Art, Covers, Aged-Up Foals, and One Hundred Years of Solitude · 8:15pm Mar 4th, 2014
One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of the best books I've read lately, and y'all should take a peek at it. It's about a family that goes through a lot of very tough stuff and also weird things like raining flowers. And also about how time is circular, history repeats itself and yaddah yaddah just go read it.
Anyway! I'm not here to talk about incredibly good books. I'm here to talk ponies. I was supposed to write a story about Thunderlane being cool, but instead I thought something like hey, you know what's annoying? Teenagers. Let's write about teenagers!
Now, I gotta admit something: I actually like Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Sure, they are jerks, but they are so deliciously evil that I can't help but think that they're awesome characters. Horrible ponies, I wouldn't like a child like that near my little brother, but as a fictional cartoon horse? Heck yeah they're awesome.
So of course, I started writing about them. As teenagers. Because if foal!Diamond Tiara is a jerk, just imagine her going through puberty. Hooo boy. She's also very pretty, right? Silver Spoon is also interesting, but for completely different reasons. Mainly, that she has no personality so any author can write about her the way he likes, and as long as she's a jerk, he's probably going to be more or less right about her.
In other words: Silver Spoon fic being written at the moment! And I actually drew the cover art myself. Problem is...
Why, hello there, cutie.
Oooh yeah, look at that. Isn't she pretty? It's been a while since I drew a pony, but I'm actually proud of this thing. Some people tell me the legs are too long, but I like them that way. All slender and tall and spider-like and teenager-ish and stylish. Yeah, that's Silver Spoon, by the way. I know it's hard to tell.
Only problem is: I can't use Photoshop, or Sai, or whatever (I tried to use MSPaint once but my computer came to life and slapped me in the face, so that's not an option either). I can only draw on paper and I can't even scan this. So I guess it's time for me to look for a guy who can ink/color this thing. And of course, I'm broke as hell, so there's no way I can pay for this, because that would be too easy (and I wouldn't be writing this if I had money. I would be riding a boat made of gold while drinking martinis and petting my trained jaguar). Does any of you guys know anybody who can help me with this? Like, I give him the lineart and he does the rest so it looks slightly less unproffesional?
Also, if you feel like commenting on the picture, that could be cool too. I mean, so far only two people have seen it and their reactions were more or less "draw shorter legs, and make her chubbier," so I guess that if enough people tell me that I might change it. Who knows?
One Hundred years of solitude is fucking awesome. I'm pretty sure it's the last non-pony novel I read. My mother hated it. I love it. It's so wonderfully weird. I understand the original spanish language version has tons of wordplay in it.
And that drawing makes me think of miami in the eighties. The Who's Emminence Front is playing in the background.
I love your style!! Don't change it what ever you do!!!! If you'd like I could have a crack at colouring it, but I'm no professional so maybe getting someone else to do it would be a better idea.
http://tp-night.deviantart.com/
Take a look at some of my stuff there, and if you like it, I am willing to make a try at that Silverspoon picture.. I can't make any promises, But I can try
As you can see there, I have made one cover for another author here, and is currently working on several more for another author..
So, look my stuff up, and if you want me to do a try, contact me
here on Fimfic
REAL men use MSPaint. You wuss.
I can kind of see where the people you showed this to before came from with 'too skinny and too long legs'. While I don't see that problem that much, I definitely have to agree with the legs. Kind of even reminds me of Barbie dolls.
I might be able to help if you don't find anyone else, but I'm not really an artist. I would likely be able to vector and color it in a quality similar to the show (in other words, simple coloring with little use of shading). It would need to be done over the weekend, though, as right now most of my free time is taken.
It certainly doesn't look like a teenager pony from the show. The proportions of a show-accurate teenager would be more like the version of filly Fluttershy from The Cutie Mark Chronicles for a young teenager, or the proportions of an adult with a little less bulk for an older teenager. So, if you are going for the show look, then yes, less legs and more chubby.
Also, the head and eye sizes. The younger the age of a character, the larger her head compared with her body and the larger her eyes compared with her head. If you want show accurate, both her head and her eyes need to be larger, so that her proportions become an intermediary between an adult pony and her current filly version.
The way you have drawn her, she looks more like an adult - and a quite svelte one - rather than a teenager.
That being said, I don't see anything wrong with the drawing per see, as long as you aren't aiming at keeping the style accurate with the show. But if you keep the current drawing be warned that people might misinterpret her age.
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Eeeh, I wasn't going for the show style at all. And the pic is supposed to be her trying to look like an adult. It doesn't look like that, it looks like her being an adult mare, but I like the picture so much that I honestly think I don't really care. Taking your advice in account, though.
Man, I gotta draw more often.
I admit, I really, really like this stylized version of MLP. The whole aesthetic of the image works very well, especially if Silver grows into a more Fleur-de-Lis-ian pony, thus emphasizing her Prench heritage, rather than being just another Ponyville brat. I quite enjoy Silver Spoon m'self.
I will be watching for this story.
I really like the drawing. A bit stylized, but nothing wrong with that. The Fleurish proportions look good, and you don't see many ponies drawn to them, so it helps her stand out.
And yes, DT is wonderful in her horribleness. Ponyville Confidential really sold me on her.
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For trying to look like an adult I would go with teenager body proportions and adult clothing. Perhaps with platform horseshoes (do these even exist?) in an attempt to look taller.
Apart from the proportions of the head, though, I'm not sure how the relative sizes of the body parts change with the age between teenagers and adults...
BTW, your current drawing reminds me too much of Fleur Dis Lee, which is why I made that comment about age confusion.
You should also read "House of Spirits" if you liked "One Hundred Years of Solitude". It's very similar. Also, you don't necessarily have to make her "chubbier"; she could be anorexic
By "boat" is that a rowboat or yacht?
I'm indifferent on the picture, honestly.
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Not funny, brah.
And I like slender legs in ponies, goddammit!
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img.izifunny.com/pics/20111013/640/its-okay-bro._1.jpg
One Hundred Years of Solitude is incredible. Also, I'm looking forward to this! I always enjoy stories about future CMC/DT&SS, and this one's going to come from a great writer!