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Freckles need more love.

@Wiimeiser  
Well, most kids don’t get freckles right away. Google results are telling me they usually show up around age 4 or 5, and we know she’s older than that, so maybe she won’t get them. Granny Smith doesn’t have them either, and it’s not like they disappear with age.

In my headcanon hair and fur are tinted by magical residue staining the keratin. This is why hair can sometimes have multiple exotic tones, like with Sweetie Belle. This isn’t just MLP either, Touhou has basically the same idea (See: Remilia, Byakuren, Kisume, etc).  
For the freckles, maybe the difference in skin tone leads to different magical residue deposits, creating a noticeable difference. Why this hasn’t happened with Apple Bloom is anyone’s guess.

Well, I guess you could kinda count Luna’s buttox-mole the same way you count Applejack’s freckles …? Of course one could argue that this is part of her cutie mark, but let’s assume it isn’t.
 
If you compare their colours to the rest of the designs, they do not pop. and that part is important. First of all, they do not contrast with their ground colour (white on light gamboge and black on dark sapphire). Also, both colours are found somewhere else in the design (white eyes and black accessories). Big Mac’s freckles are white as well even though they contrast stronger on his crimson coat.
 
So here is what I get from this: Always use a colour that is already in the design and make sure it doesn’t contrast too strongly. It probably also helps to stick to black/white though I have seen OCs with coloured markings that looked good as well (usually it was a lighter version of the coat’s colour, i.e. light lavender on medium lavender).
 
If you want to stick strickly with the show’s style give your character identical freckles as Big Mac and Applejack, then you should be on the safe side.

I think it’s up to the artist’s drawing style. For example, seen in the image below (my OC Ocean Bird) I draw 3 freckles next to each of her eyes (partly covered by her mane), and about 6-7 freckles between her eyes (I know, her face is covered in freckles). But for me, adding freckles anywhere else just looks odd to me, as they look more like spots than freckles. However, there are other artists that do it and it looks a lot better when they do it. So overall, I would say try it out and see if it looks good. Then compare and contrast to see which one looks better.
 

OK, here’s another question and I want some theories. I don’t think there’s a right answer but I’d like to know what you think.
 
Obviously Applejack is designed to look like she has freckles, even though they’re on fur rather than skin. How far do you want to take that metaphor if you’re trying to add more detail?
 
Theory 1: She should only have the canonical six freckles.
 
Theory 2: They should mirror human freckles and concentrate on the face/ears/shoulders/upper forelegs.
 
Theory 3: Going back to the reason that human freckles appear in those places (sun exposure), apply that to a pony’s body shape–so she would have freckles on her face and generally all along her back and upper legs/flanks.
 
Which idea do you like better? I don’t suppose it matters since it’s really fur anyway and there’s not really a good reason for her to have freckles as opposed to spots in any random formation, but I’m interested to hear some thoughts.