Painting

[ponycake]

I'm painting Rosedust with acrylics... and totally sucking at it. 

Have you made any MLP paintings (or other)? How'd that go? Any pictures?

Post Merge: January 20, 2014, 09:46:34 PM

No? :p

Well here's mine. Wonky and bad but still not near finished yet (especially the grass, haha!) .. hopefully the next is better!

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[Griffin]

You're definitely NOT sucking! That looks adorable already, I love the bright and happy colours you've chose for this painting (so G1 MLP!) and Rosedust looks lovely, her wings are really beautiful and they do have that translucent look. I think it will look great when finished, maybe it just needs a tad more contrast on the grass and the pony's body. The hair already has that so it looks more defined and finished.

I personally find acrylics a hard medium to work with (which is a bit odd considering I use them all the time for customs and have no major problems!), but luckily they are also forgiving since you can usually just continue working on the parts you're not happy with. Layering is essential! But I have no idea how some people (i.e. professional artists) make their acrylic pieces look like oil paintings... maybe it has to do with the drying time, I think I saw some artist mention they can keep their acrylics wet on the palette for weeks and I honestly have no idea how they do that. On one hand, the problem I have with acrylics is that they dry so quickly on the canvas so that layering becomes difficult (the paints are quite opaque, after all), and on the other hand I sometimes want them to work like watercolours, the medium I'm most familiar with, and they refuse.

Customs are easier because the space is so much smaller, the paints won't dry as quickly and I can blend them on the spot when needed, which is difficult with larger paintings. I've come to the conclusion that I should perhaps try to adopt a different approach next time I try acrylic paintings, a bolder one, and maybe a more simplified style, too... Sadly I never seem to have enough time to start practising.

[BerryMouse]

I did this tiny acrylic colors on canvas painting for a pony friend, nothing special =)

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I also think you're not sucking at  painting, even you're not finished yet, it looks quite nice so far - so keep painting!! =)

[UrocyonFox]

The colors are so warm and inviting. And her expression in so sweet and yet kinda mischievous! You've captured the original style so well.

[Teddy]

I think it's beautiful!! Her wings are perfect and the pose is very elegant.

[ponycake]

Aw, thanks all 

I've never painted with acrylics before but now I totally know what you mean, Griffin! Definitely takes lots of layering and it's harder to work with than I expected but it's fun to learn it! I want to try gouache next. Think I'll practice on paper next instead of going right for canvas like I did here (good sale at Michael's).
Customs would be scary to me, doing steady fine lines is so hard as I've learned, and I would get so frustrated if I was doing that!

I think your painting is great, Berrymouse! I wanted mine to be like yours, basically just like the original and like a perfect copy. You did awesome. The pose/picture of mine is actually imitated from flutter pony box art that I thought was super cute.

And I figure this is a good way to get out my MLP obsession instead of spending lots of money like I have been. 

[Griffin]

For some reason acrylics seem to be easier to control when painting on paper instead of canvas... at least for me. Although the size of the painting probably plays a part, too, my paintings done on paper have always been rather small, even as small as ATCs, while my canvases have always been bigger. But paper does absorb the paint to some extent so you can thin the acrylics and use them more like watercolours, more easily than when working on gessoed canvas.

BerryMouse, I love your Pinkie Pie painting as well! 

[Marlin]

That's gorgeous, Ponycake. I love the bright colours and the softness you've achieved in your picture 

Paint is not my friend    I can't paint for sour apples, lol! I've never had any formal training with paint so I have a total lack of technical skill and clearly very little instinct with it!  I'm a water/colour pencil gal 

[hathorcat]

I think she looks fantastic Dont be so hard on yourself - I am always secretly jealous of people with your kind of artistic talent!

[ponycake]

I think she looks fantastic Dont be so hard on yourself - I am always secretly jealous of people with your kind of artistic talent!

Aw, thank you!  It's just one of those things where you envision much better and let yourself down. 

[hathorcat]

As others have said you definitely have not let yourself down The work in her is beautiful.