Dryponies Art

The immeasurably talented Pencils (link warning: content is not sexual but sometimes gets a little racy: Tumblr, Patreon) whom you may know from his comic Anon's Pie Adventure, and if you don't know him and his comic then I urgently request that you check it out, recently posted to his Tumblr about some cheap but good equipment for digital sketching; useful for those of us who are not artists but do doodle and draw to degrees.

Like me! For years I have always sketched now and again. Never consistently, but for things like brainstorming, or arranging visual information better in my head. In a simple example, I have a "map" sketched out of the island from Necessary Love so that I know where everything is relative to each other. When I read Pencils' post I thought it might be a good opportunity to give digital artwork a try, so I picked up one of the Intuos draw pads that he recommended and have spent the past few days getting comfortable sketching with it. Here's the three major Dryponies from Melancholy Days roughly how I envisioned them:

(Broken Oak I drew first, and since this was all part of the learning process I did his with simple black outlines. When I got to the others I moved up and went closer to show style.)

So, not bad for a writer who only sketches in passing, eh? I have to say that the Intuos pad is a very nifty, easy-to-use tool! It hardly took me any time at all to get used to drawing on it compared to paper and pencils. If you're like me and do minimal doodling then you might find it useful considering that it is actually affordable art equipment. If you're thinking of getting into art in earnest, it might also be a great starting point without investing too much money. Here's a link to Pencils' post on the subject: http://pencilsponyforge.tumblr.com/post/164594476718/any-advice-for-someone-who-only-has-a-mouse-to

Just to be unambiguous: I'm not trading in my writing pen for a Wacom pen. There isn't going to be a bunch of art getting posted here or anywhere else. I have no goal to be an artist. The value of this to me is that now when I doodle something I can take advantage of some digital tricks, and color. Who knows, though? Maybe I'll incorporate a little art into the stories as long as it is so much easier now.

By the way, the reason I sketched the three Dryponies is not only because they are dear to me, but because I'm working on planning that story centered around Broken Oak. Willow Wise and Poppy of course play prominent roles, but we'll get to meet more Dryponies besides, and even get to know the good ponyfolk of Hamestown better. That story is a ways off though. More chapters of Necessary Love and rewriting/improving the chapters of Pride Goeth are the priority right now.

Speaking of...

Sorry that the next chapter of Necessary Love is taking a bit. The writing has not been flowing well the past few weeks. Even when I sit down every night and write for a bit, not much gets done. It's double trouble with the fact that it's going to be a busy autumn here in real life.

But it is coming along. Thank you so much for patiently reading. It's a joy to do this.