Arena Artist Spotlight - April

[Griffin]

To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the MLP Arena and our wonderful community of pony fans, we’re introducing a monthly artist spotlight! The idea is to showcase the variety of artistic talent and craftsmanship our members bring to this board for our enjoyment, and to get to know the artists behind their work. We hope you enjoy these features! 

  For our April spotlight we interviewed Crystal-Sushi!

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Crystal-Sushi: The start of my G1-style sets, the Cloudpuff Ponies, from 2020

What kind of art and/or crafts do you do?

I work almost exclusively in digital art right now! I used to work in more traditional mediums but having moved twice and with most of my supplies in storage still, digital is the easiest at the moment lol. I am also hoping to get into 3D modelling and printing soon as one of my fiance's friends has been so generous to give us a 3D resin printer so hopefully I can bring some of my non-standard pony designs to life!

When did you first become interested in art and/or crafts? What brought you into MLP art in particular?

I have been drawing and creating things for as long as I can remember ( I can recall making the moth character from A Bugs' Life out of blu-tack and paddlepop sticks when I was 3-4?), and I have been drawing MLP since I was at least 5, as that's when I got my first pony (G3 Star Catcher!) on my birthday! I guess I never really stopped

Has your style, preferred media etc. changed along the way?

Like I said, I used to work only in traditional mediums, but now am pretty much entirely digital. I was self-taught until University, and it really boosted my skills in my opinion, especially doing life drawing! I'd like to think my style is a bit more anatomically grounded now, although that's regarding my own art style as opposed to when I draw ponies (where I'm usually trying to emulate a pre-existing style) 

In what ways has your art improved over time? Where do you still see room for improvement?

I've definitely improved in regards to weight/composition of characters (pony and otherwise) but general pony anatomy is still a bit tricky for me, so that's an area I'd like to improve on, especially as I'd love to have a crack at animating them one day (my degree is specifically in animation haha).

What is your goal for this year (or 12 months from now)?
I'm probably a bit too ambitious, as I'm not the best at motivating myself to do projects but I can dream...!
Pony-wise it's 3d modelling some of my non-standard designs with hope of making them as actual ponies (I'm mainly thinking of the Flutterpillars here) and possibly attempting to animate something in the MLP & Friends style.

Non pony-wise, I have been working on a webcomic idea for the last... 8? 9? years and I'm hoping to finally publish it on WebToon! It's a magical girl/action series set in the 2000s, with a fruit theme (and no not Tokyo Mew Mew haha)

What would you like to say to new, aspiring pony artists or someone who is still looking for encouragement to share their artwork?

I'd say keep on going, don't give up! You can only improve with practice! Don't be afraid to accept (respectful) critiques either though and always be open to learning new techniques!

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This is the oldest pony art I have online! My old ponysona from 2014, Astor
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My fiance and I's ponysonas, from 2017

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Sculpting effort from 2017, I tried to create an adult cow in the G1 style
using Baby Leafy as a reference... I kind of want to redo this in 3D haha.

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My attempt at mimicking the post-1992 G1 art style for Halloween 2022

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My entry for the MLP Arena's Christmas Carol contest, 2022


Thanks for the interview, Crystal-Sushi!

[BlackCurtains]

Great interview! I love your cow pony

[Heart Of Midnight]

Interesting and good interview!  I really like your art!
I can't wait to see the ponies created through the 3D printer!

[Ponybookworm]

Not seen the cow before!!! Please 3D print & market them!!!

[Crystal-Sushi]

 

Great interview! I love your cow pony

Aww haha thankyou so much! I'm so glad you like her haha, hopefully I will do something with her in the future!

Interesting and good interview!  I really like your art!
I can't wait to see the ponies created through the 3D printer!

Aww haha thankyou so much! I'm so glad you enjoy my work
Neither can I haha, my fiance is trying to teach me the ins and outs of Blender at the moment 

Not seen the cow before!!! Please 3D print & market them!!!

Aww thanks and yes, I definitely plan to! You can actually see the intended character designs here in this piece from 2017 - https://www.deviantart.com/crystal-sushi/art/Cosmic-Cows-Full-Set-685634744 and I also had a little milk carton-style box I designed for them but never uploaded the sketch of