Thank you!
Well, I'm not sure. Actually it's only the third time I drew a pony, for some reason I started with a rather difficult perspective for all of them, especially for the head. I think most people start drawing them from the side. You may remember those first few practice-sketches I posted here quite a while back which were in side and front view, the ponies I drew are all in 3/4 which is a bit more difficult.
I'm not sure I want to try something else yet, I don't think I have enough practice just yet.
The plan is to draw a few pictures that are in some way connected to each other and tell a simple story, and maybe even some comic-strips when I get around to it.
It still takes me quite long to finish one of those pictures, you'll see if you care to dig up my post that contained the first sketch for the one above. That problem also stems from the fact, that "just about good enough" isn't good enough for me, so I keep working, deleting and reworking large chunks of the pictures until I'm happy with it.
However, I always notice small things that I need to look out for the next time I draw something, some minor errors that don't justify changing the picture, but things that I plan to do better next time.
For drawing these pictures, I actually use a combination of MyPaint and GIMP.
MyPaint is a very simplistic but also very accessible tool and it's very intuitive to use.
It lacks any image-editing tools like selections but it provides you with layers so you can for example draw the mane on a different layer than the body and not have to worry if you need to change one independently from the other.
It also lacks the ability to select parts of your picture and drag them around on the layer, which is where I use GIMP.
The cutiemark for example, I didn't draw that one in the perspective you see on the pic but actually completely separate from the pony, then opened the picture of the pony in GIMP and added the cutiemark on a new layer, selected it and moved, rotated and stretched it to fit the perspective and then saved the result.
That's what I use GIMP for, but it's also quite useful when you want to apply filters or effects.
BTW, shopping the Applejack-image onto the orange tractor a few pages ago was also done in GIMP...
As for how long it took me; well, I always liked to draw and with a proper graphics-tablet it's really only a matter of getting used to
'not drawing something where you draw it'... I did have a bit of experience with image-editing though as I used to create screenshots for Trackmania-tracks I built quite a while back...
Even so, I really started with digital art (digital drawings) about two months ago with the first few sketches I posted here.
Learning how to properly use more complex programs like GIMP took more time and looking up quite a few tutorials though.
That said, learning to draw ponies took me about to months but that really depends on how much time you have and how easily you get sidetracked. (for me it was: rather not so much and a lot
) There are sources to my wisdom though and I'm basically still practicing so I look them up quite frequently.
The first two links were given to my by Aresye, the third one is a quite helpful pic I just stumbled across today:
http://www.dragoart....comment_section
http://www.reddit.co...osebuilding_in/
http://vertrev.devia...-pony-201791308
Anyway, if you're thinking about starting with this yourself, I'd suggest you get a graphics-tablet (there should be plenty decent ones for about 50$), you could try to draw with your mouse, but I find that almost impossible. You'll also have to look up a few tutorials on how to properly use the programs.
Anyway, you should also have a look at the following, it's a tutorial made by by a girl who helped me a little with the cutiemark for that pegasus.
http://slightinsanit...llery/#/d594gnh
There are links to her video-tutorial in the description of the linked picture, she has developed her own style of drawing ponies, but it's really interesting to see how she draws and what techniques she uses... I for one learned a whole lot about possible ways to use the different tools in MyPaint just by watching her...
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Tanki, actually I didn't touch MWLL for quite some time, but I know what you mean, spent a lot of time on that map, not always playing though
Cryengine is awesome
However, that pretty much concludes this wall-o-text, hope it was interesting to read for you, Samaritan.
Quick someone post ponies to compensate for so much text!!!
I don'T want to make my post even longer...
Edited by Sesambrot, 06 August 2012 - 11:54 AM.