[SFW] Artist's Group Chat

So, one of my goals happened yesterday. I managed to be featured in a Drawfriend on Equestria Daily (I’m #4). It really feels validating since I’ve been at this for about five years.

@Salamenace  
Do you need a DA to be considered?

@Itsthinking  
Needing a DeviantArt to be featured on Equestria Daily? Not necessarily.

@Itsthinking  
EqD only takes tumblr or dA link.

@Salamenace  
Woo, congrats! ^_

@Grieffon  
I do have both. It isn’t one of my goals but I wanted to be at least in the running in the distant future.

@Badumsquish  
I’ve said this before, I love your stuff and this is no exception. Trixie is adorable!

@Grieffon  
I just thought they’d take any image as long as it had a source.
 
@Equum Amici  
Thanks.
 
And now for my *50th image, a redraw of my first image I posted on Deviantart.  
 

@Badumsquish  
Can’t look at that without my mind filling in the “squee-ee” noise it does on the show.
 
Not posted my latest couple of offerings in the thread yet, so here  
 
My Neighbour Totoro crossover with a younger Equestria Girls Fluttershy.
 
As stated in the description for this, I’m aware the hinting at leaves and bushes in the background didn’t come out right. Not happy with the background here.
 
 
And then we have this.  
20 minutes from a blank sheet to this ready for scanning.  
“An Academy Record”  
(Or a record for me at least).

@EddersCPFC  
She’s also unusual, because she’s only got 1 light point (white highlight) in her eye.  
Most other characters have 2.

@40kponyguy  

 
Here’s a tip: don’t use pure black. Ever. Ok, there are a few exceptions, but in almost every case, a really dark color (usually analogous or complementary) will look better.
 
As for the foliage, the leaves are too sparse and have too much contrast (much more defined highlight-shadow than the characters/main subject), so they stand out like a sore thumb. The single tree trunk and its leaves, being unique, also stand out too much; and the foreground and background are too equally divided:
 

 
Now, compare to what you used for reference:
 

 
The characters are given more space than the background, and the similar leaf shapes don’t just appear at one spot, but scatter throughout the image. But most importantly, look what happen when I convert both images to pure black and pure white:
 
 

 
The references picture keep the background in the same value group so they don’t stand out more than they should. Keep your contrast where you want people to look at.

@Grieffon  
Here’s the screenshot I used for reference
 

 
Anyway, you can probably see that the Totoro is that shape in that screenshot, and the background to character ratio is the same as in my own sketch.
 
As for the background, you have valid points, and I will bear them in mind in future. Thanks for the tips.

@40kponyguy  
Just put the link between two exclamation marks.
 
No, the ratio is actually not the same. The downward slope towards Totoro’s belly and the slightly greater height of the reference offset it. Usually this small of a difference is not that big of a deal, but the division in your pic is so near-perfect, it stands out. Well, to me at least, but almost nobody would be this picky.

@40kponyguy  

 
Yeah I found that kinda odd with Trixie, did she two of them as a filly instead of three? :P
 
I always draw her with one of course, but sometimes it can throw me off and sketch two by accident.

Goo pony, meet Smooze pony:  

 
And the animated reaction to this:  

 
@40kponyguy  
She was definitely the first unique character that wasn’t in the main cast. She also has a differently shaped horn (it’s about as long as Twilicorn’s is now) and has unique eyelashes that are only shared with Mayor Mare. I think that and her really great color scheme really helped to make her so popular. Just… look at that design. It’s near perfect:  

Akaname pony!  

It’s been ages since I’ve talked to any of you
 

@Clarence Wrathpony  
We’re still here, lurking.
 
Need to get another doodle up here soon.  
Got a request for Aria Blaze as a character from Star Wars Rebels. (Seventh Sister or something, can’t remember exactly and I don’t follow the series), so I’ll probably rattle that off.
 
Side note, I watched “Legend of Everfree” with my daughter last night, so I may do a sketch of Gloriosa Daisy soon too.

@40kponyguy  
I honestly forgot star wars rebels was a thing

OOOOOOH MY GOD, GUYS! Guess what?! I just downloaded Photoshop…….CS6! I’m going to study hard for this program if I want to make something either awesome or sexy! Right now, I’m planning on making an edit picture of Rara screencap from Legend of Everfree, and editing a Hawaiian luau attire. Here’s the picture:  

@Deon Miller  
Awesome man. Take some time to learn the ins and outs of the program.

@Salamenace  
Thanks. Don’t know where to find some tutorials besides Youtube. Could just go to DeviantArt of the official Adobe website.

@Deon Miller  
Best way to do it is to start with just making vectors of screenshots. It’s how I started out :D
 
There’s sort of just a lot of little tricks you’ll pick up here and there, and different tricks work for different people. For example, I made a tutorial for the technique that I use, and while I swear by it, for every person who liked it I had another saying “this is way too complicated” or “this is a terrible method”:  

 
Whereas the guy who runs this site has like a completely different method:  
Linked because it’s super explicit
 
It’s definitely one of those things where you need to just play around with it, learn the software you’re using, start easy (with things like this) and learn it at your own pace.

@Deon Miller  
@Badumsquish  
That said, I’m on most regular, so if you have any specific questions feel free to ask me, k? I’ll do my best to fill you in :D