff when posed like that. It just doesn't look good, artistically speaking. Secondly, Scootaloo is standing at the edge of Rainbow Dash's hoof, she should be standing on the bottom of her hoof, the way you have it just doesn't look right.

 

My next complain is with the scaling, there's too much unused space in the picture. When you're doing a piece of art with subjects (RD and scoots in this case) and no background, and the subjects are meant to be the focus, they need to take up almost the entire picture, leaving very little space around them. When you leave as much space as you did, than it doesn't look like they're the focus anymore, and with not enough to fill in the space, it doesn't look good.

 

Now onto proportions,  the second version is noticeably better proportionally than the first, but it still has issues. It's hard to explain, the best way to learn what to do is to study with properly proportioned pictures of the characters you're drawing as references, to know how to do it. Also, check what your pictures look like in a mirror to know for certain there are no proportional flaws (the mirror will show you what you can't see otherwise), and make sure to do it before you've done something you can't erase, or else you gotta start over.

 

Next, lighting and shading, you need to study how lighting and shading works, to know how light effects different types of surfaces (fur, skin, metal, wood, etc.) and how light casts shadows on objects (as in, you need to know where the light is coming from in your picture and how it would effect the subjects of your picture, via reflections, shadows, etc.). Basically find a guide on realistic lighting and shading to know what to do. All I can say for your picture is that you KINDA did it right (if the light was cast at a downward angle from the right), but not enough. Light and shading add depth, preventing your subjects from looking flat. It's extremely important.

 

Now that that's all said, my only other advice would be to learn how to come up with a good idea, like I think I could see a good idea that would be AKIN to what you did (rainbow dash holding scoots up in the sky in some manner), but your idea of how to do that was not good. Look up some truly GOOD pony fan artists work, on a site like deviantart, and study what they do, what kind of poses, expressions, angles, etc. they do in their art.

 

Ultimately, you want to be able to come up with ideas in your head on your own, like get inspired, you see something, and go, "hey, that gives me a great idea for a drawing!" (But DO NOT rip off other people's work, don't use their pictures as references for your own work, to practice, sure, but only for practice). And learn how to execute these ideas properly too, by learning proper light and shading, angles, poses, expressions, proportions, all of that. I'd suggest studying real life pony anatomy to learn how pony's are able to pose and move (the show seems to use realistic pony movements), so you'll know how to properly pose the characters.

 

And when I say "study what good pony artists do", make sure to focus on their pencil drawings, to see how they do shading with pencil. You can and should check out their digital work (if the ones you're looking at have any) but don't use them as reference guides, because something digital just won't transition well to pencil, so you'll want to use pencil drawings as reference guides, so you'll know exactly what to do with a pencil.

 

Finally, tools for drawing:

 

Strathmoore Acid Free Sketch Papper, a Kneaded Eraser (it can be molded to fit any shape you want, I'm sure you can figure out why this is useful), and a general's 9xxB graphite pencil (it's non-reflective, which is great, but if you can't find one, get an 8 or 9B (so that you can get really dark black lines that make the picture look more lively).

 

 

I hope this advice was helpful, and makes you into a great artist, but you need to be willing to LISTEN and accept my criticisms and advice, or you will NEVER improve, plain and simple.

 

...  I don't use MS Paint, never have and never will.  I use Paint Tool Sai, which is a well known program a lot of artists use.

 

I don't like looking at others art to get ideas for mine, I have a lot of other art on my DA of ideas I've just come up with on my own and I only drew this because I was bored.

And just because of what happened with the last guy, doesn't mean I don't listen to criticism.  I post my art on a blog (not pony art because I'm not too big on drawing ponies) to get better.  So thanks, yes, I will take those tips, but I must also say that I don't draw ponies a lot and usually only do when I'm bored or in a mood to, which means it won't be as good as my other art (like dragons or wolves).