Looking for some drawing resources to help with pony drawing.

Hello everypony, Rainb0w Dashie here.
 
So since I’ve dabbled a bit in digital painting and didn’t fail miserably, I feel I might actually be able to get the hang of painting ponies. The only problem is that I need to do some serious practice when it comes to the basics of ponies, and drawing in general. (I tried to take some classes but they kinda back-fired, but that’s community college for you).
 
Unfortunately, most of the pony tutorials are crap, especially the ones that everypony likes to show to newbies asking for art advice.
 
You know, these ones:
 
link
 
link
 
link
 
link
 
Now they aren’t inherently crap.They certainly have a lot of information, but none of it is useful to somepony like me who doesn’t know how to process it. To their credit, I’m pretty sure the creators made them with the thought that the viewer would be able to do the guess work of what it all means, but I need my hand held when it comes to this stuff. Like having it explained like I was a 5 year old. I look at the tutorials and for some reason it just doesn’t click with me, and then when I go to draw with what I’ve taken away from the tutorials my ponies come out looking robotic, or their poses don’t look natural, or I can’t get the proportions right.
 
So I was wondering if anypony could give me some easy to understand resources to learn how to draw ponies with.
 
I’m struggling with proportion, scale, anatomy and body structure, drawing ponies in different and dynamic poses. It all revolves around the basics of drawing.But more specifically, I need help understanding the anatomy of an mlp pony (e.g those lines and joint circles drawing inside the body and hooves), I need help understanding how all the parts of the pony relate to each other when sketching (like how far to make the head circle from the body circles, how far apart to make the body circles from each-other).
 
I fell if I can get a hang of those then I’ll be able to draw ponies in different poses other than a standing side view or a 3/4 shot, but right now I just don’t know what tro do to make a good looking, proportional pony.
 
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Thanks everypony.

This is the only pony tutorial I have in my DA faves  
link  
because even though it only points out where ankles and toes are on a horse, that small bit of information is immensely useful

As much as people say you need to, you don’t really need to focus on specific anatomy. I used Dshou’s tutorial when I first started drawing (that second link is one of his), but that’s only because my pony art is heavily inspired by his (and a few others).
 
As for me it’s just instinct that tells me whether or not something just looks right or not. My pony drawings are much more cartoon-like than realistic. It all depends on what you’re aiming for.
 
It’s tough for me to come up with some suggestions because I need to see your art if you don’t mind posting it.

@Latios381  

 
Whenever I ask other artists for help, no matter the topic, it’s always responses like this.
 
I’d ask them how to do a specific thing and they can’t really give an answer, just “whatever feels right”. Granted many artists don’t really think into what makes stuff look good to them, because they don’t think about it. There’s nothing wrong with that, but when you get someone like me who doesn’t know what to do or how to tell what feels right, it’s a very aggravating thing to hear.
 
Down here where I am I DO need to focus on specific anatomy, I need to focus on the basics of drawing, or else I won’t be able to do anything extraordinary beyond the planning phase.

@Rainb0wDashie
 
 
I thought I was the only one, but it appears that you and I are having the same problem…

@Rainb0wDashie  
Yeah sorry being an artist I speak like an artist XD
 
But I mean I was once not an artist at all, and I’m self-taught. I just started getting better I guess, I looked around at some of the artist’s work that inspired me, and I tried to mimic them. Me trying to mimic them created a style of my very own. Try looking at an artist’s work that inspires you, and attempt to mimic it. Make whatever changes feel comfortable to you.

These are the same ones I started with. I found to be unbelievably valuable for getting a grip on the basics when I was getting started:  
>>456502 (Safe)  
>>323395 (Explicit for a naughty bits guide at the bottom)
 
And one I found recently which would have been a big help back in the day:  
>>896311 (Safe)
 
And if you’re interested in making vectors (and don’t mind a little shameless self-promotion), a how-to guide made by me for turning sketches into them. It’s a bit outdated, but it’s tried and true and I still use this technique:  
>>631324

As someone who had spent 3 years trying to look for the digital painting resource that “just clicks” with myself among the colossal vaults of tutorials that are a thousand times bigger than the number of pony resources, I’ll give the answer to your question:
 
You’re not going to find it. That perfect tutorial you’re looking for that will make sense of everything for you? It doesn’t exist.
 
Art is problem solving, and each art problem has an infinite number of ways to solve, and everyone is going to solve it differently, in a way that makes sense to them. So unless you somehow could contact your future self that already mastered art, you’re not going to find the solution you need, asking for other people’s solution.
 
So what to do? Well, first, forget about having someone walking you through like a 5-year-old, because people will only do it for actual 5-year-old. After that, considering that you did quite well with the painting aspects, I will assume you have a good head. Use it. Feel free to ask artists or refer to resources for information, as they are the clues for you to figure things out, but for the actual solution, you have to do most of the thinking yourself. As the saying goes:  

Knowing a solution to a problem is not going to get you far, you need to learn how to solve problems. Try different things, improve what works, discard what doesn’t. Trial and error the hell out of it. You’ll find “how to draw ponies” there, and many other things.
 
One last note,

That is expected, really. You are new at this, so of course it won’t turn out right, especially when you try to tackle many things at once. Break things down as much as possible, it’s easier to learn that way. Tackle anatomy and dynamic pose separately; once you get the hang of both, you can combine them for the result you want.
 
tl;dr: If you want art skill, put in the thinking and the work; not as a 5-year-old, but as an artist.

What in particular are you having trouble understanding? The question you’re asking is “How can I force drawing to make sense to me?” While you can be given help on individual aspects of art, the entirety of the drawing process is largely a function of time – there’s no way to skip all the frustration of learning without depriving yourself of the skill itself.
 
The tutorials you have linked primarily focus on the composition of the body in terms of general proportions and joints. It tells you the relative length of the body and legs in terms of head size. This is admittedly not terribly important to worry about as most artists have varying preferences on what these proportions should be, but you should definitely make sure what you settle with looks correct to you. The joints are more important. Each circle/dot is an area where a limb or body part can move along that axis of rotation. Joints have to be considered while drawing or you’ll end up with unnatural poses that feel wrong.
 
What I did as I was first learning to draw is to find artists you like and then examine their work for certain components that really appeal to you. Try to incorporate that element into your work. Even though you’re unlikely to be able to integrate it in the same manner, through trying you’ll end up with something new entirely to add to your art. For example, if you see a piece and notice that the character has a very angular nose (and like it), try drawing a character with a similarly angular nose.
 
(Just to reiterate: if you can ask specific questions, it’ll be a lot easier for others to help you.)

@Stingray970
 
Second to last paragraph I detailed what specifically I’m having problems with.