AquilaTEagle [2020-01-14 02:07:41 +0000 UTC]

Welcome to DA! There is a really great Pony community here, and many that will be super excited to see your art! We put together a "welcome page" in early 2020 to help you get your bearings and connect.
Check out StartledFlowerPony , RainbowTashie , and EStories  to get you started. They all have journals that showcase various art and try to interact with new artists.
   

Some terminology that confused me at first:
Canon: Any part of the Hasbro MyLittlePony Generation 4 series: MLPFIM (Friendship is Magic, 9-season TV series), MLP Equestria Girls (4 Movies and a Youtube series), MLP Gen 4 Specials. IDW Comics AFTER Season 9 may also become canon.
Headcanon: An artist's interpretation of the Canon . . so NOT canon. But, that is the great thing about art, you can do whatever you like!
AU: Alternative Universe, other interpretations of the universe, one popular example is Lopoddity
Next-Gen: Next Generation, related to AU, often Crosses canon ponies to get their offspring or produces a Matrix of ponies to cross, and example is VelveagicSentryYT
OC: Original Character, something an artist-designed, not canon.
Commission: Paying an artist either points or money to make some art for you, often your OC, but could be anything. Art Trades are like commissions but the payment is another piece of art that you make. Examples are Scarlet-Spectrum , Cabbage-Arts , AiriniBlock
Base: The base outline of a pony or character, with mane, tail, and other features missing. The purpose of a base is for any artist to use it as a starting point, and they can fill in the pattern, textures, and details. OCs are often made by starting with a base. Always link to the original base you used, not just to the Base Artists that you got the Base from.  Some base producers are - KatNekoBase , Pegasski   When you want to think about coloring these bases and doing an edit, here is an extensive Analysis of Color Schemes of MLP: FiM
Pony Creators: These are software programs, often cell-phone based that let you put together a pony.  One I have been told about is "Pony creator by Generalzoi"
YCH: "Your character here", like a commission, except the artist shows you the basic design, then puts whatever character you like in the final version.
Adoptables: Many artists make characters with a backstory and a design that they can sell to you. You could therefore "adopt" an OC that becomes yours (the exact rules vary), see OhHoneyBee  as an example
Ship: Short for relationSHIP, or a romantic interest between two or more characters. Some artists take these relationships very seriously. Example: RariJack (Rarity and AppleJack) LooknamTCN  as example
Rare mare: Canon background ponies that don't have much fan art surrounding them. Contests exist to try and find these ponies and help create more art for them.

Below, we tried to organize some of the different types of art for MLP on DA and give one or two example artists. These artists were chosen because they are active and have a good attitude towards other artists. There are many other great ones we have left out though!

Vector Artists - Use vector software so the style is similar to the show
- AndoAnimalia  is a great example of a celebratory artist, who loves to use the canon ponies to make others feel happy
 

Digital Artists - This is the largest group on DA, since it is a digital art site. These artists start from a sketch and use non-vector software, usually with a digital pen or table. Many you will easily find featured on the front page of DA itself!
- VanillaGhosties  Is very open about his process and is still really dedicated to MLP and the community, Darksly-z  A very generous digital artist
 

EqG (Equestria Girls) Artists - Focus their art on Equestria Girls (this is not the same as anthro or humanize MLP)
- WubcakeVA  who has been involved for 9 years and also does some voice work for fan videos


Pony Comics - These comics take a lot of work to produce
- dSana  currently writing about Tempest Shadow, Sintakhra  does a great series on the Student 6
 

Traditional Artists - Paint or Pencil on real Paper
- LiaAqila  Colorful rainbow Dash, Paladin360  Pencil for huge stories, Moonlight-Ki  Colored Pencil for Gorgeous details
   

Photography - Taking real pony or EqG dolls out into the world and photographing them, I sometimes run contests in this space to see if you can guess where the pony characters are. There is a related category called PIRL or IRL (Ponies in Real Life)
- ArtOfMagicPoland , FluttershyHiker
 

3D Rendering - Digital artists who use a 3D model (SFM and Blender are some of the software programs artists use):
- TheRealDJTHED  animated pony 3D models, ImAFutureGuitarHero  who does EqG and Sunset Shimmer. I am not so knowledgable in this space, but I think many artists will share their models so you have starting point (kind of like a base)
 

Sculptors - Shuxer59  uploads amazing videos showing his process

Plushies - If you want to own a real soft pony, come check out these artists:
Thanks to   who is the expert in this space for producing the list below of Plushie artists from around the world:
- Sweden: Epicrainbowcrafts
- Poland: agatrix , DixieRarity , LionCubCreations , RosaMariposaCrafts
- USA: Little-Broy-Peep , AkiaCreations
- Russia: Essorille , KetikaCraft , LanaCraft , My-Little-Plush  
- UK: ThePyroPony   - Italy: Masha05  
- Estonia: Egalgay   - Netherlands: meplushyou
- Germany: Varonya   - Taiwan: nekokevin  
                             

A lot of artists also write Stories, here and on www.fimfiction.net . Finally, there are excellent artists with Mature MLP-related content. I think these artists are wonderful, but since I browse art with my 5yo daughter, I avoid these. Make sure that you tag all of your art that may be suggestive or mature with the correct tag so it doesn't surprise us.  LaszlVFX  is great in the community, but does have some mature content.

Commenters - These DA Artists are wonderful and love to enjoy lots of art and comment on it . . hopefully they will get to check out your art:
- OptimusV42 , ABB0002 , SwiftgaiatheBrony , Negaboss2000  , SuperHyperSonic2000 , Th3iPoDM0N , TwilightIsMagic , LennyStendhal13 , Nostalgialover808 , AutinBrony , purplepotato04 , LightReading2 , AceWissle , ascencioirving , BSW421 , Pone-Dancer , Firewolfy1 , Khaki-Cap
                                 

Finally, outside of DeviantArt, check out  www.equestriadaily.com/  to keep up with the MLP world at large, and go to  mlp.fandom.com/wiki/My_Little_…  to get caught up on the various canon aspects of the show from Hasbro or IDW that are out there.

Finally, I will post a list of some of the newest artists I have come across so they can connect with one another.  I really recommend that you reach out and Watch these other artists and start to talk to them to help build the community, and in the process build yourself!

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