Eye shapes...

[Kawaii Besu 28,011]

As you may know, most of the ponies in the show have big, cute oval eyes, but there are a few exceptions. (E.g. Rarity, Twilight, Princesses, etc.) Well, this one really irks me, when the ponies are fillies, they have circular eyes, but as they grow older, some have an oval shape, which makes sense, while other ponies' eyes evolve into a "football" shaped eye or a mixed breed of the oval and "football" shape. (just like Twilight and a lot of Canterlot ponies.) Look at Twilight and Rarity as fillies, they had the generic circular eyes, but once they grew older, their eyes change in shape, while other fillies evolve into a more sensible oval shape. Could this be some genetics of their relatives' eye shape, or did they undergo some surgery just to keep themselves attractive (and more appealing to bronies?)

Edited April 18, 2014 by GeometryMath Algebra

[Argumedies 1,748]

Without going into the whole "artistic design" thing... I doubt it, even human eyes change naturally.

 

I judge a lot of animation on how well they draw eyes and I happen to LOVE Rarity's eyes. Luna also has this style. And its because of the eyes is probaly the biggest reason I like this show so much

Edited April 19, 2014 by Argumedies

[SFyr 1,982]

I think it follows the youth versus adult feature bit.

As children, we tend to have round, pudgy faces; this is reflected in fillies and colts. Not only that, a lot of our features are same-ish when we are young. As we age, we adopt more definitive, feminine, angular, and similar adjectives that could describe our facial features in later stages of life.

Ponies are simplified, but this still is a basic human/life nuance that is worth working into their designs.

 

So really, just blame developmental stages, established trends, and artists trying to mimic it.

Edited April 19, 2014 by SFyr

[Ribbonfree 2,383]

It might be the best way to stylistically represent differing makeup styles or the like? Also, only so many cues that you can give for youth besides size considering the fact that ponies don't have particularly human features... So the eyes might all be uniform just to have that 'wide-eyed' youthful look, to help seal the deal as them being fillies.

[Nothing&NoOne 695]

I think it's just a personality/stature thing. Or just how DHX likes to draw them.

Either way, eye shapes can drastically change how a pony looks. Same with mane styles.

 

Rarity is a pretty (in pony standards) pony, so she has the more feminine looking eyes with more eyelashes. Fluttershy is gentle and has gentle looking eyes (eyelashes curve downward). AJ, Pinks and RD have oval eyes because neither are extremely feminine.

 

As for Twilight, I haven't really seen any other ponies with eye shapes like her. Thinking about it now, it's probably because she's destined to be a Princess; Luna, Celestia, and Cadance all have unique feminine eye shapes.

 

I was going to open photoshop and eyeswap all the ponies, but I'm on a new laptop and don't have photoshop on it yet. I'll get around to it.

[Argumedies 1,748]

I think it's just a personality/stature thing. Or just how DHX likes to draw them.

Either way, eye shapes can drastically change how a pony looks. Same with mane styles.

 

Rarity is a pretty (in pony standards) pony, so she has the more feminine looking eyes with more eyelashes. Fluttershy is gentle and has gentle looking eyes (eyelashes curve downward). AJ, Pinks and RD have oval eyes because neither are extremely feminine.

 

As for Twilight, I haven't really seen any other ponies with eye shapes like her. Thinking about it now, it's probably because she's destined to be a Princess; Luna, Celestia, and Cadance all have unique feminine eye shapes.

 

I was going to open photoshop and eyeswap all the ponies, but I'm on a new laptop and don't have photoshop on it yet. I'll get around to it.

I've seen crops where all the eyes have been switched... it looks really weired because were so used to seeing each pony with their own eyes

[Rift enchanted 380]

Sometimes animators get lazy, when it's DHX's animators then well, get ready for a suprise

[#1FluttershyFan 206]

At first it seems like the eye shape is only dependant on the species (Unicorn, Pegasus, Earth Pony etc.) but if you look at it for a while, you realize that's not the case. I think it's random.

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

Humans also undergo a number of changes as they grow from children into adults, some of which can seem peculiar. However, I think the main reason pony's eyes change as they do is just so they stay cute. xD

[Paleopony 701]

I think the fillies have more circular eyes because of the association of big eyes with babies. It's just a drawing style.