It's been a while since we had one of these!

What are you currently working on? How's it going? Feel free to discuss your current WIPs, plans for future customs, vent, share your success stories and tips & tricks, whatever comes to mind.

I have three ponies in progress at the moment. One is the Monochrome swap pony, one is for a private trade (just finished the sculpting on that one, I'm excited to move on to painting!), and one is probably the most dragged-out art project I've ever had, a custom I started in 2010. I've shared some WIP pics of that one along the way, don't have one at hand to post here but I recently shared pics in some Facebook groups. As soon as I finish the sculpting on the swap pony I can streamline my process and prime all of them for painting.

I should also start designing a pony for a friend - I gave her a "gift card" as a birthday or Christmas present years ago, promising to make her a custom pony. She recently reminded me about this so I guess I must finally come through 

What’s the Avatar Exchange?

Each round you'll get a secret partner (who you will keep secret until you reveal the avatar) and will have three weeks to deliver an avatar based on your partner's form. The artwork itself can be traditionally or digitally made, as long as it is turned into a digital icon ready for your partner to use. The exchange will run for as long as there is interest, and you can sign up for as many rounds as you like. Feel free to jump in at any time!

Previous rounds:
Round 1


Guidelines:

• You should deliver two versions of your icon: a 150x150 version for use here at the Arena (under 60k, please) and a larger, un-cropped version. If you do pixel ponies, the second can be waived as a larger version may not exist.
• Original artwork only, please (all art should be made by you, and please do not use current or old adoptable bases unless you modify the lineart significantly to make it unique for your partner).
• Please deliver on time. If you have not delivered on time for the round, your ability to participate in future exchanges will be suspended until you make up your part.
• Artwork should abide by Arena standards of content, of course.
• When your partner posts the avatar, please make sure you download it before using – your partner is not obliged to host the image after it has been delivered.
• Your sign-up post should contain the word sunshine somewhere in order to signify to me that you've read the rules.
• Do not reveal your partner before you're done! If you have any questions, please message me and I can PM your partner.
• Post your finished avatar to this thread when you are done. You may post the avatar up to three days before the deadline, but no earlier, please.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in this thread!


Dates:

Sign-ups:  now through Friday, 10 July, at 5 pm EDT (9 pm UTC)
Partners Sent: between sign-up close and 3 pm EDT (7 pm UTC) the next day
Working: 10 July through 1 August
Final Posting Deadline: Saturday, 1 Aug by 8 pm EDT (midnight UTC)

Sign-ups go in this thread! Please do not PM them to me. Thanks!

Form:

[b]Arena username:[/b]

[b]Link to Gallery (if you have one, DA or elsewhere, or a thread on this forum):[/b]

[b]What are your specialities? (Only pony art, or anthro and/or people as well? Realistic or toony? Digital or traditional? Do you do animated GIFs or pixels? Anything else you can think of?)[/b]

[b]Brief Character Description (Hasbro/OC):[/b]

[b]Character Reference Pic (a nice, clear reference, please! Links only - do not embed!):[/b]

[b]List three to six possible themes for your avatar. These can be motifs, colours, expressions/emotions, hobbies, objects, etc... pretty much anything![/b]

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

[b]Anything you don't like?[/b]

[b]Any other info?[/b]


Participants:

1. orangepeachmango
2. Griffin
3. Fizzy Scrumptious
4. Moonbreeze
5. Shaiyeh
6.
7.
8.

[more slots will be added as needed]

Finally, my first adoptable in years!  I hope you like them!


These are ready to be used as signatures, larger versions will be provided of OCs. Cropped headshots available to be used as avatars, just ask!

Rules:
- Hasbro ponies are for all Arena members, feel free to pick one up without asking! If you request a Hasbro character, please note that others may use it as well.
- OCs/personas are for their owners' use only
- Don't claim the artwork as your own
- You may download your adoptable and use it on other sites but please credit me (Griffin/Haawan); credit line is optional but appreciated here on the Arena  
- Do not alter the adoptables - if you want any changes, please ask me
- If the slots are full, please wait before you request!

Form:
Pony name:
Uni/Peg/Earth/Alicorn?:
Ref pic (links please, or embedded imgs under spoiler tags!):
Ribbon color:
Anything else?:

Slots:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

---

Pick-ups

Hasbro

OC/persona ponies

It's time to bring back…

The Avatar Exchange! 

What’s the Avatar Exchange?

Years ago, Eviecorn used to run this fun monthly digital art swap, which went on for several rounds. I thought it would be nice to revive this exchange, especially now that most of us are still self-isolating!
 
Each round you'll get a secret partner (who you will keep secret until you reveal the avatar) and will have three weeks to deliver an avatar based on your partner's form. The artwork itself can be traditionally or digitally made, as long as it is turned into a digital icon ready for your partner to use. The exchange will run for as long as there is interest, and you can sign up for as many rounds as you like.

Guidelines:

• You should deliver two versions of your icon: a 150x150 version for use here at the Arena (under 60k, please) and a larger, un-cropped version. If you do pixel ponies, the second can be waived as a larger version may not exist.
• Original artwork only, please (all art should be made by you, and please do not use current or old adoptable bases unless you modify the lineart significantly to make it unique for your partner).
• Please deliver on time. If you have not delivered on time for the round, your ability to participate in future exchanges will be suspended until you make up your part.
• Artwork should abide by Arena standards of content, of course.
• When your partner posts the avatar, please make sure you download it before using – your partner is not obliged to host the image after it has been delivered.
• Your sign-up post should contain the word pansy somewhere in order to signify to me that you've read the rules.
• Do not reveal your partner before you're done! If you have any questions, please message me and I can PM your partner.
• Post your finished avatar to this thread when you are done. You may post the avatar up to three days before the deadline, but no earlier, please.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in this thread!


Dates:

Sign-ups:  now through Thursday, 28 May, at 5 pm EDT (9 pm UTC)
Partners Sent: between sign-up close and 3 pm EDT (7 pm UTC) the next day
Working: 29 May through 20 June
Final Posting Deadline: Saturday, 20 Jun by 8 pm EDT (midnight UTC)

Sign-ups go in this thread! Please do not PM them to me. Thanks!

Form:

[b]Arena username:[/b]

[b]Link to Gallery (if you have one, DA or elsewhere, or a thread on this forum):[/b]

[b]What are your specialities? (Only pony art, or anthro and/or people as well? Realistic or toony? Digital or traditional? Do you do animated GIFs or pixels? Anything else you can think of?)[/b]

[b]Brief Character Description (Hasbro/OC):[/b]

[b]Character Reference Pic (a nice, clear reference, please! Links only - do not embed!):[/b]

[b]List three to six possible themes for your avatar. These can be motifs, colours, expressions/emotions, hobbies, objects, etc... pretty much anything![/b]

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

[b]Anything you don't like?[/b]

[b]Any other info?[/b]


Participants:

1. tailrustedtealeaf
2. Griffin
3. Shaiyeh
4. Minty_Magic

[more slots will be added as needed]

Some of you may remember Lindisfarne, a manuscript themed pony I made for my MA thesis supervisor as a gift back in 2014. I've been wanting to do another ever since and now I finally decided to put those plans into action. Baby Zodiacke was made for a friend's & colleague's birthday and I chose to base my design on one of the 16th-century manuscripts she studied for her PhD.

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(Click here to view the full-size image)

I had to complete this quickly so I decided to go with a baby pony, the bait was a discoloured Baby Blossom. Fully repainted in acrylics, sealed with polyurethane varnish and rehaired in several colours of nylon hair from my stash, not all of them were in their original bags so I can't name all the colours. A couple of different browns and blondes, Black Magick, and a blend of two reds (Candy Apple and Cherry Pie, I think). The pics don't show it very well but the body colour has some intentional blemishes to mimic 500-year-old parchment.
The lettering is a little smudged too and I'm not even sure anymore if that's intentional or not, but it suits the pony so it doesn't really matter.  The original manuscript has some red smudges, too, but I left those out.

Her symbol is a Zodiac diagram and I also included a few lines of the explanatory text following the diagram in the manuscript. I wasn't faithful scribe, due to the small space I had to divide the lines differently and drop some redundant words (the original has "This Figure Aboue", for example). Other than that, I tried to preserve the original spelling and abbreviations and replicate the scripts as well as I could in such a tiny size. Her NDS is blank.

Despite the detailed work this was a quick custom, perhaps 5-6 hours or so spread over four days.

Finally got round to editing and posting the photos!

Cinnamon Choc (I hope that's what I called her? ) was made for Aflame in the Holiday custom swap. Aflame mentioned straw curls and TAF designs in her form so that's what I decided to go with.

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The bait was recycled (got her in a bait lot with other ponies in various stages of customisation) so I'm not sure which pony it was originally, most likely Cotton Candy. I stripped off the old paint, gave her a new FBR in dark green and sculpted part of the symbol with Apoxie for a 3D effect. Her hair is a mix of six or seven different colours. I hope you like her!

I used to love the show me threads back when the customs forum was super active! And we would have them often.

Green is one of my favourite colours (and I may have some plans...  ) so I would love to see your green customs! Especially ones with green bodies, although green hair with a different body colour works too. Hasbro customs welcome, let's see those Mimics!

Here are a few of my older ones, I haven't made too many...
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