Design A Baby Art Contest - pony loot prizes! 24 hours left!

[Dragonflitter]

Hi there pony art people! 

I did this a few years ago and it was very fun, so I'd like to do it again! I'm working on a story with a Romeo/Juliet feel to it, but told with horses. The two herds don't get along, but a mare and stallion from each herd meet and fall in love. The end of the story features the birth of their baby!

I don't have an idea for a design of the baby, so I thought an art contest would be the best way to get some inspiration. 

Rules:
1.) This must be your own art. No recoloring of lineart from someone else! This includes G4 vector lineart.
2.) The winner will be chosen by me based on the design of the baby, not the art itself. You don't have to be an amazing artist to win.
3.) Any pony style is accepted: G1 through G4, or your own style!
4.) The baby should be based on the genetics of the parents and/or their families, but I am not strict on how the genetics will work. A blue mom and a red dad do not have to make a purple baby. It's all up to your imagination!
5.) The challenge is to design a baby for the characters Verd and OakenRoot. Although the mom in the story is a unicorn and the dad is a pegasus, you don't HAVE to make the baby a winged unicorn. It's totally up to you how the baby is designed.
6.) Deadline for entries is May 11, 2016 at midnight. One month from today!


Prizes:
-If there are less than 12 entries, one 1st place winner will be chosen. You can choose 1 item from my Sale Thread ($5 value or less)
-If there are 12 entries or more, I will chose a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. Each of the 3 winners can choose 1 item from my Sale Thread ($5 value or less)
-Sale Thread: http://mlparena.com/index.php/topic,378097.0.html


Meet the characters:
(I am horrible at art, thus I have used the PonyIsland generator to make these imagines  )

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Verd is headstrong and brave. She never thinks things through, but she's got enough enthusiasm to carry her through the consequences of her actions. Still, she has a lot of growing up to do. Her symbol of a bird in flight represents her free spirit.

Verd's family:
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Indigo is Verd's father and the leader of the herd. He doesn't have much of a sense of humor but he appreciates his daughter's free spirit. However, he is very firm that their herd should have no interaction with other herds. His symbol is a fairly generic crown, showing that he's the leader and all.

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Verd's mother is not in the story and passed away when she was born. I only included her here so you can see her basic colors.


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OakenRoot is the son of two knights of his herd, both of who fell in battle when he was young. He was raised by his aunt. Oaken is a proud character who wants to follow in his parents hoofprints and become a pegasus knight. He rarely makes impulsive decisions. He greatly exemplifies the old expression "still waters run deep." His symbol is an oak tree, showing he is steady and strong.

OakenRoot's family:
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RainbowMane is Oaken's aunt. She is cheerful and flighty, very unlike most pegasi. She always tells Oaken to follow his heart, especially since he usually thinks of what is best for the herd, not himself. She has a rainbow for a symbol to represent her bright personality.

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OakenRoot's parents passed away when he was young. They aren't in the story but I've included their pictures so you can see their basic colors.


Entrants:
1.) DressesForBrushables
2.) LyraHeartsrtings
3.) Bekuno
4.) Starflashbaby



Questions? Feel free to ask!

[DressesForBrushables]

Ohhhhh I'm definitely gonna take part in this one!
Just a quick question: Would it be ok to draw the other ponies as well? I'm best at designing stuff when I can just go completely wild with things/can make little scenes

[Dragonflitter]

Yes you can definitely include the parents and/or other family members in the pic if you choose!

[Starflashbaby]

Another question
OakenRoot and Verd the ones having a baby then....
Im in yay.

[Dragonflitter]

Yup, the parents in the story are Verd and OakenRoot! I added a bit to the rules to make that more clear, sorry about the confusion.

[RandomPony]

Hmm! It'll be interesting to try this! Ah, do we post them on to here after were done, or give them straight to you?

[CloudyGlow]

I can't decide on the colors.  Is it okay if I post more than one?

[Big_Brother_Bufftusk]

Gah! I'm still working on a pic for the other pony art thread! *laughs* Hopefully will have time for this too...and updating my avatar, ugh...so old.

[Griffin]

Sounds like fun, good luck with the contest!

[DressesForBrushables]

So, I went a bit wild with the design. The colors are mostly based on Verd mothers colors, with the mane being more 'horse-genetics-are-weird-man'. Now, the mane itself is really, really fancy (and took me forever to do), and based on a hair-style I saw a long time ago, but didn't save anywhere.

Now, I made it really fancy, because Sunrise (thats the name I went with) is the beginning of a new age(A new sunrise so to speak^^). With the two herds having to accept each other, for the sake of the lovers, they can use the others strengths to better defend themselves against predators, making life easier for everyone, and giving Verd the time to braid her daughters hair in this complicated hairstyle.

I'm not sure about her mark yet, but I'll add it later(thats what the white-space is for).

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Meta aside, I hope you like it! I tend to go.... wild, when I have something in mind^^

Have a wonderful day,
Mel

[Dragonflitter]

@RandomPony - Posting here would be perfect! That way we have them all in one place. 

@LyraHeartsrtings - You can post as many entries as you like. The more ideas I get for the story, the better.

@Big_Brother_Bufftusk - Would love to see your idea if you have time!

@DressesForBrushables - Thank you so much for your entry! I love the darling girl, she's very cute!

[CloudyGlow]

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alternate colors

Spoiler

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[Bekuno]

Here's my entry!

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I focused on the idea of unity when designing her. Since Both of the characters have at least one piebald parent I thought it would be a good choice for her coat (I also learned I can't draw piebald! )

The gradient hair is from Oakenroots side, as is the eye color. Hair color comes from Verd's mom and I wanted to have a coat that was purplish red to also represent the colors of the piebald parents from both families. I went with the unipeg as a symbol of unity as well!

EDIT: OH my god I didn't notice the white gap in the background until now! Ugh hitting myself. Please excuse that, my eyesight isn't always the best

[rosierjay]

do we know the gender of the baby? do you want a cutie mark designed as well? is there a name for the baby yet? do you want us to think of one, or is it better to let you be inspired after seeing them?
is a character sheet style ok?

also do you want them drawn as a baby or adult?

[Dragonflitter]

@LyraHeartsrtings - Thank you for your entries! They're both really cute

@Bekuno - She's so pretty! Thank you for entering!

@rosierjay - Questions yay!

1.) The baby could be either gender, I don't really have any ideas at all for him/her at this point. I just know that the baby being born will be the ending of the story of these two characters. I don't have any name ideas, since the name usually goes with the design of the character. And oh yes the artist can choose to name the baby, names are some of the hardest things for me so I need all the help I can get!

2.) And yes you can design a symbol/cutie mark for him/her if you like. You don't have to. A symbol/cutie mark will give me ideas for the offspring's personality and abilities (and it can be fun for the artist to design!) but it's not required for the contest.

3.) You can draw the offspring as a baby or an adult, or both! If you want to draw the character as a baby and you don't want the cutie mark to be on the body (like G4-style where they get it later on growing up) you could just draw it next to them as sort of a "this is what it will be in the future" sort of thing.

4.) A character sheet style is fine as long as it's your own art.