Ciderfest Announcement! + Process (Patreon)

I'm going to Ponyville Ciderfest and I'm so nervouscited!! Here's a process piece in the meantime!

So! The theme for PVCF 2018 is a music festival! Music of all sorts! I'm gathering some glowsticks and leg warmers to go for a weird 'n wild 80's look, so I wanted the play around with that for my horse. Just something quirky and cute to throw on top of an announcement piece!

Sketch! Because my Hors's body colors are complicated enough, I didn't want to go ham on the outfit colors (and some of this stuff I already have in my closet!). Silly pose to relay excitement! Wah!

Lines! Simple enough; you may notice that I stuck to mostly dark outlines, a gradient going from black up top to dark purple at bottom; this was done to match the announcement art and make her lines less conspicuous against the purple background.

Wow, she looks so weird without the extra gradient body/hair colors. But I would totally wear this outfit all day, erryday.

Finished flat colors - added in hair gradients, wingtips and yellow accents, and the glowsticks get their own layer, no lineart, so I can really make them pop!

Shading! Since this is a weird, more energetic style, I played more with bolder tones, minimizing airbrush and mostly throwing solid lines down, using several levels of opacity to make certain areas stick out more than others.

Now for highlights! The simple "Add" tool, plus just using bright yellow and whites occasionally, makes quick work of the lighting here. I'm using triangles for some shading/highlighting, again to add to that weird 80s vibe. There's hardly a method to the madness right now, just what looks and feels fun and peppy over realistic. She's a magic flying horse, who says they can't be dancing bipeds!

I hope you like this process piece, and I hope to see some of you at Ponyville Ciderfest this Halloween weekend!