To the one who suggested I work in vectors:

d1ckbitch I think it was.

What have you done to me? Now I have to do things like "take my time" and "pay attention to details". How is this supposed to make me a better artist?

I say that in jest, of course. My drawings already look better just because they aren't so…Paintey. But I'm working on something now where I'm trying to really do my best, and I think it looks good so far but it's taking a while. I could whip out a crappy Paint drawing in a day before. Now I've spent two days working on one character's head. And I have the rest of her to draw, plus the second character and the scene. So I honestly have no idea when this will get posted but hopefully people will like it.

Just wanted to say thanks for the suggestion, I don't think I'll be doing Paint anymore, it's too much effort for not enough results.

You'll get faster and better. It takes awhile to "think in bezier curves", but once you get your brain used to it, you'll be drawing with portals.

@Ciaran
I actually think I'm picking up Bezier curves pretty quickly. I didn't really know what to do with them at first but as soon as I realized that the little lines you move around are tangents to the curve, it made sense to my math brain. And like I was explaining to someone earlier today, I think I'm picking up operating the software pretty quick too, it's basically CAD software which is not a foreign concept to a engineer like me. CAD, for drawing ponies.

The thing that's going to take me some time is picking up all the little details in an image. My very left-brained mind sees a stick figure and says, "ah, that is a pony". So I have to get past "eh, good enough" and really fill things in.

@Nate5700
Yeah, they're almost shockingly intuitive once you start working with them. especially if you have a CAD background. It's just engineering drawings. Engineering drawings of colorful horses.

Now I have to do things like "take my time" and "pay attention to details"

I know that feel

But vector is another approach, less direct for sure. Each one has advantages and drawbacks — discovering these is part of your journey as an artist

Also Bezier curves will become more and more intuitive. I can remember that. You'll soon feel automatically when you need to add more points to a curve, and where to place it.