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Practice and repetition will be the best thing to do and you already have a stylization sense which I see you're working towards and that is also a good foundation to build on. There are three things I'd like to touch on below:

1) You're already familiar with the first on under-sketching and construction. While mimicking the finished product and understanding through that is good seeking to construct from the ground up. This will also be important and help through the basic shapes and how they intersect for the original sketch and lining. ECM also touched on this so I won't spend any more time on this point, but definitely this will be a vital baseline to work with and it seems you're already developing this.

2) This second point is actually a recommendation that Tony Fleecs (MLP comic book artist) gave me at the last convention I was able to make and I'd definitely recommend it to you. If you don't already have it, take a look at the book, Little Pony Drawing Book: How to Draw and Create Magical Friends. This is a good baseline to start with and covers many of the initial points of drawing MLP art with areas that can be used in traditional and digital. It isn't a complex guide, but it is a good foundational build starting with shapes construction and skeletal/muscle anatomy and eventually building to emotions and scenery development. There are PDF and book versions available from multiple sources. I've added a second one that is also a great read and development tool I'd recommend in tandem to the first. Links are below:

-- A) Little Pony Drawing Book: How to Draw and Create Magical Friends - Good start for a foundation and a good baseline. Plenty of sellers, but mostly based in PDF or Canada

-- B) My Little Pony: Art is Magic! - Made by the MLP comic artists and a great resourse. Plenty of sellers for this one

3) One thing I'd also recommend is to take a look at MLP and horse movement guides. These will help you develop movement and momentum as well as perspective and work at constructing a life rather than just a still. It will definitely help you, especially as you build your styles and worlds. Definitely look for ones detailing body parts as well as full models. Linked a few below for example:

-- A) KP-ShadowSquirrel's Pony Sketches 3 - Fitting this one is from your favorite artist as well

-- B) FimFiction Amateur Artist Group Reference Thread - A lot of great walk and run cycles on this one as well as a number of other great references you can work with

-- C) Trot Cycle Animation from Mannequin - A simple animation with great construction lining

-- D) Animation Running Testing - Get some good frame shots of these animations. Some great references

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There are plenty of other great stuff to work with out there, but for points this'll be a decent start. Keep up the practice and always keep having fun.

• Mas

EDIT: I had more to say than I thought, and it reads like a crazy man's ramble. Enjoyyyy.

Here are my thoughts. While I like my tablet, I think paper is better. Why? Tactile feedback from the paper, and the grip it has on a drawing instrument, not to mention the ability to instantly see where a line is going. Newer tablets have a more paper-like surface, and you do have the option of taping a piece of paper over the tablet, so maybe it's just the traditional aspect of putting real lines down that gets me. I will not stop using my tablet, because it is a far more intuitive interface for even just coloring, and it is seriously fun to use, and Wacom products are just amazing, but when I'm being Mr. Serious Artist Fancypants, and practicing, that practice I do with charcoal or pencil on newsprint. Consider buying yourself some newsprint. Cheap, for learning/sketching, and you'll still have enough scratch to buy your tablet. You definitely shouldn't just choose digital over traditional. You can, and should do both. WE ARE NOT TRADITIONAL, NOR ARE WE DIGITAL. WE ARE ... THE MODERN.

I also think I prefer actual ink to digital when working with comics, for instance. There's just more emotion and movement in your lines, no matter how much you can control brush dynamics in PS. Plus, inking is zen-like once you get down to business. I've never felt so entranced by drawing than when I was inking.

TABLETS! Always go for a medium size and larger. Usually about 6 inches by 8 inches, or thereabouts. I am working on a small one, and it works, but I'm just waiting for my 6 x 11 to get here. Keep in mind that when going increasingly bigger, you must use more of your arm to cover the tablet. If you prefer drawing with your wrist, stick to a medium-sized tablet. If you're working with two monitors all the time, you may want a larger tablet so the drawing surface is divided. If you've traditionally used a lot of arm movement, as many painters have, consider going bigger. There is a 9 x 12 inch (bigger than a piece of A4 paper!) Intuos3, and they go for about $250 on Amazon and eBay.

The Bamboos work well, especially if you're not looking to drop a lot of money on your first tablet (which is a good choice, imo), and my only gripe about them is re: the drawing surface. Older Wacoms have a plastic sheet that lays on top of the active surface, so you don't scratch it and/or wear it away. The Bamboo does not, and that's not even a side effect of it being the lower end in Wacom's lineup. Even the Intuos line dropped the sheet, and I think it's due to the new more paper-like drawing surface.

The Bamboo you've selected is a small size, and I am fairly certain you will not be happy with it in the long run. Just too small of a drawing area, especially for those times you're zoomed in and you want a smooth, sweeping stroke to lay down a clean a line as possible. By the way, you may not be able to see them, but there are four little corners etched into the tablet which outline the active area/drawing space. The active space is 3.6 x 5.8 inches. It is a tablet meant more for writing than drawing, in other words.

I recommend this one: http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-CTH661-Bamboo-Fun-Tablet/dp/B002OOWC4C/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1334763390&sr=1-8&tag=acleint-20

The active area is about 6 x 8 inches, so you have a much broader surface to draw on, and it's still pretty cheap (as tablets go) at $110. You will enjoy the experience a hell of a lot more, I can guarantee it.

This is only marginally related, but I want to jump in here to point out that James Gurney (the author of that article) is crazy awesome and if you like to paint you should absolutely pick up a copy of his book Color and Light. It's very well done and easy to understand, and I wish I had had it when I first started out.

Now that that's out of the way, I really like the humanization in the ways the ponies eat. It's made very clear that they're herbivores who eat flowers and things, but they make them into sandwiches etc. instead of grazing. That said, I do like the whole spectrum of anthropomorphization from "human versions" of the characters to even relatively realistic ponies.

So yeah. This took me 6 hours over the course of a week. I used charcoal and other art specials by Lyra Rembrandt. (https://www.amazon.com/Rembrandt-Specials-Pencils-Assorted-2001123/dp/B000ELIWM8) now that I’m back from my 8 week long travels, I can finally do some real pieces.

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I looking for critic on my ponies poses. I needed the ponies to have human poses, and I’m pretty sure I failed trying to make them look natural. I would also like critique on my background and charcoal work. (If you can/want to )( other subs don’t like fan-art )I really like this medium and plan to make many pieces with is. I also realize that my lighting is super whack, and I need help figuring out how to fix that.

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I used a collage of reference’s, one of them obvious. I found that Pinterest is a great source for pony skeletons and poses. ( and other things )The background work was just me tho.

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My parents found out I was a Brony, and they have a teeeeny tiny problem with a boy teenager drawiNg wIddDle pOnY PrInCeSsEs. So I guess this is a bit of a grand finale pony bit from me. I’m still gonna be watching the show... but I’m secret I guess. Hopefully I’ll still stick around here. Hoped u liked my picture!

>I still don't understand how to make something "look trippy."

I suppose that was an oddish thing to ask of. I think it ganders an explanation. First step to working with colour is reading up on it. Purplekeckleon has a good guide on this subject. Or you could read some books on them. Colour is a difficult thing to cover. (and should be spelled colour)

Going back to keckleon, she plays around with colour a lot. example 1 [textures and colour] (http://purplekecleon.deviantart.com/art/He-s-back-313119557?q=gallery%3Apurplekecleon%2F308451&qo=17). 2: more colour

I don't really have an exact explanation, about how you should use colour, but I suppose the best way to learn is to play around with it and see what works for you. As for texture, I can't say I understand it well enough to explain it. [](/ppnervous "Throw me a line here, viw!") What I understand is texture is the simulation of the feel of a surface, ie. grass, rock, wood. In your case it would likely mean the fur of on celestia or the shine on her tiara/horn. Basically getting the tiny details down.


>Am I making sense with all this?

No worries, you're making yourself pretty clear.

Dream-like's an interesting way to describe Forkas, I like it. I'm not too familiar with Goya's work, but I can kinda see what you mean. Apparently he studied in China for a few years, giving a very interesting mix of Eastern and Western styles.

And lol I swear I can link correctly. I meant this book. He sounds all round like an amazing man.

Well, if you're on a budget I'd recommend the Wacom Bamboo pen Tablet. It's cheap, I got mine for £45 which is quite good in comparison to other tablets.

It is light, Wired, accurate and cool looking

The issues are that there is not a lot of customisation in the settings and that the active area is rather small. But other than that it is a great purchase.

I hope this helped you reach a decision.

EDIT: There is a disk that comes with it to install drivers, meaning that you can't just plug and play the first time on any PC Although the disk needs to only be used once on each PC.

EDIT 2: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wacom-Bamboo-PEN-EDITION-2011/dp/B005OPKVNM/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1333036447&sr=8-13

Tablet Name: Bamboo Pen and Touch (Older Model)

Manufacturer: Wacom

Price: $100. Newer model $135.

Size: 9.8 x 6.9 x 0.2 inches

Features: It has 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity. 4 express keys. Touch as well as pen imput

Accessories: Pen, Spare Nibs for pen and Nibs puller-outara

Comments: Set-up was extremely easy. Plug in, install driver and away you go. (You'll will need to set which monitor for it to use if you use multiple monitors. [Bamboo prefrences, Pen mode details, select screen.] After that, works fine.) The surface is very good, smooth and rough at the same time to give you the feeling as if you're drawing on actual paper, you also get that satisfying noise when you drag your pen across it. I haven't tried out the other nibs and as I'ma ware for this model they are only replacements and not completely different nibs. I use it with Photoshop and Paint Tool Sai and both handle it very well. Again, both of them immediately recognize it as an input and there isn't any messing around with settings. It doe have a problem with online drawing programs as the pen seems to stop and load before drawing, it does this often when drawing on these types of programs. (It's not the computer, the Wacom drivers say loading). Though this is fine for me as I draw with installed programs on the computer. For the price of $100 I thought this was a very good deal, I would have gone to $135 for the never version if it were out when I was purchasing. As I'm sure that is only an improvement over this one.

Great Tablet for the $100 price mark. Highly recommend it. If you want to go better then this one I suggest the Intuos5, though it is around double the price.

Website: The one I currently have at Amazon.The newer version at Wacom

User: /u/cezzlo

Tablet Name: Intuos3 (8" x 6")

Manufacturer: Wacom

Price: $200+ used (you may find it cheaper; that was just a quick search), $450+ new (don't buy this new), prices in USD.

Size: 13.6 x 0.5 x 10.3 inches (8" x 6" active area); 4 pounds

Features: 8 express keys (4 on each side), 2 touch strips (1 on each side), 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity, 5080 lines per inch.

Accessories: Pen, pen holder, mouse, felt nib, spring nib, replacement plastic nibs.

Comments: I've had this tablet for several years and it's served me well when drawing or photo editing. The surface is smooth and easy to draw on, although the active area is ever so slightly reduced for widescreen monitors (and this has to be adjusted in the driver settings). The different pen tips provide a more traditional feel for mediums other than the pencil, but I've always preferred the basic plastic nib. Works great in Photoshop and Corel Painter without any extra setup. Plug it in, install the drivers, and draw away. This is a fairly old model and I would recommend against buying it for more than $150-$200. If you're going higher than that, you might as well pick up an Intuos4 instead.

Website: Intuos Site, Amazon Page

User: /u/KrazyTheFox

Tablet Name: Cintiq 13HD

Manufacturer: Wacom

Price: about $1000

Size: 6.5" x 11.5" active area with 1920x1080 resolution (actual device is about 15x10 in)

Features: 5 express keys, 1 "rocker ring" (which is like 4 buttons in a d-pad configuration), 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity, 5,080 lines per inch

Accessories: Pen, pen holder, pen carry-case, felt nibs, spring nib, replacement plastic nibs, cleaning cloth, adjustable stand.

Comments: This is a relatively new product which I was lucky enough to obtain. It is essentially a monitor which has Wacom technology, allowing you to draw on the screen. The monitor itself is high definition (1920x1080) and a reasonable size, about the same as the "medium" intuos size. The main difference between this tablet and other tablets is your ability to see your pen tip and what you are drawing at the same time. It is slightly more natural, and may be easier for someone who is used to pencils/pens to adjust to.

Set-up can be a little annoying if you already have a multi monitor setup. Also the colour contrast on the monitor could be better. Still, it's a nice product, and I have no major complaints about it. I think it is a slight improvement over the Intuos series, and is worth the cost if you plan on using it a lot.

Website: Product Site, Amazon Page

User: /u/Whatsapokemon

>You have no idea.

I have every idea. Everyone goes through this in art. Every. One. There is a wonderful book out there called Art & Fear which goes over... Art and Fear. It is short, an easy read, and really quite helpful for learning how we approach art and what this does and the role fear plays. If you've got a library card or $10 I really recommend it.

It does you no good to try and get things perfect the very first time. They won't be. Accept mistakes as a foundation for the future. Look at the undersketch guide and play around with seeking marks out. A clean piece of paper means nothing as far as learning art goes.

While I don't think jumping straight to digital (especially with an iPad) is the best way to learn to draw, you seem pretty reluctant to use anything else, so I will say this: You absolutely need a stylus with pressure sensitivity, it will make drawing much easier. You mentioned wanting something to ease workflow, but using an iPad without a pressure sensitive stylus is not the way that can be achieved. Sure it may be fine a rough sketch, but anything beyond that will be very difficult because of how you will have to manually adjust the size and density of the brush.

Also, as I said before, an iPad is probably not the best way to learn to draw. It doesn't have a very high LPI touch resolution, even a $79 dollar Wacom pen tablet has a higher LPI. However, you said accuracy isn't a big deal and you don't want to use a PC, so if you want to keep using an iPad, that's your choice.

Really, I think pencil and paper are the best way to go when you are learning. If paper having "no undo" worries you because pencil doesn't erase cleanly, then get this. It has pencils that leave marks much lighter than a normal no. 2 pencil allowing very clean erasing when sketching, and has pencils that leave darker marks than no. 2 pencils, which is good for final linework. Plus, the different shades of pencil make shading your drawing much easier.

Also,
>I prefer that others don't tell me what to do, preaching their personal opinions as undisputed facts, leaving little room for interpretation and adjustment to one's preferences.

While nobody here is going to physically force you do anything, people may indeed tell you what do, as that is the point of constructive criticism/critique. It would be poor etiquette to simply criticize someone's work without offering advice or telling them how they can improve upon it. If you don't want someone telling you how to make your work better, and would rather do it on your own, but would still like to know what is wrong with your drawing, then maybe that it is something you should mention in the comments of your post.

Anyway, I hope this was helpful.

I used an iPad for a while with Sketchbook Pro, it worked okay, except it got slow as molasses after more than 3 layers. (I have the new one)

I use the cheaper one of these, it's one of the more precise kind of styluses you can get

I also have iDraw, but it's a vector drawing program more like Illustrator, I don't use it much.

The graphics tablet is definitely worth it if you can see yourself doing a lot of art in the future.

I guess it really depends on how much you're willing to spend.
I use it to draw and general. I've never tried inking, but it's a fairly steady tablet, so I think it would be just fine for inking. I'd say it's a beginner tablet though. You might be more interested in something like this, if you haven't already seen it.

Her spine and legs are pretty ramrod stiff. I'd recommend dedicating time into gesture drawing and really trying to capture the force and weight of living subjects.

I recommend these 2 books on the topic. 1 2 They will provide a lot of good info but paid books route isn't the most practicla option for most. Draw with Jazza, Sycra and Sinix are some youtube channels I recommend watching for tutorials.

I keep going back to the Wacom Tablet Pen.

sketching on a Tablet takes a lot of time to get use too, I mainly use it to outline.

You can take a photo or scan in your physical drawing / doodle and start to outline it really nice. The difference is that you need to make single sweeps to get the best type of lines.

If we're talking about books about comics I must mention that Scott McCloud has another book: Making Comics (It's not as great as Understanding Comics, while I'd have to own Understanding, Making is more of a checkout from the library once sort of book) and then there are the books by legendary cartoonist Will Eisner: here's the first one

Sorry to go off topic but I love all those books soooooo much! Had to give them a mention!

Here's an example of what you could do with SAI, a Wacom drawing tablet, and 5-10 minutes. If you have the money, you could get a basic Wacom Bamboo Splash Pen Tablet. I would definitely recommend one especially over a mouse.

Wacom Bamboo. About $50.

Here