[SFW] Artist's Group Chat

@saby  
like just basicly anything the comic has in it? becuase it seems a bit much

@Mr100dragon100  
Well not everything everything but… anything that’s prominent? Especially related to the sort of actions and situations and emotions that are taking place.

@saby  
oh ok, next time i’ll do that

@saby  
Hey, I’m only curious, but do you take requests for either pony art or scenery art?

@Parcly Taxel  
Just wondering if you’re able to create my OC

@Background Pony #4A1B  
Sure, but depending on what you have in mind, it’ll cost you a couple of bucks.

@saby  
Um, I don’t really want to risk it, as I’m saving up for more important things.  
I’ll just find someone else, if that’s all right with you

@Badumsquish  
Hey, just curious if your taking requests for either pony art or scenery art

Insane?
 

@UmbraPone1  
Question  
Are you able to create another OC after Crystal Purity?

Would anyone be willing to teach me how to create my own OCs/pony art and scenery are from scratch?

@Background Pony #4A1B  
Traditional art? I may be able to help there.
 
Digital? No.
 
The trick to drawing the ponies is drawing a circle for the head, and getting the body shape right. After that everything else is just down to practice.

@40kponyguy  
Oh, I was kinda referring to digital art
 
But thanks anyway

@Background Pony #4A1B  
If you’re drawing digitally, you still start with basically the same process.
 
Draw a circle. Draw more circles, tubes, rectangles, etc. Make them a head and a body.
 
Same for trees. Draw a vertical tube. Put balls on top of it. Make it look like a tree.
 
Since you want to draw digitally, what tools you’re using really does make a difference as to how you create those shapes. For example, if you’re using Maya you’re going to be loading objects or creating new extrusions. If you’re drawing with Sai then it’s more like working on paper except the lines either are completely digital pixels or they are curves with ‘handles’ that you manipulate.
 
So - what kind of digital drawing do you want to do, and have you tried any of the youtube videos that are available for getting started in that tool?
 
There’s lots of ‘how to’ that will show you everything from getting your tool set up to doing advanced shading and texturing - what have you tried? What tools are you working with?

@Ciaran  
Make it look realistic.
 
As if it isn’t a cartoon, but real lifer=

@Background Pony #4A1B  
Yes, that’s very doable. But it can take years of training and practice and experience with your tools.
 
Are you currently doing any art?

@Ciaran  
No

@Background Pony #4A1B  
Well, you’re in the perfect place to start :)
 
You have a lot of ideas of things you would like to draw, and like Lauren Faust said, everyone only has about a thousand crappy drawings in them before you start drawing the good stuff.
 
So - start getting those thousand crappy drawings out of the way and you’ll soon be drawing the kind of thing you want to draw :)
 
If you’re starting from scratch, just grabbing any kind of paper - even paper bags - and a wooden pencil is a great way to start. Just start drawing what you see around you.
 
Here’s a video for the absolute beginner that doesn’t seem to be horrifically condescending or useless … and it doesn’t seem to be trying to get your money. Give it a look and see what you can do :)
 
Drawing is the kind of thing that you’ll never completely ‘learn’. No matter how long you do it, there will always be something you want to improve. But the sooner you start the better you can get.
 
… even as I type that, I notice that the video I suggested actually starts with a good point about not choking up on the pencil … I think I’m gonna watch that video, it’s a lot of good basics.

@Ciaran  
And seriously - that thing I said first is really important. Eventually you’ll ‘run out of ideas’ of things to draw. Having a burning inspiration like you have really can make a world of difference in keeping going.

@Ciaran  
I just feel like I don’t have a talent for art

@Ciaran  
At least not on my own. I feel like I’ll need an expert to guide me through

@Background Pony #4A1B  
Having expert guidance definitely helps.
 
But, drawing realistic things is something you can start doing yourself.
 
Even if you want to eventually draw characters or amazing scenery, if you start with a drawing a realistic box can really give you experience with the basics and will open up what is possible.
 
Sure, it’s just a box. But if you want to draw things realistically, boxes can do a lot of work. Once you can draw a box, you can draw a street scene, or a car, or a million other things that are, from a certain point of view, just a box.

@Background Pony #4A1B  
@Background Pony #4A1B  
I have no talent, either. What I do have, I learned from school and gym: consistent, dedicated practice and sticking to a schedule.
 
Many currently digital artists like Marco Bucci, Mohammad Agbadi, Adam from Lucidpixul, Ross Draws etc also draws parallel of drawing with physical exercise.
 
I dont mean to discourage you but I want you to be aware of this sooner than later: like any endeavor, you will face discomfort and you must work through it. Keeping in mind practice and study.
 
Practice is when you’re grinding the fundamentals. Think about it as the training and daily workout before the day of the performance. It keeps you ready and it makes the creative part even more fun.

@Background Pony #4A1B  
Most good, even great artists don’t have any innate “talent”. Sure, people have different brains with different learning rates for hand-eye coordination or visual analysis etc, but they’re nothing without the rest of the package.
 
So don’t think you need “talent” to have meaningful growth as an artist.
 
As for the guidance, just join an art server on Discord, or a group on some other platform, or even go on /mlp/ drawthread. There’s lots of people who can give good advice for a beginning/early intermediate artist round those, and you’ll definitely get better results crowdsourcing your learning if you can’t pay someone to actually tutor you.