Real nice man. You did a brilliant job at making her seem more mature and adult, such as the slimmer features. Tell you what would be a nice feature, the stars in her hair having a small animation. Not a necessity though, as it's really good as it is. It does make me wonder why her character was changed so drastically in aesthetics this season.
Never thought about animating the stars, but then, I didn't give much thought to the mane when making it. I don't like it, nor do I hate it, but it'll probably be the last time I sprite it. The only real difference I noticed was her new inferior mane and tail (which reminds me of a plastic bag now). I left everything else up to Faust's explanation.
Experimenting again. I didn't pay too much attention to detail, but I'm still developing. I'm not quite at the stage I'd like to be yet. Octavia used to be a Unicorn
Considering I'm colourblind, shading is actually rather difficult to get right. Although I'm not quite there artistically, such as the level of shading on Crooked Trees' work, I can say shading is mainly about choosing 1. The positioning 2. The tone 3. Blur. Shading isn't just about where light strikes, it has to account for the shape of the body as well. That's what I mean about positioning, you have to think about what should be shaded, and where. Once you know, you just have to get the right tones in the right places. It looks messy when you first do that, because you should over compensate (put way too much and over a much larger area than you should). That's where blurring comes in, it sooths the colours and merges them together, giving a much softer gradient. As for the hair, I'm still working on how to get that right, buti's mainly which brush you use and the technique. As I said, I'm not the best artist in the fandom by a long shot, probably not even on this site, and I have a bad habit of not putting enough effort into my pieces, but I do know that much. There are probably hundreds of tutorials on the internet and in books covering what I've just said infinitely better.
Oh tips from Lupr, thank you I shall abuse this new found information. I love your art style Lupr. IT'S SO AWESOME
At least you have the inspiration to actually create something. I haven't touched my graphics tablet in... 3 months now. Writer's block isn't helping either. Especially when you're taking Writer's Craft. As for the piece you said on shading; Another very difficult thing to master is the light potentially reflected of other surface that produces a highlight, occasionally in places that you mind tells you should be shaded. It's a pain to get right. It took me hours to get right on a piece of fabric (Done in art class). Hours. Hours Hours Hours. 4 Work periods of just getting the highlights and lowlights right on that Dumb Fabric. In the end though, a 99% was probably worth my time. (My teacher refused to give 100s. Ever)
http://blue-cup.deviantart.com/art/Happy-Nightmare-Night-266247006 Thou art going to do WHAT!? What's the big deal? It's just a harmless Nightmare Night prank. You said you wanted to have fun, didn't you? Yes, but... We are not sure if this is the type of "fun" that a member of the royal family should be having... It'll be fine, I promise! Now come on, there's a house up ahead that belongs to another pegasus I know- He'll LOVE this.
I always loved pixel art. It's a unique art form which can be applied to so many areas, including games. I love its diversity.
Thanks, and thank you for the DA watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxjO4M4o1ek and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7tWUdfNuf0