Stellarator's Ponies

No longer here

A reminder that I no longer use this tumblr, though it seems to still show up in search results.

Find me here:

https://stellaratorponies.com/

https://derpibooru.org/tags/artist-colon-stellarator

https://x.com/TheStellarator

Find me here: https://twitter.com/TheStellarator

or here: https://derpibooru.org/tags/artist-colon-stellarator

scootboarding0003

Sorry I haven’t released much lately. Part of it has been learning Blender 2.8, and using that as a reason to redo my character creation workflow, as well as remaking characters from scratch.

Part of it has also been the fact that how the Under Our Spell video went over kind of took the wind out of my sails. Months of work followed by a tiny bit of positive reaction, a larger (but still small) bit of derision, and mostly a big yawning nothing did not do amazing things for my interest in making art.

I won’t wangst beyond that; I just wanted to communicate what is going on for the handfull of people who follow me. I’m still here. I haven’t stopped making art, I guess. I’m just not as motivated as I once was.

She can dream

Alternate version, no volumetrics

Apple Bloom, just glare and volumetrics

Adult Apple Bloom looking dramatic in barn

The Dazzlings - Under Our Spell (3D anthroponies)

This is a video of the song Under Our Spell, from the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls movie, Rainbow Rocks.

It features my semi-anthro pony interpretation of the Dazzlings (Adagio Dazzle, Sonata Dusk, and Aria Blaze) performing their siren song. The first portion copies the "cinematography" of the original, but then I take it in my own direction.

I think that's about enough overly verbose text to help searches find this video. :)

Created entirely in Blender (with a little help from Audacity)

Also posted to:

https://youtu.be/0e7I31ZBH8o

https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/731206

Just a reminder: The main place where I put my work is derpibooru https://derpibooru.org/tags/artist-colon-stellarator

Yes yes, I know that censorship by a private company is within their rights. This is a totally different thing from anything to do with the 1st Amendment or any other country’s rules on Free Speech. While it is still correct to call it censorship, they have the legal (and moral) right to do this.

The main thing that matters about a platform is how many other similar bloggers are using it, which determines what audience you can reach. Tumblr is a terrible platform, but I’m here because other artists who do similar work are here, so people who want to see that sort of thing are also here.

So if everyone flees en-masse to a different platform, I hope someone clues me in.

A (grimly) amusing side note: The first thing of mine that I saw was flagged and blocked was admittedly a nude picture... a digital painting in a classic art pose, emulating EXACTLY what I’ve learned in my figure drawing classes, and trying to show other artists how to replicate the proportions of a figure. But, NIPPLES, so BAD. 

As I stated earlier, I also post everything (adult and non-adult) on derpibooru, so it will all be available at https://derpibooru.org/tags/artist-colon-stellarator , and even if you don’t want to use the site to follow me, I’ll post something there to let people know if I find a new platform.

In the process of working on someone else, it amused me to riff on this shot from Rainbow Rocks:

Also at:

https://derpibooru.org/1890764 and

If you’re interested in the process I’m using, I’m actually adapting what my life drawing instructor taught me. And one of the things she drilled into us again and again is “use references, use references, and use references”

I’m a long ways from being actually good, but I can at least share some stuff that may be helpful to others trying to level up.

In this case I am working from a whole reference pose, as if I were drawing a live model... just one who can stay perfectly still for days.

Ultimately, it is good to be ABLE to pull something totally out of your head, but there is a reason even good artists tend to do a lot of drawing of actual models, at least as a base for something they will expand on.

http://posereference.tumblr.com/post/180090650622/pose-female-kneeling-i-draw-on-a-wacom-cintiq

http://posereference.tumblr.com is a good starting place to find a lot of reference drawings, with good clean lines, but there are a lot of others.

Then you try to break up the pose into its basic geometry, and “plumb lines” to make sure various elements will be aligned correctly.

If you’re working from a live model, you have to do this in your head, holding out a pencil or straightedge to check plumb lines and relative distances, and then sketch it out on your paper. Since I’m working digitally from a static reference, I can cheat slightly and just take my guide lines and dump them in a new file.

Now you have a guide for making your skeleton. From here on out, most of the time I had the original reference up on another monitor for, well... reference.

Here is the stage where if you want to you can make changes to yours heart’s content, but keep it relatively easy to keep proportions as they should be.

Then you can start sketching. For me I find it useful to keep doing new passes, refining each time. Hot damn, I wish I could have done this with physical media, but by the time you’ve applied charcoal and erased it a few times, your paper is done with cooperating with you.

I didn’t like how her right hand was positioned in the reference, but I had a hell of a time getting the fingers right in the position I wanted. Hands are hard. Eventually I just took a picture of my own hand in that position, and used that as a reference, and finally got it right.

Learn to love layers. I wish I could get rid of under-sketches this easily with physical media.

When it came to the shading, I used a zillion references, comparing back and forth. Obviously none of them will be anything you could (or should) just copy, but it’s good to have guides to remind you where all of the lumps and bumps of a body are, and how the light hits them in different ways.

Obviously with the internet, you can find endless pictures showing EVERY part of the human body, in all sorts of positions and lighting. Plus, it will be totally truthful when you say “It’s not porn, it’s RESEARCH.” Some porn/cheesecake is actually quite well photographed. I don’t know if tumblr will have a problem with me linking here, but searching for “metart” may get you started if you are looking for females. I don’t off of the top of my head have a single specific reference for male bodies, but I’m sure you can find one.

After I was done, I really disliked how the thickness of my lines varied FAR too much, so that’s a fail. I did another version with the linework redone, dimmed, and tinted. That is posted here:

https://stellaratorponies.tumblr.com/post/180319224340/my-charcoal-drawing-classes-are-serving-me-well

https://derpibooru.org/1870484 and https://derpibooru.org/1870495

Background buildings also by me.

The Other Side 3D/2D

Also at https://derpibooru.org/1869021