MLP-MSP Staff Art Dump! (Patreon)

I'm a staff artist for MLP-MSP in Minneapolis, St. Paul! This year, the convention "MLP-MSP" was brought back for a final year after it was unexpectedly shut down several years ago. This was meant to be the closure. And since it was headed by Charlie for its final year, the usual convention head for Whinny City and Ponyville Ciderfest, I got to join my usual crew of artists to draw for the final year!

I drew four pieces for the convention: one guest announcement, for the IDW comic artist, Brenda Hickey; two room banners, for the "Kid's Room" and "Charity Room"; and a special request, to draw something for the charity organization that is partnering with MLP-MSP this year, called Give Us Wings.

Here they are!

Above: The announcement piece for Brenda Hickey, comic artist for IDW. I'm not too familiar with her, but a quick Google search revealed a brief bio. She's an artist from Canada, and her OC just screams "sleep deprivation". (See below :P)

Now, my "angle" for this convention was looking up Minnesotan stereotypes to tease my Minnesotan friends - and they like coffee. There's a chain of coffeeshops up there called "Caribou Coffee", that is bigger than Starbucks for many. And while I hadn't heard of those before, I definitely know Canada coffee! Tim Hortons! An absolute favorite destination for me when I visited up north, for their donut holes (dubbed "Timbits") and gallon cocoa mix.

So I decided to incorporate their logos into the announcement! A very subtle thing, but I'm rather proud of it :)

Tim Hortons cup above!

and Caribou coffee above, featuring the mascot Gwen! I've started a new painterly-shading technique that I've come to love, and it feels more organic and even quicker than my normal shading. I'll be uploading that process with my next post!

Announcement post courtesy of Charlie Worthley of MLP-MSP! | < Official post is here > 

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Onto the banners!

First! "Kid's Room"

For this piece, I wanted to incorporate silly elements and focus on bright colors and elements - it is the kid room, after all, and I've learned from previous displays that bright colors print BEAUTIFULLY on banners. They are so darn satisfying to look at. So here is a dabble in bright colors, while simultaneously trying to incorporate the greens and browns of Prairie Heart, one of the MLP-MSP mascots. So here is the infamous Dashcon ballpit! Featuring Flim (left silhouette), Hors (my OC, middle silhouette), and Pinkie Pie (right). Pinkie Pie is especially attributed to the wonderful Kid's Room lead, who often cosplays as the cupcake pony. Here's to you, Lora! <3

And the "Charity Room", down below:

This one is much simpler in background, using one of my pre-existing assets with a mosaic effect. Most of these banners are taken up by large text, hashtags and the name of the convention.

I originally meant for this image of Gwen the griffon to be used for the charity room, but she fit so perfectly here! And as the star of the show, I made an OC for the charity organization, dubbed Peponi.

Which leads me to the last assignment! I was approached to make a piece for the charity organization, Give Us Wings. Their goal is to provide healthcare, education and training to people who cannot afford so in Uganda and Kenya. So I made them an OC. :)

I think an organization such as that, embodied in an equine body, would be protective, determined and hardworking, a mother-figure of her own design.

Concept sketch.

Colors. I used the "infinity"-style logo from the website to influence the cutie mark design along with the stripes in the tail. I wanted a palette that reflected the colors from the site as well - earthy tones and vibrance. This character is regal, but more than willing to do her part to get the job done.

And here she is. The name "Peponi" was inspired from a video a friend showed me years ago, a piano version of the song "Paradise", sung in Swahili. I have fond memories of that time, and after a lot of pondering, Peponi was the name that stuck.

I haven't even gone to MSP yet (I'm posting from the paaast! Hello Future You!), but I'm grateful for the opportunity to explore Minnesoooota, don'tcha know!