Welcome friends, ITT:We make and share pony art, with absolutely no pressure to deliver anything that's technically good (besides having ponies in it, which makes it good by default)Make something, share what you've done, and give feedback and motivation to help us all keep improving and creating!This thread's focus is art, but beginner or low effort content of any kind is welcome here. If you do want to post about something else like music, gamedev, or crafts, though, just note that you may find better help and feedback posting it in the /create/ threadAre you an experienced artist? Leave some tips, feedback, guides, or tutorials, they're well appreciated here!Guides, tutorials and resources! Start here!https://mares.horse/balehttps://ponepaste.org/8268Draw with other /bale/ anons!https://magma.com/invite/DXPPI_ZG/bale/ videos:https://pony.tube/c/bale_stuff/videos/create/ thread (for bigger art projects and all other types of content):>>42803188 Previous /bale/ thread:>>42832908
>>42914264I got about 3 op pics left so feel free to shoot any at me, I use every one I get in the order I receive them. just make sure that /bale/ is visible from the thumbnail and that "anyone can draw" is somewhere in the picture.
boop
>>42914681
>>42914269
>>42915176based
>>42915176>>42915195i agree based
Is tracing a good place to start?
>>42914264
>>42915237I could maybe see someone tracing as a start to "get a feel for the shapes/build muscle memory" (or something IDK lol) and then drawing it again off of reference/blind.
>>42915237depends, if you just trace it without an in depth analysis you're just hurting your progress someone more advanced should add their opinion but I like to trace poses or faces from various drawings, break them down with construction lines and then redraw them multiple times fixing things up until I can draw it from memoryit takes time but usually something sticks and helps me later on, even in a completely different pose
>>42915242hell yeah based
>>42915237It can help for studying an artstyle, but what you might do is try figuring construction out and trying to draw that over the pictures you want to copy. Drawing boxes and beans around body parts and whatnot.
>>42915237Personally. I don't feel tracing is helpful for learning. Using a reference on the other hoof is a valid means of practicing an art style. I tend to reference poses from the show in my sketches
>>42914264Ponified EqG challenge.
>>42915380Oh my gosh. What a cutie! The tail wag is killing me.
>>42915237No. Do not trace, instead use your eyes and copy from a reference (preferably in 3d). You have to learn to see and represent shapes
>>42915237Yes, you have to learn somehow, although I advise drawing by eye too, that will train your observational skills. You should be able to look at a reference and draw it without needing to trace. Try to learn from lots of different poses and facial expressions, then try drawing your own from scratch without any reference. If you're learning from screencaps of the show, try drawing some of the backgrounds as well!
>Is tracing a good place to start?>maybe>depends>can help>isn't helpful>no>yesKek, I love you anon, never change. Hope our new drawfriend can untangle the mixed messages.
>>42914269I don't know if it's in the scribble spirit, but I had fun. Use it if you want.
>>42915380Nice trickels>>42915575Every anon is a different person anon, so they are naturally going to have their own opinions on the subject. IMO tracing can have utility for some but really it comes down more so on how someone learns moreso than anything else. Tracing can and will help one learn the basics of their chosen art program but it has the downside of potentially becoming a crutch. copying is generally better than straight up tracing because it trains more skills at the same time while being more flexible and less likely to become a hard crutch. Copying is particularly good at honing observational skills aswell which is important to improving. it's up to the first anon who asked the question to try out different things and see what works for him all things considered.
>>42915640No worries anon it's good nice twiggles
>>42915237as a bare bone start to understand proportions and shapes? kind of, but for doing your own art i personally go with doing basic geometry shapes, than scratching details into them than trowing a new layer on top and re-draw proper sketch on top.
>>42915575I'm untangling alright, something like>look at pones>draw boxes on pones>smooth boxes>add cuteness>>42915647No, all anons are the same. Why else would they share a name?
>>42915081
Hi, I'm back! Here's Octane Red
>>42916488Hi there.
brilly !
nilly !
>>42916488hell yeah welcome back>>42916666nice derpy mega satan>>42916671a cute brilly>>42916674NOI
Sketches I did with a fren
to another year of being a /bale/chad
>>42916666 (checked)shit and I thought line boil and animation was my gimmickkek, gonna have to step my game up; this is fantastic. I'll be back to drawing in around a couple weeks after a trip I'm going on.
how do you guys do it?i can draw a circle for fuck all and it's getting to a point where not being able to do such a simple task is the most infuriating thing in the worldi genuinely have never felt so low in my life
>>42917072Have fun! You gotta lighten up and enjoy the creative process; it's called bale for a reason, Anon. We don't have very high standards here, and it's that way on purpose so we can all enjoy making cool things and having fun sharing them.Use screenies of ponies from the show and fanart as an example if you gotta study. The OP has a helpful little set of guide images in a URL too. If you're having trouble making a circle, try erasing the rough bits and replacing them rather than trying to do it all in one go, too. Again tho it is important to not let yourself be super critical and just let yourself have fun. Lots of free practice comes from being freespirited and just having fun.
>>42917072I can't do nice circles either.Instead I swirl the pen around and around until there's a bird's nest that has a circle-ish shape.Then I can either make another layer where I painstakingly trace out the "best" circle path within that mess. Or just Low Effort it and erase and polish around all the mess to make a colored sketch.
>>42917230I do this too. It usually ends up working out
>>42917230Artemis my beloved!
>>42917072Its by using my arm/elbow, that's probably the first piece of advice I'd tell anyone who's starting to draw is to do that, it makes things a lot easier, and also makes it so you don't completely destroy your wrist down the line. (like when drawing a circle I just keep my hand/wrist still and just move my arm in a circle like motion)
>>42917259I love the quaternion.If only I'd ever get off my lazy ass and finish all the sketches I started on when the Guardsmares threads were still going.
i've been trying to draw 1 thing every day traditionally (picrel). what are some tips to actually improve my skills and not stagnate? I mostly just want to draw mares. Something I am struggling with in particular is placement of horns on unicorns. They frequently look all lopsided and fucked up.
>>42917721use references. draw things that you struggle to draw with the intent to learn, not to make it perfect. that's my tips. not that i have room to talk, i haven't drawn in a long time. like a fucking fuck.
>>42917721I always end up referencing screenshots from the show and it's helped me to the point i don't need to rely on it anymore
Happy new mare year /Bale/!
>>42918212It's the year of the horse, motherfuckers. This is our time to shine!
>>42918212Happy new year! Here's to another year of pony art!
I better see you all put effort to improve instead of just saying in your comfort zone and not improve at all
>>42918766I improved a lot in the last three years but im definitely stagnating right now.
>>42919084whatever you do, dont become one of those people who constantly change their art style for the sake of "not stagnating" the amount of times ive seen artists hit their peak then devolve due to trying to "improve their art further" is insanedon't fix what isn't broken unless there's ACTUALLY something broken like bad anatomy or perspective
>>42919207I, for one, will continue to mess up my art by changing everything all the time and forgetting what works. Thank you very much
This year will be better
>>42919317It will be fren, it will be.
>>42919317love your art its super lovely
>>42916671>>42916674Cute! I like to imagine Noi and Anonfilly being friends, with Noi introducing Anonfilly into more filly stuff (like braided hair and bows).
Recently I tried painting and I really like how it turned out!
>>42920081woa... you spelled pinkie pie REALLY wrong in that painting
>>42915237I'd say it depends on what level you're at. If you're so new to drawing like I was where just drawing a line is an accomplishment I'd say it can be helpful to start with
>>42917721Use references, like other anons said. It can also be helpful to separate fun art and study art, because practicing fundamentals and things that you have trouble rendering will probably not be fun for you, but you need it in there to get gud. If you've got a body part or angle or whatever that you struggle with, pull up references and draw that a bunch.>>42919207I like to think of art styles as conscious choices that you can develop independently and switch between, but I suppose if you're starting off you shouldn't get too far into the weeds with that.>>42919317Dreamy, I like it.>>42920081Cute Ponka!
>>42914264CURSE YOU BALE!
>>42920081It looks really nice! Painting is awesome, I hope we'll get to see more later.
Reference drawing of Derpy
>>42921303nice
>>42917230>>42917564based ELWGM appreciator
oh hello twilight ass
>>42918766I will (lie)
Been having fun with traditional, cropped there crotch boobs out
>>42922862
>>42922869nice animu style
>>42922862>>42922869Nice.Being confident enough to ink your lines is quite impressive to me. I should nut up and just try it again with some of my lead doodles.
>>42923306Just don’t worry about messing up and focus on drawing and you’ll be fine
>>42922093ass ahoy
>>42923326These are magnificent anon I love them!
>>42922862crotch boobs please
>>42916488she cute. I've always liked red and black.
>>42921303Strawberry Sunrise. Tried to do the sphere thing I've seen artists do. I think it was pretty helpful with getting the features in good positions, but parts of her still feel flat/out of sync. Would probably redo her right eye some if I had more patience for it, and her snout is imperfect. Overall, I think this is pretty alright for day 2.
>>42922869>>42922862>>42923326These are amazing anon.
Cleared the canvas at https://magma.com/invite/DXPPI_ZGhttps://ponerpics.org/images/7410465png: https://files.catbox.moe/csjh4m.pngpsd: https://files.catbox.moe/3kh8b2.psdPrevious canvas: >>42884674
Cleared /event/ the canvas at https://magma.com/invite/DXPPI_ZGhttps://ponerpics.org/images/7409056png: https://files.catbox.moe/iec97x.pngpsd: https://files.catbox.moe/f4f82g.psd
warming up before I have to go into my wage cage.
first time using markers, im mostly happy with how this turned out, im pretty proud of the mane. i fucked up the eye really bad though i couldn't get it right so i just rolled with it.
>>42925861gonna kms didn't realize the img was landscape.
>>42925865Phones take a picture in whatever orientation the camera was installed into the phone in, and then they use exif data to rotate it.4chan strips all exif data from images when uploaded, since that's also where phones store the gps coordinates for where the picture was taken, and stuff like that.
Magma did a 2025 review, so I also did one as well for our group canvas! Here are the stats.In 2025 we've had...>401 users>227 canvases (including 42 /bale/ canvases)>5,717,248 brush strokes in /create/ canvas alone>10,617,746 /extrapolated/ brush strokes across all 4 canvases.>525,600 minutes (365 days go figure) uptime>Top 5 drawfags: >pic relThanks for drawing with us for over 5 years!
sketching something>>42925849fast mare on a mushroom!>>42925861smoll horn for a unicorn, I hope she doesn't have a complex about it. Cute mare!>>42925934401 anons drawing together is amazing.
>>42926487>Moonie ends up putting a moon rock in her mouth and bites down on it>Turns out she can chew rocks because of alicorn strength>Gaslights herself into thinking it IS cheese since cheeses can be real fucked up in appearance, taste, etcetera
>>42926487Her hooves smell like cream cheese
>>42926487nice moona
>>42925233Queen Chrysalis. If it weren't obvious, I'm doing daily pony drawings for 2026. And I've realized I don't actually know how to progress past reference drawings. They're certainly good practice, at the least.
>>42926845Shit that's a fun idea!>>42927003yes, no, I'm not sure>>42927273thanks!>>42927389Very good study! The lines are really clean. With time you'll get a sense of construction when you draw so that you can build up a pose. But having a vast visual library from references isn't a bad thing.
Luna in the yellow cloud dimension. I'm not feeling the mane design really. Done from a sketch on a way bigger canvas so it's rather smol in resolution too.>>42927389Nice chryssi she has them big ol' eyes. Just keep it up anon, when you're comfortable try to do some from imagination, then back to referencing, and repeat.>>42923326These are super cuuute>>42926487No Moony, it's another one of her pranks! Don't do it!
I haven't posted since last year, so here, have some low effort doodles.
>>42917230>>42917564Absolutely blessed! Do remember to post them into the thread if they're still alive when you finish.
>>42928841rip but nice poners
>>42928960Oh wow, would you look at that!Here's to hoping that might give me a bit of an inspirational kick in the backside, despite other more urgent things lying in front of them in my backlog.>>42928841Extremely cute! Your faces are always so adorable!
>>42925845goodnight /bale/
doodled some apples
Pen testing scribbles for tonight>>42930198Vibrant Twi!
>>42930198cute twiggles>>42930318based taste in ponies ponk and twiggles a cute.
>>42930318Holy shit Heathcliff in Equestria
>>42927389Pinkie Pie. The whole pony is certainly a step beyond just the head. I wanted to do a side profile first, to get a taste for the proportions before doing the classic 3/4 view.
would you be leashed
>>42930149
>>42930231Nice apples
>>42931042
>>42931441
>>42931798
been a little while since I've posted here. haven't had many original pony related ideas to draw and mostly have been doing animu. decided to ease back into pony with something easy by making a copy, the og is on the left mine on the right. also wanted to have something to post here beyond an empty bump.
>>42932195
Any drawfags use display tablets? Im looking to get one but im kinda lost on where to start.
>>42932971xp-pen has done me good over the years. i started with the 12/13 inch, and now i use a 23 inch one. the rule of them generally is bigger is better, just mind how much desk space you have.
>>42932979Ill check it out. Thanks anon.
>>42932971I don't use a tablet at all I'm a mouse masterracist. last time I used a tablet was back in like 2014 or so it was a used wacom bamboo tablet with no display though and I hardly used it less than a handful of times. a tablet would definitely be nice for certain rendering related tasks though but I'm to much of a tight fisted jew to part with my money for one. whats your budget though? that will definitely help people with recommendations. wacom makes some decent shit but their cheapest display tablet is about $300, I've heard good things about huion tablets too, and after checking xp-pen based on >>42932979's recommendation they seem nicely priced for what you get.
>>42932971I've got a Huion GS1562 that I like as a screenie, it was under 150 united states monies used on eBay if I recall. It's never done me wrong, but I'll warn that the thunderbolt cable port won't fit most third party cables due to being inset. I've also got the 13 inch one from that generation and it's the same, just smaller.>>42933016Kneeling, I love mouse art. It's surprisingly relaxing.
I got markers today and was jumpscared by how dark they are. Definitely will have to read up on how it's supposed to be done. Still, it was pretty fun to play around.
here is squire from mlp tales.
>>42933016>I'm a mouse masterracistI bow. Id say max 800 bux still would look for a deal though. At the skill im at i shouldent be dropping more than that. >>42933076Not bad for the price eh? Hows the colour on it?
>>42933188The colors on the Huion are fine to my eyes. I imagine up to 800 should get you a lot unless it's Wacom.
.
challenged myself to see what I could do in an hour.>you will bear her foals.
>>42933243Based
>>42933203
>>42930347Fluttershy. I think I got the proportions a little better this time around, though I'm still struggling with getting the eyes to match up satisfyingly. I need to take more time on them.
>>42933479I like how she came out, Anon. Proportionally sound except for the head size a bit small, but I actually prefer this to the show. The eyebrows don't quite align, other than that I wouldn't sweat it, looks good.
>>42933455
>>42933770
>>42933483I think that's because I start with the head and build off of that. I need to try doing just pony bodies on their own, I think
Found an old Punk Luna sketch that I finished.>>42930641yes>>42932249Same over here, hopefully the snow pity gives us more creative mare ideas. But at the same time it's kinda nice working on other stuff or practicing. Great study btw!>>42933084Nice! I really gotta try out some more traditional mediums since having the finished art infront of you really gives a different kind of achivement even though I love digital art.>>42933243I kneel and accept>>42933479The wing is a bit too big in relation to her body but I think you've got it pretty good otherwise.
>>42934335hell yeah thanks brother nice moona by the way she looking thicc
>>42933243She's looking a bit horsey there but I still love my queen, very nice
>>42934335>wing is a bit too bigAnd here I was worried about making it too small lol
>>42934416Tbf looking at the show now and you're closer than I first thought. For some reason I always Imagen the wings smaller than they really are.
Finally finished something that I wanted to do for a long time.>tfw I sketched it out on June 14th
>>42934046
>>42934534Based
i love earth ponies!
upsies!
Horsey Trixie>>42915380Cute Trix! Saved>>42930198Twi!>>42934335Bro, excellent moonbutt>>42935563Very nice
I drew this maybe 3 years ago but I don't believe I ever posted it.
>>42933479Chrysalis. I rushed this draw, if you couldn't tell, but it was still fun. Chrysalis actually has some pretty interesting proportions relative to the typical pony model. The eyes continue to be a problem area so I think I'll do a bit of an eye study this week.
I spent entirely too much time on this but I think I finally understand that hair can just be random lines lol. Also thank the lord for eye references
Ponk!>>42934335The Flying V stays on during sex. Love it.>>42935966Very nice mane, only thing I'd change is I'd make the close bang overlap her horn a bit. Really cool shapes, very anime-esque>>42934534Cute!>>42935781Looks good, she is a little tricky in terms of proportions I never got it right for her myself
>>42935781This is the face she gives you before unhinging her jaw and twisting your head off after making out with you and sucking the love from your body
