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Bakuel — Brushstroke Painting a Rose
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Published: 2014-03-13 08:42:39 +0000 UTC; Views: 5560; Favourites: 388; Downloads: 222
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This is 's OC. Sadly, she is off model-ish.I was reading up on the difference between hard and soft edges in painting and when to use one or another in a painting. I don't think I truly grok it, but there's nothing to do but keep studying I guess.
Anyway, the fun thing with this one is the window light/shadow, the last time I tried something like this was the Daring Do and the Ferocious Felines, with the light behind the bars. Sadly, I kind of fudged up the bar shadows on that one. So I tried it again here. Those shadows are annoying, crawling and stretching across the ground and objects like crawling shadow-things... I still need to practice this.
Ponies doing art seems to be a stand-by for me now...
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Comments: 62
I wasn't thinking of Sagwa when I made it, but I did love that show when I was young.
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Yes, their color scheme similarities has been pointed out... Though this is my fault, not the OC creator, Brushstroke's brown coat becomes orange-ish in yellow sunlight which makes people think of AJ even more.
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I'm just saying I mean most ocs I make are kids of actual characters.
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The ponies sure have a very nimble tail just by watching AJ playing with her lasso and Fluttershy gripping herself upside down on a branch. Sure this OC look like AJ with a very close appearance, but she is adorable to watch making that painting. It sure is not the most confortable position to do so, though. Her neck must hurt at the end.
Wonderful work. Of course, real horses (IRL) paint using their mouth. At the owners sell those for a price. Seriously.
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Ah, the neck. I should have positioned her differently. Perhaps positioned her head like she was looking over her shoulder-ish and not twisting her head around. If that makes sense. But I jumbled that up a bit. I'll pay more attention to the pony anatomy next time.
Thank you for the comment, I really appreciate it!
After reading your comment I googled and looked at those horses art... I don't think they'll be painting roses anytime soon. Most of the sites said the funds went to various horse charities, so I'll just imagine that it's all just a big fund raiser thing and most of the people who buy the paintings would have donated money to the horse rescue places regardless. But then again, there probably are people out their who really love those paintings and pay thousands of dollars for them.
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My pleasure.
There are also paintings made by primates and elephants for sale.
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Great, now you made me go and read all about primates and elephants painting instead of working. Oh well, time for bed I guess.
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At least you have the net to help you find out about the subject. I learned about that on tv, so go check videos about it on YouTube.
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Well, I can see why you would think that, with the color choice and all.
That's probably my fault, pretty soon, all ponies I draw will start looking like AJ.
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Praise Amaterasu, origin of all that is good and mother to us all.
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Oh wow. It's so touching.. I even don't know why.
p.s. I'm glad to find your gallery!
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Pure painting ponies can touch anyone's heart. They may be one of the ingredients for world peace.
Thank you! I'll try to make more ponies.
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Parents wanted her to be a successful doctor.
Let the abuse begin.
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Thank you! It was a fun OC to paint.
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Great job! I really like the style, particularly in what concerns the coloring. However, the shading and lighting are pretty awesome too
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Thank ya kindly!
The colors were rather experimental, I'll probably do more like this.
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Painting with your mane and tail? What an interesting concept!
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I know! In my opinion it's up there in the top percentage of OC so I had to paint her painting.
Of course the pony would have to remember to wash their hair before the paint dries...
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Yeah. Honestly, many OCs are pretty trite or over-the-top, so I really enjoy seeing some simplicity and originality.
Well, the positive thing is that it would make for some pretty interesting color patterns, right?
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I don't mind strange overblown OCs as long as the design is fun to draw. The more outrageous ones can be fun. My oc pony that I doodle the most is, after all, Medusa pony. Coils of snakes are fun/hard to draw and shade.
But moving away from stranger OC ponies to more canon pony OCs, I agree with you completely about overblown ponies, but in my opinion I would also say that many OCs have very boring designs as well.
In real life, it's hard to imagine what someone is *really* like or what their life's purpose is just by looking at them. Appearance has more to do with genetics and nutrients while dress has more to do with ideas of culture, class and so on. Cartoons, comics and things like that generally diverge from that as design becomes a way to tell the viewer something about your character. Ponies especially. Ponies are kinda funny in that they wear their personal life's purpose on the outside shouting out into the public what they are all about. I think a pony should have a visible quark or mood, either in their design, like their cutie mark, or in what you draw them doing. Their shtick we could say. This is very important for ponies to stand out as individual characters as many of them share basic designs on the show.
If you look at the original mane six sketches by Lauren Faust they are all shown doing something related to their talent or personality, making them appear almost one-note. AJ's the farmer pony, Twilight's the book smart, Fluttershy loves animals, Dash is a jock, Rarity loves fashion, Pinkie Pie loves parties. But then as the viewer gets to know them they become more nuanced lovable round characters. But when I look at many OCs it's really hard to guess at what their shtick is. They are overly simple. Very cute ponies sometimes with cool cutie marks but they are often very vanilla and background pony-ish. At least to me.
I may be insane though.
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Nah, I completely get what you mean. Of course all characters boil down to a stereotype at a first glance, when you think about it... otherwise, it simply makes them confusing and unrelatable. However, they must have something more to them when you scratch the surface, something that makes them truly three-dimensional characters, and not just personae created for narrative purposes. Like maybe this boring, no-fun bookworm is actually a big fan of pastries, which will give an unexpected though by no means illogical twist to his personality.
My problem with OCs is that too often, they are copy-pastes of already existing characters or archetypes, with just a thing changed here and there. Worse still, they are sometimes just an addition of kewl background and personality elements, like this pegasus who's a cadet Wonderbolt, but also a messenger for Princess Celestia... oh, and a weather pony too. Granted, Rainbow Dash, for example, is a weather pony + a bearer of an element of harmony + a cadet Wonderbolt... but these elements feel like they blend together rather than being stacked on top of each other, which actually doesn't spoil the character.
As for cutie marks and general design, yeah, thinking about how the personality, physical aspect, and cutie mark of a character can go hand in hand or clash is a lot of fun. For example, I'm having a lot of fun with the idea of, say, a hardcore royal guard named Gentle Jig because that's how her parents named her. There's a ton of things you can imagine for a character like that.
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I agree with all your points, but I just wanted to add that Celestia probably often refers to the Royal Guard as Gentle. In the most motherly patronizing voice.
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Such a short answer! Who are you and what have you done to Bakuel?
Would Celestia really be that playfully mean?
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Sorry, I've just been busy with some things... I'll make sure to write long replies for now on!
But you should have count yourself lucky, I thought about making a Castlevania joke with characters=men and stereotypes=secrets, but then I came to my senses and went to bed instead.
I think Celestia would, depending on how hard of a time the Gentle Jig gave other ponies about it. But if Jig felt really bad about it, probably not.
But looking at it from another angle, Celestia might not have gotten the memo about how much she disliked her name. Just imagine the huge award ceremony after she saves all of Equestia, "Your name will live on in the annals of Equestrian history, Gentle Jig."
And I can imagine the awful "witty" remarks at the party afterwards,
"May I have this dance? Or should I say, jig?"
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Ha ha, don't worry, I was just pulling your leg. Please, don't feel like you have to do so.
Ah, well, this joke never gets old... actually, it is very old, and somewhat hackneyed now, but actually, I'm still not tired of it.
Ha ha ha, I can picture it indeed! With GJ beet-red, muttering words of gratitude for the Princess and innerly caressing the idea of punching in the faces of everypony around her who are making a poor job of stifling laughter. And then, during the ensuing party, the Sisters have mercy on the unwary fool who would crack such a joke... he may never be heard of again.
Damn, I want it to become a reality now!
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That's one of the my personal favorite memes, the whole scene. Not so much for the hammy acting (but that's a plus) but the strange abnormal way the dialogue develops before the break down in communications. It reminds me of many an internet conversation.
Make it a reality! I would read it!
Are you planning to write a story about Gentle Jig? Or is it a role-play character? Or does she just live in your head?
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Oh my god, yes, the acting is absolutely brilliant. Old Drac' is actually doing quite a good job (although he's being kinda over-emphatic... but then again, the character is supposed to be prideful, aggressive, and boisterous), but Simon sounds like he's sedated. The dialogue-then-fight actually didn't surprise me. It's a staple of action movies and video games, where the hero and the bad guy have a pseudo-philosophical exchange before going at each other's throats.
Actually, I'm not really into fanfictions. I've written a few (though never an MLP one), and read some, but most of the time, it was just for kicks and giggles. As for RP, I did a lot of it in the past, but then grew tired of it. I'm often tempted to go back to it, but never to the point of actually doing it.
Gentle Jig is just a concept that popped in my mind as I was writing that previous comment. There's nothing concrete about her, except for the few things we've jokingly exchanged about her. Still, I do agree she would be a very fun and interesting character to write about...
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Yeah, I'm not *really* into fanfics either. I read them, but not often. It's hard to find a quality fanfic and I generally favor longer ones. With visual art, you can easily and quickly gauge the quality of the image before you even take a closer look at it to digest the little details. It also makes it easier to critic and help out with art. You can say what you liked and didn't like, point out things that look odd, suggest things, or ask why the artist did x instead of y.
Fanfics a person has to actually sit down and read through them. Even ignoring bad basic writing (misspelled words, weird dialogue.etc), an OK writer can still leave plot holes or write an ending you find unsatisfying. Which are problems that only reveal themselves after you have read through all 50+ pages. This also makes critiquing them much harder as the problems can become a lot more complex. I still read them, but I usually only follow one or two at a time. At the moment the only one I'm reading isn't pony, but it's one that's finally updating after 10 years. It's like a blast from the past!
Regardless, I would read a story about Gentle Jig. As an OC, she's already in the top percentage in my opinion.
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As for me, I've only read short fanfics, the last one being "Diamond Tiara Buys a Little Sister". It was nice, especially in how Diamond Tiara was portrayed, but the plot and its resolution felt a bit hackneyed, not to mention the presence of a few inconsistencies here and there. That's one of my major problems: I'm very critical of what I read, which sometimes spoils what I could probably have calmly enjoyed otherwise. Also, since I'm not keen on the idea of spending a whole day reading a fanfic, I generally only read short ones, the best one being "The Purloined Pony", done in the Choose Your Own Adventure style. Talk about a blast from the past!
I'm not a good visual artist... I'm not even a visual artist at all, so my opinion in that regard is generally restricted to "I like X." or "I don't like Y.", or simply "Wow, this is good!" with the addition of a wisecracking comment
Thank you very much about Gentle Jig. She only exists in this conversation, yet I've already grown fond of her! Maybe I'll write a short, one-shot story about her, and see where that takes me... Though it would take writing a whole story in English; something I've never done before!
By the way, out of curiosity: what is the fanfic you mentioned? Not that I'd know about it, but still, I'm curious.
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Ah yes, lukewarm endings. I can stoically march through a bad middle, sometimes I can stomach a bad beginning, but a bad ending is awful. It's like eating a dish that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, as good as it was when you first started chewing, the nasty aftertaste is the thing that sticks with you.
Your comment made me go read it and you're right. Good Diamond Tiara characterization, hackneyed plot. I like the idea of her special talent, but everything else seemed *too* painless. I can forgive Tiara finding that baby as a plot point, she had to go the hospital on that specific day at that specific time and look at that specific baby. I think a fanfic author can get away with one random twist of fate in their story, generally to start the plot up. I'm generous like that. It's a vice, but a forgivable one.
My major problem is that the actual meat of the reunion and the problems in it are kind of glossed over in the end. These ponies have been apart for how many years? Realistically speaking, they aren't going to just plop back together like a sandwich. FR may have loved Rose, once, and her leaving may have led to a prolonged state of depression. He may treasure the memories of their time together. But often this does not translate to welcoming the person back with open arms. It's been x amount of years, they have both moved on. They are probably completely different people from who they were from when they first met.
But I digress,
The old fanfic is a Redwall one, the Urthblood Saga. I started reading it when I was in my wee early teens, around 2001-2002. It's like walking down memory lane...
It's actually two novels with the author working on the third. In many ways it's a more mature and morally grey Redwall story (without being over the top grimdark-death-orgy) if you have ever read that children's series. It's faults are that it's slow and wandering and the author is in no hurry to finish it. It could be called boring in parts. But, he usually updates regularly on a schedule and the writing quality is always good, the comedy makes me chuckle or at least smile, the action is good, the suspenseful scenes are suspenseful and it's generally always intelligent. Especially the plot. Meaning plot, and not pony plot. Pony fandom has ruined that word for me.
A better summary is here,
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php…
PS: Write about Gentle Jig, write it, you know it needs to happen!
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As for me, I must really be looking forward to one heck of a great ending, or have just read an awesome start, to keep reading a mediocre story... although sometimes, I just soldier on out of pure stubbornness and desire to know what's going to happen next! But you, sucky endings are the worst; they really leave a very unpleasant “THAT'S IT!?” feeling.
Yeah, the ending was rushed in a few paragraphs, but on the other hand, I'm kinda grateful for keeping the aforementioned fanfic to only two chapters. After all, the author wanted to depict Diamond Tiara coming to terms with what it means to be a family... going beyond that would have carried the story in a whole new direction. I think reading more would have started to feel like a chore. And I can stomach coincidences, but they have to make sense: coming across one of the story's major characters in a café? Why not, if it's a place the character in question frequently goes to. However, Diamond Tiara going to the hospital where not only her mother but also her half-sister are? It's overly random. I can forgive it a little for the convenience of the plot, but I'm still doubtful.
Oooh, I never got around to reading Redwall! I've read the universe is very similar to Mouseguard, which I absolutely love, but I haven't read a single Redwall book. I really gotta try it some time! And then maybe, one day, I'll read the Urthblood Saga (thanks for the TVTropes link by the way)... considering how slow I usually am at getting started on a new series, my hair will probably be gray by then! But hey, never despair.
Oh yeah, “plot”. It's true the fandom has forever changed the way I perceive this word, but that's okay, I mostly get a kick out of it. Like when I read “focus on the plot” and I can't help but giggle!
Yeah, maybe when I have some free time, I'll move my lazy ass and write a short story about Gentle Jig. But writing is loooong and difficuuuuult! All the more so when it's not in your native language...
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After sleeping on it, I think it would have helped the story if it had been said that Diamond Tiara had been visiting the hospital to look at newborns periodically for the last, say two months or so. Using her special talent to scan the babies to find the perfect little sister. It would have still been contrived, (what was Rose doing in small town Ponyville?), but it may have lessened the effect. At least a little.
Ok, maybe the quick get back together ending is better. Maybe it's just my cynical side that dislikes it.
Redwall is a good series, but the books are very formulaic. The must reads are Redwall and Mossflower. Redwall is the first but Mossflower (the second book) is generally thought of as the best in the series. Before reading any fanfic, I would highly recommend reading Redwall and Mossflower. They were written for children and are light, but are timeless good adventure stories.
After reading these two if you want to read more, the good ones (IMO) are, Mattimeo, Martin the Warrior, Lord Bocktree, and Pearls of Lutra. All the others vary in quality.
Writing a story in a second language would be hard...
How about writing it in French, copy and paste it into Google translate, instant English story?
I'm 95% sure this would work.
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It might have, but on the other hand, the author made a point of showing that she mostly acted on whims and impulses all through the story... which makes sense, given how much of a spoiled “I want it now!” brat she is. Plus, I think it would have been detrimental to the story's pacing: the whole thing is supposed to develop rather quickly... maybe even too quickly, now that I think about it.
Don't get me wrong! Your long version would have been nice, too, but what I mean is that it's not the point of the story as it is, y'know?
Wow, so many! I didn't expect that there were so many Redwall books! Well, if I ever get started on the Redwall series, I'll make sure to follow your recommendations. I've heard many good things about the universe, and I'm not adverse to children stories (otherwise, why would I watch and read MLP?), so in the end, I have no excuse not to buy the books and give them a try!
Ah, my dear Bakuel, should I do that, as a professional translator, I would then have to perform seppuku to wash away the dishonor of having used Google Translate! Actually, scratch that thought; I would already be dead inside... Maybe I could write one word every day? Then in ten years, I'd have a complete short story! Foolproof.
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Late reply, I was busy...
Maybe, but I was thinking more as exposition explaining about Diamond Tiara checking the hospital periodically. There is already a expositional paragraph in the story where Diamond Tiara is thinking about how the CMC has sisters and how much it mad her jealous. And about how she thought about getting a big sister but decided for a little one. A few sentences here and there could add the needed background info without padding out the story too much. There would be no reason to actual write complete new scenes.
I think Diamond Tiara has it in her be very persistent. Rose noted her single-minded persistence when she came back the next day. I always thought of Diamond as the type of person who once they wanted to get something would go through any number of different schemes and strategies to get it. It would be a noble virtue, but she's primarily motivated by a need to feel superior to others and, when she doesn't have that, emotions like envy and jealousy drive her until the balance is restored and she is on top again.
She's the type of person that would go through life worrying about status. Things like having the most expensive car and best house in her neighborhood and sulking and plotting until she has it. After she has the needed item though, she wouldn't really enjoy it for its own sake and she would probably forget about it. Or, like in Twilight Time with her pool, she will only use the object to rub it in have-nots' faces. It was somewhat doubtful that even she enjoyed her large pool.
You're a professional translator? Do you only translate to/from English or do you know other languages?
It does explain a nagging thought I had in the back of my head. I found your written English to be fine and was wondering why you would have trouble writing a story in English, but now I guess it might be a perfectionist thing, if you don't mind me saying. An ok English story probably wouldn't be good enough.
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Oh, that's no problem at all! We're in no hurry, after all.
Yes, I see what you mean... with a little exposition here and there, the whole thing might have progressed more smoothly, without this feeling of rush and piling coincidences. Then again, it's easy to be a critic, but much harder to be an artist! There are tons of little problems and faults that are very hard to notice when you're someone who doesn't have a fresh, exterior point of view i.e. when you're the writer!
Indeed, Diamond Tiara is portrayed very well, and it's precisely what the author is the most praised for: she's in-character, believable, and is actually shown with qualities (her persistence and craftiness, as you mentioned), along with her usual boatload of faults. One of the things I found the most bittersweet about the way she was portrayed is that you can see she could truly be a very good person with constructive opinions and actions, should she stop caring only about her own flank and her short-sighted vision of social status... and unfortunately, it's made quite clear that it's not going to happen anytime soon! She has moments when she is genuinely sad and driven by sorta-good intentions, but then, she quickly relapses into her brattish, selfish behavior!
Another thing I quite liked is how interesting Filthy Rich is to the reader despite only appearing at the very end of the story. Through the mentions that are made of him here and there, it can be surmised that he is a caring, patient father who likes his spoiled daughter very much, but at the same time, he has his own past regrets and sense of responsibility, so that he's not just some sort of two-dimensional, overprotective father.
I only translate to and from English... you could say I'm a specialist! I've had several years of Spanish too, but it quite a long time ago now, so I can't remember it well enough to write or speak it correctly.
Thank you very much for your compliment! Actually, as I think I previously mentioned, I can write in English fine, but it takes much more time than in my native language, since it's much less intuitive for me. However, once more, who knows? Maybe one day, we'll see Gentle Jig spread her wings! My hands have actually been itching lately...
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I think i can thank u?! 
Beautiful picture, isnt it?
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