[SFW] Artist's Group Chat

tehwatever
Shimmering Smile - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of Equestria Girls!
Lunar Supporter - Helped forge New Lunar Republic's freedom in the face of the Solar Empire's oppressive tyrannical regime (April Fools 2023).
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Artist -
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab
Wallet After Summer Sale -
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2019) - Celebrated Derpibooru's seventh year anniversary with friends.

@Soobel  
Rendering is amazing, the skin folds were so nicely done. You used a reference? Them folds look plausible.
 
Expressions are something of a compromise. To express, you need to distort the face. Many (like me) choose static, safe expressions so the subject could look pretty.
 
Unfortunately you can’t have both expressive and pretty. To convey expressiveness You need to really push and pull the muscles on the face. You can’t have your face look like it’s the default, resting expression.
Background Pony #2DED
Could anyone provide a link to the image with Twilight and Cadence being tickled by a pair of tatzlwurms?
Soobel
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
Artist -

more amore best amore
@saby
 
I have read some times recommendations to draw clear cartoonish style or by real horses with whole anatomy thing. I have drawn some cartoonish ponies but about that real horse anatomy - it sounds me like draw a human face using gorilla’s anatomy. Its quite clear that our beloved little ponies are very far from real horses, so i try to hammer how they will look like in reality, using what i see in cartoon, how they move, do things and talks. Retaining so much special features as i could. Like i try to restore a fictional creature using caricatures made of them.
 
About contrasts and “values” (i dont understand what about you talk - its about slider of a color between pale to eyebreaking bright?)  
At this topic i have invented a wheel near 20 years, suggestions from other artists are between “kill yourself” and “find another hobby” this far but i believe i have improved abit. But constructive critique and advices are very velcome :)
 
@tehwatever
 
I drew 10-15 years ago plenty of fat animals to anicient PC game “Outlaws.” It was simple enough for one people, so i multiplied the files and replaced sprites in them and draw near 100 frames for each creature. There i learned how a plump animal will look like and where the folds and rolls must be.
 
full
 
So in summary: i must hammer much more of facial features, muscles and thing.  
On other things i believe im improved a bit in 15 years.
 
Before:  
full
 
After:  
full
saby
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
King Sombra - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of The Crystal Empire!
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
A Perfectly Normal Pony - Red is Sprout, yellow is Hitch, you are a lout, and also a bitch.
Speaking Fancy - Badge given to members that help with translations
Tree of Harmony - Drew someone's OC for the 2022 Community Collab
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Kinship Through Differences - Celebrated the 11th anniversary of MLP:FIM!

Moderator
extra fun at parties
@Soobel  
re: either draw clearly cartoony ponies or realistic horses  
I don’t agree with that at all. It might be decent advice for a beginner, but you’re clearly not a beginner any more. Any point on the scale from absolute abstraction to cartoony style to photorealism can be done successfully.
 
What I think the person who said this actually meant, is that it’s harder to succeed (i.e. make appealing pictures) in between cartoony style and realism. That’s true, it is harder. The challenge comes from having to balance multiple aspects of realism/style. I mentioned the realistic renderings of cartoon characters like Homer Simpson. We don’t want to accidentally create that effect. For examples, >>2495579 is a cartoon pony with teeth that are way more realistic/detailed than anything else in the picture. >>2290464 combines photorealistic detail level with exaggerated cartoon proportions. >>2286109 is stylistically about the same all over, but combines human features like the eye shapes, eye position, jawline, and lips to what is otherwise intended to be a pony with a pony muzzle and pony ears. >>125882 is fully pony shaped, but rendered in photorealistic textures.
 
Usually the effect isn’t quite so obvious and extreme, but can still make viewers uncomfortable.
 
 
re: draw a human face using gorilla’s anatomy  
It may sound odd, but it’s true. MLP ponies are built like horses and they move like horses (as long as cartoon physics isn’t in effect). They are stylised horses, not some alien species. Even drawing completely faithful G4 ponies, knowing horse anatomy is very useful, and when we step away from absolutely cartoony towards slightly more realistic, we should aim for more horse-like, not simply make things up based on the G4 model. Cartoon ponies and horses are just as related as cartoon humans and real humans. The proportions and detail level are different to make the cartoons cuter, but the inner workings are all the same.
 
re: contrast and value  
Value means luminosity, i.e. how dark or light something is. Highlights should be very light, sometimes almost white, and shadows should be dark, sometimes black. If everything in the picture is somewhere in the middle range of value, it looks odd unless the scene is set in a shady mist.
 
Saturation would be the range of colour that goes from dull and grey to eyebreaking bright.
 
Hue means the sort of colour, i.e. light pale blue and deep rich blue are both blue in hue.
 
Contrast can be the difference between all of these, like the contrast between a light, bright red and a dark, dull green. Or it can be any combination.
 
some additional points  
I’d like to address just the eyes for now. The eyes are set like a human’s eyes (in the front of the face), but the head is a pony’s head. Horse (and G4 pony) eyes are set towards the sides of the head, at an angle, so they can see around themselves and see predators from any angle. Humans, descending from creatures who lived in trees and needed great depth perception to make jumps, have forward-facing eyes. Other animals with forward-facing eyes tend to be predators, who need depth perception to know when to strike at their prey.
 
Another thing is the massive size of the iris, filling almost the entire eye. This isn’t correct for humans or ponies. It would be correct for a realistic horse, but that’s not what we have, so the expression looks directionless and odd.
 
So I suggest to 1. move the left eye away from the center of the face and 2. make the irises just a bit smaller. https://imgur.com/a/d5VgBJ4
Dex Stewart
Silly Pony - Celebrated the 13th anniversary of MLP:FIM, and 40 years of MLP!
Shimmering Smile - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of Equestria Girls!
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Roseluck - Had their OC in the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
King Sombra - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of The Crystal Empire!
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Princess of Love - Extra special version for those who participated in the Canterlot Wedding 10th anniversary event by contributing art.
Elements of Harmony - Had an OC in the 2022 Community Collab
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.

Ecto-Phase,Activate!
I’m still working on my stop motion videos. I made one I like but I’m not sure I could post it here,it may be considered a little too disgusting.
Soobel
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
Ten years of changes - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of MLP:FiM!
Artist -

more amore best amore
@saby  
Thanks for helpful advices!  
Your version of subject are cute, though i think eyes should be little bit closer and bigger. Any way you have far better 3D perception of that scull, especially how and where left cheek merges with muzzle’s side, i have serious problems with drawing that place and eyes and nose went different direction. (Im not sure your version of face gain less downwotes than me XD )  
About realistic horse-like look i stay at different opinion, i used to think anatomically they look more like felines with longer legs and neck. Fleshy and dextrous limbs and flexible muscular body instead of shetland’s pot-bellied rigid bulk. So they can wear clotches and reach to brush their manes. With real horse’s anatomy it will be very difficult or even impossible.
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