Site premiere: new cover art, A Mark Of Appeal · 10:36pm Oct 3rd, 2023
No point in burying the lede on this one. There was a poll to see which story would get the next art commission, and there was also a clear winner. Accordingly, EquesTron's original visual concept for Joyous has been retired with honors.
And honestly, I think this one won because... y'all like to give Harwick problems. More than I give him, which takes some work. And with this story? We can bring it down to one word: 'metallics'. You can find real-life examples of horses with metallic coats, and that gave him some references to work from. But when it comes to translating the effect into both pony and a blue coat...
...and then he wanted to get reflective surfaces involved...
So this one took a while. But you know the rule with art: good, fast, cheap. Pick one.
And for the sake of your sanity, go with 'good'.
Repeat after me, kids:
To upvote and comment on the piece away from the blog, you need the DeviantArt page: you can find that here. (Also, the 'booru already grabbed it.)
If you want to tip Harwick for his efforts, the Ko-Fi page is here. And he just had a major computer expense, so tips would really help.
Sponsoring him through his Patreon page is done here. More people should do that. Seriously.
And lastly, if you want to commission him for a cover yourself, you can send him a PM through his FIMFic account. He's also frequently in the 'verse chat server if you need to discuss a piece directly.
Harwick and I will have one of those discussions in twelve days.
We're going to complete a set.
Travel blogs (and others) to come. Stay tuned for my unwanted intimate contact public quasi-assault. (Because of course that happened.) Also, the AST bus company. @$#% 'em. Forever.
Hey, you survived being on the same continent as a major war. Count your blessings.
As I said before, by your standards the old Parker Luck would be an improvement.
Harwick (as always) is awesome. And so are you.
As I've said elsewhere, it's exquisite work. Given that I have reliable income again, I may have to think about what covers I may want to upgrade...
huh?
oh.
for some reason i was confusing Joyous with Tryptich.
I love the subtle delicacy of not-showing her Cutie Mark.
Cool art
Poor old Shining's about to have a rough day, if I've got the right scene in mind. Lovely art!
Wow... this is really an amazing piece. At first I was a bit confused that Joyous's mark wasn't shown given that the story is called A Mark of Appeal but honestly, displaying her mark while trying to retain any amount of gravitas in the artwork would be a pretty tall order. Thus, highlighting the scene with Cadence and having her be front and center with Joyous is a pretty good way of showcasing how love is an important theme in the story without actually showing Joyous's mark.
Also really love the two sisters in background and how much their personality is showcased through their expressions. Overall, fantastic work!
And man I'm excited for whatever is gonna come from finishing the set.
It’s amazing work. I remember not voting for Mark because I’ve always thought that her cutie mark was first intended for a joke then the character took off. Hiding it was the way to go, and the whole piece came out tremendously.
I may have to reread it. It’s been a long time since I read the original tale of the beautiful monster.
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Can't post M-rated artwork, even on M-rated stories. This one's a T, so they have to be coy.