I thought I would revive this fun game Syrcaid introduced back on the old Arena. It's a great way to challenge yourself and handy if you're looking for some inspiration!

Random Color Art Challenge

Go to the website http://swatchspot.com/, it generates a random colour palette for you. Pick the first one you see and design a pony using all the colours listed. You can add black and white for shading/highlights and outlines but no more than that (unless it's part of your random palette of course).

Have fun! And please post results for us to see if you decide to give it a go.


I think mine could've turned out better but it was fun nevertheless. I didn't want to go with the obvious choice because she would've ended up looking like Mimic, here's what I came up with instead!

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A G4 base or other Hasbro lineart would have been more fitting for her happy personality, I guess. I recycled my old linework, someone may recognize it from my persona's ref sheet... The gummy bears are free clipart images I found via Google, I just coloured them. 

Now, let me see yours!

I've been busy with ATCs! In addition to the Summer swap, I recently did private swaps with UrocyonFox and Valurauta, and received some stunning cards from both of them! Thank you, ladies!  Here's what I made in return  

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Male Tuneful and Sky-pin & FlutterDie for Fox
Sakura Micron pen 01, watercolours, white gouache

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Big Mac and Sour Lemon (persona) for valurauta
mixed media (Copic Markers, coloured pencils, white gel pen, watercolour etc.)

+ some bonus pics! Incidentally both blue & pink, though the first one was made in June and the latter a couple of days ago.

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My page in a My Little Pony deco, I owe thanks to ponycake for inspiring me to draw Sundance

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My page in a penguin deco Gotta love rockhoppers!

...don't worry, it's only four! I haven't had too much time for art this year but I've done a couple of pony themed ATCs, and thought I'd throw in one non-pony card as well.

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These two were made for a trade with Sukeile, it's Columbian White AJ and Sukeile's persona. I got wonderful cards from her in exchange, you can see a glimpse of one in my avi.

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Minty was traded at a pony meet in Helsinki last weekend. She's the first card in my Pony Project, I thought I'd challenge myself to draw them all... Well not all, but as many as I feel like doing, starting from Year 1. I won't set myself any deadlines though. To be honest this idea is not original, I copied it from someone... but it's similar to other challenges like the 100 animals one that was popular on DA at some point. I'm kind of tempted to challenge myself to draw the 151 original Pokémons eventually too. (Haha, as if I ever had the time! I probably won't get very far with these ponies either. )

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Some NPA to conclude. This one was made for a swap on my mail art forum, my partner had Edwardian men's clothing on their wishlist and I felt like going Mucha. The pose is partially adapted from his illustration Flirt Biscuits for Lefèvre-Utile. I don't draw men often, at least not stylish ones like this - it was fun trying out something different!

Btw, does anyone have any tips for working with watercolours and salt? I tried the salt trick with Minty's background and failed miserably. Maybe I should've used more water? The paper was probably not the best either, it's calligraphy paper and not really meant for wet techniques. Any ideas would be welcome, thanks!   

This topic has been moved to Sigs & Site Support.

http://mlparena.com/index.php?topic=349084.0

Hello all amazing pony artists! I've been thinking about this for some time and I guess it's best to start by gauging interest first. If you like ATCs, I'm sure this is your cup of tea! (Edit. Nov 12 - taking sign-ups already, see end of post!)

What is a deco?
Decos are small handmade booklets that contain about 4-10 pages. Most typically they are postcard sized, but the size and shape can vary; anything goes as long as it fits an envelope. Each signer should decorate one page, or sometimes a spread, according to the theme (if the deco has a specified theme) and send it forward. Once all pages are full, the deco is returned to its maker, or sent to whoever is marked as the owner. (Quoting myself from the Deco Swappers forum.)

Normally decos are swapped with other deco swappers a few at a time, most people have certain swap pals they swap with on a regular basis, just like pen pals. That means decos generally don't have a predetermined route, they can be sent to anyone and the maker can only hope they will be returned when full. However, sometimes the round robin system is used instead and that is what I'm planning to do here: I'll make a My Little Pony themed deco and gather a list of people who sign up. I then send the deco to the first person on that list; they decorate the first page and send the booklet forward to the next person on the list, and so on. The last one will return the deco to me, full of pretty MLP artwork. ^_^ (I will think of something to reward all participants! Though I'm not expecting you to spend hours on your entry but mainly have fun by crafting something pony themed, see below for ideas.)

Drawing is not required but you're free to use e.g. stickers, cut up some box art to use on your page, print out colouring book pictures, or whatever you can think of, as long as it's MLP themed and you don't violate anyone's copyrights (i.e. no fanmade art other than your own). You can also use all kinds of embellishments like pretty papers, ribbons, brads, rhinestones etc. to decorate your entry.     

I organized a round robin deco like this some years ago on the old Arena but unfortunately it was lost almost immediately as the second or third signer went MIA. That's why I'm requiring at least some feedback this time as well as an e-mail address to be able to contact you outside the Arena. I would very much like to have the deco back, and I think we also owe that to the ones who spent their time on decorating the first pages. I will set a time limit of three weeks for you to work on your page if that helps focusing. Of course you can have more time if needed, just ask! 

Here's a gallery of my decos (all kinds of themes) if you'd like to take a look for inspiration: http://www.ipernity.com/doc/griffin/album/470921 My style is pretty different from most, however, as many deco people do not draw but use magazine pics and other readymade stuff. Very few of them have open access galleries, though, otherwise I would be happy to show you the variety of styles.

***
How to sign up
I'm taking sign-ups for approx. one week, until Nov 20, or until all the slots are filled. I ask you to have at least two (2) positive feedbacks here on the Arena, preferably from trading or selling (but I will judge each case individually, I just want to make sure people are committed and have some kind of proof that they are trustworthy).

Please PM me with the following information:
1. Your Arena username & real name
2. E-mail
3. Postal address
4. Link to feedback
5. Any preferences regarding the order of participants

Your address and e-mail will be given privately to the person before you so they know where to send the deco and can notify you prior to sending. Please let me know asap if your address changes or if there are any unexpected issues. I also ask everyone to keep me updated whenever they send or receive the deco, either by posting on this thread or by PMing/e-mailing me. There will be some participants who don't have an Arena account so you can either use e-mail or contact them through me if needed.

What to do when you receive the deco:
1. Leave a message to let me know you have received it.
2. Find the page with your name and decorate it as you please. Don't forget to include your name/username so we'll know who made the pretty entry!
3. Send the deco to the address given to you and notify me (and, optionally, the receiver so they know to expect the deco).
I ask you to keep the deco for three weeks at max, that should be sufficient time to make your entry and pass the deco on. If you need more time, just let me know. I know life can be unpredictable, and the deco might turn up at a bad time, it's hard to tell beforehand... But communication is the key.
Finally, and most importantly - have fun!

Participant list - full! 


1. UrocyonFox Received - sent Dec 30, 2013
2. MikeysGrrrl Received - sent Jan 19, 2014
3. Cron Sacchariferous Received - sent
4. Tsukikakushi  Received - sent
5. dashesndots Received - sent
6. Imialani Received - sent
7. Oniontart Received - sent
8. Sokkis Received - sent July 7, 2014
9. Marigold Received - sent Sep 11, 2014
10. Haine Received

Hiya all, how are you? I've done some ATC trades with pony people recently and wanted to share the cards.    In fact, these five are the only pony cards I've done this year, I've mostly been focusing on other themes, animals etc.

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Trade with UrocyonFox

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Trade with Salli

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This one was for a swap at the Finnish pony forum, "summer memories" theme. I was going to do Blueberry Baskets but forgot the wings... so I picked another blue pony. I think Bowtie was a better choice in the end, her pink hair goes nicely together with the blossoms on the BG paper.

Already looking forward to the Holiday swap! I want to draw more ponies~   

This little pegasus made her way to the Renaissance era and back with her owner Ambar_Jul in Mexico. ^-^

Jul didn't give me a pony persona to work with but asked for a white pegasus, an Aztec heroine/warrior. From her time periods I picked Renaissance, mainly because I wanted to do a big dress. Combining those two turned out to be much more difficult than anticipated but I'm happy to hear Jul likes the result! She also came up with the lovely name Quetzaly.

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Click for collage

She started out as a purple DnP pony with her mechanism and symbols already removed by someone else. I sculpted her wings (my third pair and the best so far - but my, it took ages to sculpt them! And they still turned out heavier than I'd like even though I only used wire and duct tape for armature) and painted her white. Her tattoos were inspired by an Azted calendar, and my inspiration for the dress and the green & orange colour scheme came from this 16th century Italian painting. Well, at least that was my starting point; in the end I realized I would just have to wing it with the dress. The puffy sleeves were the hardest part! They're completely hollow inside. The dress needed some volume but I also had to keep it as light as possible so I experimented with a paper armature - it worked great! The patterning on her dress was another experiment, a wild idea I suddenly got while painting her. I used a stencil for the swirls, it was quite stiff and with hardly any adhesive coating left, but I think the feathery edges kind of give it a more fabric type look.

I also gave her some accessories she brought with her from her own time: an Eagle warrior's helmet, a dagger and a shield. All her sculpting was done with Apoxie Sculpt, except the basic shape of the helmet which is made of Fimo. The feathers and other details are Apoxie. She was rehaired in a mixture of different hair types: Virgin Snow and Snowflake nylon, Marmalade nylon, Camouflaged polypropylene and Mystic Brown to Auburn thermal hair. I love that little addition, it matches the red-brown colour of her tattoos perfectly and it turns into a brilliant orange when warmed, even brighter than the Marmalade next to it. I liked her hair stripes so I left her hair unstyled even though the era would probably have called for an updo. But AmbarJul is free to play with her hair. ^^

Whew, this was definitely the toughest swap I've ever participated in, but well worth it! I hope you all like her. Thanks for looking, and cookies for everyone who bothered to read the wall of text.