Sister, we need to talk.

Well, last time I’ve drawn alicorn princesses it turned out great so let’s do it again. Not to mention, my last few pictures have been mostly sci-fi soldiers so now is the best time to return to my bread and butter. Princesses, dresses, ponies, etc. Plus I have been recently inspired by terraaremar’s work.

Last time, we featured Twilight and Nyx so this time it’s none other than the good Royal Sisters in a peaceful setting of Canterlot Gardens, which I always viewed as a bit of a small forest adjacent to the palace proper, filled with all sorts of cute critters who are very timid, don’t at all fear you and stay still to be petted, isn’t that right Fluttershy?
Anyway, this is actually a moment I always wanted to depict. Luna and Celestia having a long overdue heart-to-heart after Luna’s rather … turbulent return from banishment shall we say. I’m glad I put off drawing this for so long because now, after drawing many pictures, I at least have the skill to make sure the whole scene is at least mildly charming and beautiful. It’s funny really, I have been drawing anthro ponies for a long time but only recently I properly learned to consider the size difference between ordinary ponies and alicorns.

Speaking of size, I had to scale down the format a bit to make sure both Celestia and Luna fit into the frame. It’s a good thing I’ve drawn a practice sketch comparight height of different antro ponies. That’s how I found out Celestia is COLLOSAL. She’s so tall, I actually failed to fit her into the frame of my practice sketch. I was unable to properly draw her head, there was only enough space for her chins basically. She’s disproportionatelly taller than any other anthro mare I’ve ever drawn.
Luna is more managable, she’s only a little bit taller than Twilight Sparkle in my last picture. You mind find this hard to believe but this is actually the first time I’ve ever drawn short haired Luna, harkening back to how she appeared at the very beginning in Season 1 of Friendship is Magic. I admit, I never liked her mane like this. I always loved the long starry mane but that’s mostly because I love starry night sky so much so you can’t really make anything better in my mind. Now that I’ve finally drawn her with a shorter and brighter mane it’s … not so bad, actually. I still love her longer mane but if nothing else, this silvery mane contrasts really well with her darker coat and dress. It makes her look at least 200 years younger than she actually is, the adorable little lady.

Now, how about these dresses though.
Celestia, that’s obviously Roccoco. Grandiouse and extravagant. Very wide bell gown, very puffy, very decorative. Pastel bright colours. Adorned in jewelry. Short off-the-shoulder sleeves. Granted, not everything about her fits Roccoco. For example, she doesn’t wear an insane several pound heavy wig or a fancy hat, which were typical of Roccoco. Her make-up is also not as heavy but that’s mostly because Celestia does not need it. Her coat is naturally pure white so she has that covered.
Luna, she’d fit sometime in the Middle Ages. Mid 14th century. The dress profile is much more straight. The skirt is not as wide and her sleeves are very long, so long they actually have kind of capes. These are called ‘lappets’. It is certainly not as magnificiently decorated. Overal Most of the decorations are situated around the black rims of its various features. The most decorative part is the inner skirt. I also gave her corset which actually does not fit 14th century. Corsets (wore by both men and women) mostly began to appear during Renaissance in 15th century.

Maybe it’s a little bit weird to apply real world fashion when making dresses for pony ladies. I’m sure Equestria has it’s own fashion timeline. Too bad I haven’t discovered a lenghty study describing it. I’m sure Rarity wrote some. Maybe we can also look at the dresses as symbols of both pony and batpony culture but I’ll leave such wondering for another time …

Ah yes, almost forgot to share some music I listened to while drawing this:
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