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Daedric-Pony β Rarity
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Published: 2013-02-07 17:04:57 +0000 UTC; Views: 8688; Favourites: 511; Downloads: 308
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Description
This is my latest attempt at a full illustration.Any critique is greatly appreciated. I prefer it to be blunt and to the point. I'm really hoping to improve past this.
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Comments: 60
Thank you for devoting so much time and effort to help others improve, it really means a lot to me.
You've made it very clear that im going to need to work on my style a bit. Rarity's mane kind of flips randomly in show style (I'm sure you've noticed) do you think I should go ahead and un-flip it from now on? Or should I just make all if her hair the same hue? I can't imagine one side being a different color in real life... The show style makes less and less sense the longer I think about it.
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They flip her mane for the sake of making her face visible. It takes less effort than carefully planning every camera angle to avoid covering her face when not necessary. I personally see their style to be functional. Professionals seem to have a tendency to put just the effort needed to make something convincing. We're dealing with an animated series. More complex art styles are more annoying to animate. Not only that, but cartoon styles tend to be abstracted so viewers do not literally interpret an image. You can get away with a ton of entertaining anatomical exaggerations (lol ed edd n' eddy) and abstacted styles offer tons of wiggle room.Heck look at the Dinklebergs from Fairly Odd Parents and look at how the nose is not placed in the middle pf the face, haha.
They also color her hair in such a way to make it more readable. I hear that if gradients were not used, her hair would look rather senseless and it's harder to get a sense of depth.
Again, I see their art style as functional.
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First thing that caught my eye on this was the amazing level of detail in the hair on her mane and tail. I really love the fact that each strand of hair is so shiny and visibly vibrant. Also very nice is the incorporation of realistic soft coloring that makes her look believably 3D while still retaining proportions true to the original art style.
As for the background, I really like the frost-covered trees and snow covered ground with her hoofprints trailing her that makes it look like she's enjoying a trot through a winter wonderland. I also really like the night sky and especially the ambient Aurora Borealis-like montage of colors in the lower atmosphere. Rarity's nearly-white coat was a little hard to make out against the pure white snow, but that can't be considered a fault considering the context of what's going on in this image.
If I could offer a critique, the clouds in the background are very nicely drawn and consistently colored and lighted, but appear a little too perfectly round and widely curved. The coloring method used for the eyes, while very true to the original source material, seems a little cartoonish compared to the breathtaking realism of the rest of the picture. Perhaps a softer and more realistic technique could be applied to the irises to make them better blend into this pic.
Overall an amazing piece of work and I hope to see more like this :3
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Warning: I found my new phone wallpaper.
(Seriously this is one of the most gorgeous Rarity arts I've ever seen. )
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This is brilliant!!! So gorgeous! Such an amazing scenery w/ good lighting & shading.
However, the only thing that doesn't seem right here is the legs. I feel like they're too short, or is it the fact that her hooves are sinking?
slowly in the snow?
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OK, some critique.
First... 
Joking aside, the lower mane curl looks voluminous, which it should, but it looks like it's occupying the same space as her back/side. And the curl's supposed shadow looks more like a ghost image.
And you should maybe mostly exclude the eyes from the shading, since that collides with their supposed glary look and makes the white reflection ellipses look fake.
I really like about this art style that you stuck as close as possible to the original look, while at the same time you enriched it with more realism. (Except for the environment, which shows night sky during the day, haha. Or were the regal sisters drunk? 
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I love her expressions, and the winter landscapeΒ
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Even the word "beautiful" doesn't seem good enough.Β You've captured Rarity brilliantly here.
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Blunt and to-the-point: I wish I had 1/1,000,000,000,000,000th of your artistic talent.
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You're welcome!
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(ok you wanted blunt i can aplige but will try to keep respectful)
Form is about perfect (right fore leg seems a little thin at the top)
the environment is cleaver (and well done) (the use of snow and a purple aura is not lost) however the lighting is very bright for NIGHT (no mistake it is effective make possibly if the foreground stay light up but darkened the background it may bring it back (as if a light is lighting her up)).
the use of contrast is effective (the pine trees for instance help her not completely disappear)
eyes excellent (remembering her whites are whiter then her coat)
now for the more complex part the mane. ease on the gloss to me it feels like glass (many have done this) now at the neck (section down from her muzzle) we have a a contradiction the neck line is smooth and strait (and feels thinner on this side), but the hair strands implies they are curving around the neck not touching it (there for covering)
that fold (down from muzzle) does not feel "natural" too strait.
her mane in my ponsonal taste should be edged closer to her horn there for more in the middle.
Nit picks:
the side of the muzzle feels flat.
it seems out of character for her to be out with out some ensemble ( but hey that effective "natural" contrast is worth it )
small lost detail snow falling off her hoof leaving a streak in the snow on and near the hoof prints snow also seems very perfect (sky sloop perfect) (but then it is backgroud).
in conclusion i really like this a excellent use of contrasts and the face looks very close to her in show look, her essence excellent.
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I know that hair really is ridiculously shiny. This was actually my first attempt at detailed hair that doesn't look like play dough. XD
Thanks a ton for the feedback, you have no idea how motivating it is. I probably would have given up a long time ago if it weren't for people like you. ^^
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*hat tip* but of course I am pleased to help and further pleased when ponys show gratitude to my aperseasion and feed back.
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Very nice! I love how you contrasted between her hair and the sky/trees.
Needs more contrast between the snow and her legs, though. Did she have her shadow stolen? The light showing on her head and chest is going to the bottom left, so her shadow should be there too.
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there sure is alot of detail in that hair, but its almost to detailed compared to the rest of the drawing, also this picture just seems very bland and without emotion, it may have to do with the color choices( to many neutral and cool colors meshed together) and the little defferation between light and dark,
but i will say the pose is very anatomical correct to match the show and the hair is beyond anything i could ever do,
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Not harsh enough if you ask me! Don't be such a marshmallow. XD
I'm so grateful for how helpful everyone been so far, you guys are awesome! ^^
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im no marshmellow foo, lol
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I really like this a lot. The blue tones are beautiful, and the texture on her hair is very nice, too. The only thing I can see right now that I think could be improved is her eyes; at the picture's full resolution, you can see that her irises and pupils are very clearly-defined, the way they are on the show, which is at odds with the softer brush textures used in the rest of the picture. But that's not even visible unless you look very closely, and it's a very minor issue either way.
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Maker, this is lovely. I really, really, really like her mane! The shine you put into it is almost crystalline. Rarity is happy about it, as we can clearly see. Lovely work shading and highlighting it and depicting the colour variance between the sides of her tail. She does look rather well-suited for hiding in the snow, her coats blends with it so much. However, it's still possible to make her legs out against the snow thanks to the shadows. Speakng of them, they look really nice on 'er. And I just love this smile and these eyes and this expression overall.
As for the background, the northern lights and the darker night sky are really good! Lovely colour shifts there. And the clouds are quite nice, 's well.
Beautifully done, beautifully done indeed! Please do keep making the awesome! And I wish you luck, maker.
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Lovely rendition of Rarity. I admire the work on her mane, she looks fantastic!
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Nicely done. Her expression is exquisite and the reflections in the mane give it a lot of texture. The background also adds a lot of setting, even if it's a bit blurry.
However, i must point out that Rarity's hooves sort of get lost with the snow, a bit more of contrast could have helped, for example, shading the snow with blue hues and Rarity with purple ones.
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Thank you for the feedback! I really do appreciate it.
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The shading on and behind Rarity is clear, as well as the detailed shimmer and hairs in her mane! Love the way you blended the blue and black of the sky; it provides a good contrast with the bright foreground colors. The detail of the snow on the trees in the background is phenomenal!
We're expecting 2+ feet of snow where I live, so don't feel bad about not getting much!
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I've been told that not having snow is really convenient, so I should be happy about it. But you know, the grass is always greener on the other side. ^^
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Well, the green grass here will soon be covered! And your art has inspired me to learn myself! Many thanks!
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That looks amazing!
I want to get into making digital art and I would like to know what program(s) you used to make this
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Well first off thanks!
I used Photoshop to make this, although I'm sure any free program could work just as well (GIMP, Paint Tool Sai, ext.).
If you're interested in picking up digital painting I would enthusiastically recommend that you check out the Ctrl+Paint blog by Matt Kohr: [link]
He's an incredibly talented artist and teacher. His videos are pure gold. He starts from ground zero, something I was VERY appreciative of when I was just starting out. I would not be where I am today without him. You are going to need a graphic tablet though, the bamboo series from Wacom will be just perfect. [link]
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Thank you so much! This helped a lot, because I have heard of people using a "tablet", and the first thing that came to mind was an iPad, but now I know.
Very helpful thank you.
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