Pony OC: Design and Resources!

[Mizuki]

(If the other mods think this thread should be moved elsewhere, feel free to go ahead and do so, but I figured posting here would be okay at least for now!)

• Do you want to create a Pony OC, but you're not sure how?


• Do you already have a Pony OC, but you wish it looked more unique?


• Maybe you just want your Pony to look its very best!?

Well look no further than this thread!

I'm not much of a writer or anything, so at the moment we're just gonna focus on the looks of a Pony. I know looks aren't everything, but intentionally designing a character to look a certain way can leave a strong first impression! But enough of my babbling, lets dive right in!

Color!!
I don't even need to explain this one. Y'all know your colors. But how familiar are you with the Color Wheel? or Color Theory? Well don't worry, your ol' pal Mizuki has got you covered! Behold!

• Color Scheme Designer Helps you figure out what colors go well together


• Colour Pod One of many "Color Palette" blogs on tumblr


• Color Palette Generator Extracts 5 dull and 5 vibrant colors from an existing image. You'll see when you get there, though I mostly recommend using it as a starting point.

This next one sort of falls somewhere between "Color" and "everything else", but here ya are anyway!

• Character Design Tips (I've seen a lot of OC's fall in similar traps, so I think it can be applied to Ponies too~)

A good "Rule of Thumb" is to pick 3 basic colors (any colors your little heart desires! ) and find a way to make it work.

For example, colors like Pink and Yellow don't really "match up" on the color wheel...

Spoiler: show

I mean don't get me wrong, both colors are very pretty, but something is missing...

...but if you add a third color; like the color blue (or in this case, Teal. What? It's a type of blue) then suddenly it's a bit more interesting!

Spoiler: show

Now we have a Triad!! Yay~

From there, you can expand upon it, like so:

Spoiler: show

Obviously more than just 3 colors, but I think you get the idea! Also, credit goes to this person!

This Yellow/Blue/Pink combination works for both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, so if you're worried about being "stuck with just three colors", just remember that there's all kinds of different shades and hues out there to play with! 

Of course, not everyone follows this "rule of 3"; (Hello Rainbow Dash! ) but if you look carefully at Rainbow's mane, you'll notice that she has 3 colors in her fringes (red, yellow, & orange) and 3 colors in the back (green, blue, purple) so in a way...she kind of does! Not to mention her solid coat (a light shade of blue) and her simple cutie mark (just ONE thunder cloud/bolt thing)  all help her achieve a more "balanced" look.

Colors can even be symbolic, and while this varies heavily from culture to culture, I still think it's something worth sharing here:

• Color Symbolism #1


• Color Symbolism #2

Speaking of symbolism...

Cutie Marks!!
Okay so you're starting to get your hooves wet in terms of color (or maybe you're already an expert) and that is awesome! Thankfully, cutie marks are a little bit easier to wrap your head around (It's an object on your flank. Doesn't get much simpler than that, folks!) However, there some things you may wanna keep in mind.

✰Rule of Odds!✰

• Basically, this is where that whole "rule of 3" thing I mentioned before actually comes from. It's an unofficial rule that "odd numbers are more aesthetically pleasing" design-wise. (They "look pretty" for some reason. Don't ask me what the science behind it is, I'm sure it's math-related though) I mean you've noticed it too, right? Big Macintosh has one Apple on his flank. Rarity has three gems on her flank. Twilight Sparkle has five little white stars (plus one big star) on her flank. So y'know, something to think about! 
  

✰Symbolism!✰

• Sometimes cutie marks can be pretty self-explanatory. (APPLES!! CARROTS!! BEES!!) But sometimes a cutie mark can have a hidden meaning. Take Cheerilee for example: You'd think because she has happy flowers on her flank, her talent would be garden-related, but nope! The Flowers represent the knowledge blooming in the minds of her students, and the smiles represent the "cheer" she'd bring to them as they're learning. That's some pretty deep stuff!


• If I had to interpret Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark in such a way, I'd say the five little stars represent the elements of harmony, where as the big star represents the sixth element: Magic. All together you have the most powerful magic of all: friendship! Hence why her talent really is magic, but also friendship. (I still think the 6th element should have been called "friendship", but since friendship IS magic, then technically Twilight's "element of magic" isn't exactly "wrong", either)

Overall, just keep the cutie mark fairly simple in terms of design. Less is more! That's about it!

MANES/TAILS!!
I'll probably/definitely put up more visual aids tomorrow, but it's getting late in my time zone and I kinda wanna hit "post" before I lose everything I've written so far.

Basically, you want your character to have a strong Silhouette.

Lets try this for example:

Spoiler: show

My, won't you look at all of that poofy hair, and such a care-free pose! Just the mane and tail alone sure says a lot about this little pony! I bet they're just as bouncy as those curly locks of theirs! (I wonder who it could be? )

Sometimes you can get an idea of what kind of hair they have based on a character's life style. Rarity is a prim and proper lady who takes much pride in her outward appearance, so her mane has to be perfectly coiffed at all times. Applejack on the other hoof doesn't bother fussing with her hair all that much. Sure, she'll tie it back to get it out of the way, but it's mostly out of necessity than it is a fashion statement.

I could go on and on about the mane six's hair, but I think you guys get the point by now 

Pony hair doesn't grow the same way as people-hair does, but have some hair-drawing references anyway!

• Hair Tutorials #1


• Hair Tutorials #2


• Hair Tutorials #3

Well it's been fun, but I think I'll stop there for now! Sorry if this was TL;DR!!

Remember, you can completely disregard this information if you want to! Or maybe this is all stuff you already knew!! However, I thought it'd be fun to have a bunch of resources all in one place! Just in case!

Feel free to share your own thoughts/opinions/ideas/resources!!

[Ramisha]

Woohoo DESIGNING PARTY man I LOVE designing new ponies and I love reading stuff like this 
I will add some stuffs too.

Spoiler: A helping hoof for character design • show

Spoiler: show

Source: http://mademoiselle-nuit.deviantart.com/art/Character-Design-Tutorial-252827709

Spoiler: show

Source: http://i-moosker.deviantart.com/art/Character-Design-Tutorial-221137530

Spoiler: show

 I disagree with some things in here but okay.
http://louiseloo.deviantart.com/art/Pony-Design-Guide-392013422

Some help for manes and tails

Spoiler: rrrAAAAAAAINBOOOOOOOOOOOW • show

Ok an explanation for that one.

1. just a regular hairstyle although I haven't seen many ponies with it??

2. a ponytail with some hair poking out so it doesn't look bland

3. it's an odd hairstyle, it's basically the ends of her hair strapped to the middle of her hair with a hairclip

4. braid and bangs

5. in this one the bottom of the hair is short and it gets longer the closer to the front it is

6. her bangs are in a braid and so is the rest of her hair, but in a differnt one

7. short hair with a bun

8. hair tied with something

9. I really like this one, looks like some japanese pony!

10. poofy - no it's not pinkie pie, it's different!

11. omg it looks like Midnight Breeze??

12. that's me! I mean that's my hair

If you like any of those feel free to steal them

[Mizuki]

Oh my gosh those tutorials are SO AWESOME!! 

Don't forget to link your sources!

EDIT: I got impatient and added the sources for you, I hope you don't mind~ 

[Prismatic]

For the short version I point out that the ponies are generally 'pastel' colored.  So things like bright red and neon green aren't viable colors.

[Mizuki]

That's a good point!

Though male ponies have a tenancy to use more earthy tones, and there are plenty who aren't pastel (Twilight, Rarity & Pinkie Pie all have pretty dark manes)

ah then again even earthy tones can be pastel

I'll make a note of it!

[MrEmu]

One thing I'v noticed is that Pegasi tent to be skyish colors like blues or greys or something.

We'v seen Rainbow Dash, she's blue, then Cloud Chaser and Flitter are kinda a grey blue, then Thunder Lane is black like the night sky...

Now of course some aren't any skyish colors...like Flutter Shy but it's just something I'v realized and thought I'd share!
I don't know if this's helped but hope it did!

[Prismatic]

That's a good point!

Though male ponies have a tenancy to use more earthy tones, and there are plenty who aren't pastel (Twilight, Rarity & Pinkie Pie all have pretty dark manes)

ah then again even earthy tones can be pastel

I'll make a note of it!

Pastel is more of a texture to me than a specific color.  A dull like appearance that is in no way shiny or overly bright.  It's hard to explain it I guess.

[Ramisha]

Dark and light colors work well together, e.g. if you make your pony's mane dark and its coat light and looked at just its head, its coat would stand out.

[Gracie Sky]

While I have no trouble developing a personality and a backstory for ponies, I always seem to get stuck when trying to give OCs a visual appearance. I always seem to make something generic or let pony creator make something for me. It's the hair, really. Every time I try to add something different, it makes it look wierd.

But then again, simple is best. I'll figure out how to also make them unquie after some practice.

And those hair tutorials only showed me that everyone but me knows how to make manes

[Mizuki]

While I have no trouble developing a personality and a backstory for ponies, I always seem to get stuck when trying to give OCs a visual appearance. I always seem to make something generic or let pony creator make something for me. It's the hair, really. Every time I try to add something different, it makes it look wierd.

But then again, simple is best. I'll figure out how to also make them unquie after some practice.

And those hair tutorials only showed me that everyone but me knows how to make manes

Aww don't feel bad I'm not exactly great at designing manes, either.

I guess if you just think of certain adjectives; like spiky, wavy, poofy, curly, straight, round, swirly, that kind of thing...

Also Short, long, or medium length!

Also remember that most pony-hair is made up of both "fringes" and "the rest of it". Fluttershy for the most part has her hair all the same length, so her fringes would be long, but so is the rest of her mane

I'll try to post some more visual aids whenever I can, but please don't get discouraged! The only way to learn more is to keep practicing! 

[Ramisha]

http://www.springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/interests-unplugged.htm
http://www.springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/character-skills.htm
http://www.springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/quick-character-kit.htm
Not really designing but it can help when making new characters!

[Mizuki]

interesting! thanks for sharing that!

[snowflurry]

I find it helpful to run it through this to test the base design before creating the final, you probably have seen it tons of times, but if not you may find it useful, at least to visualize it, while it doesn't have everything it does have a bit more variety then others I've seen

http://www.starsue.net/game/Pony_Maker.html

[Mizuki]

Oh that's cool

I always preferred this pony creator over the one on deviantart. It seems more on-model to me

[S_Realm]

INformation overlordd...! till processiong. This is GREAT!!!    he   he   he

Time to design a perfect race of ponies... 

[PrinceDarkShadow]

This is helping me out alot for designing my main OC, but i've bin running into some problems on his coloring.
Here's the color scheme i had in mind and keep in mind that he is supposed to be dark colored.
black coat, and a purple (dark purple) mane and tail. his eye color though is a light purple kinda like Red-Violet...
Any thoughts on this?

[Tiger]

This is helping me out alot for designing my main OC, but i've bin running into some problems on his coloring.
Here's the color scheme i had in mind and keep in mind that he is supposed to be dark colored.
black coat, and a purple (dark purple) mane and tail. his eye color though is a light purple kinda like Red-Violet...
Any thoughts on this?

Well, a black coat is a rather cliche' choice...

I mean, don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with choosing it. It's just that a lot of pony OCs tend to have a black coat, so choosing one just like they did would make it feel a bit... 'Meh'.

Perhaps it could be a darker version of some other colour? Red or blue, perhaps? Eh, it's up to you, really.

[S_Realm]

This is helping me out alot for designing my main OC, but i've bin running into some problems on his coloring.
Here's the color scheme i had in mind and keep in mind that he is supposed to be dark colored.
black coat, and a purple (dark purple) mane and tail. his eye color though is a light purple kinda like Red-Violet...
Any thoughts on this?

You could always go with a nice, satiny black coat (39, 37, 59). Looks very... attractive ja?

Better than plain solid black by far... 

[Ramisha]

This is helping me out alot for designing my main OC, but i've bin running into some problems on his coloring.
Here's the color scheme i had in mind and keep in mind that he is supposed to be dark colored.
black coat, and a purple (dark purple) mane and tail. his eye color though is a light purple kinda like Red-Violet...
Any thoughts on this?

You could give him like a purple or blue coat, that turns to almost black in the shadow since he's a prince.. of shadows.. and stuff...

[Mizuki]

This is helping me out alot for designing my main OC, but i've bin running into some problems on his coloring.
Here's the color scheme i had in mind and keep in mind that he is supposed to be dark colored.
black coat, and a purple (dark purple) mane and tail. his eye color though is a light purple kinda like Red-Violet...
Any thoughts on this?

I've seen a lot of black/purple OC's, but when you said red-violet eyes, I was like


Idea!

So here's what I came up with; excuse the crummy/rushed doodles, but I wanted to put an emphasis on color!


I would have made his mane a darker purple, but seeing as how his coat was already gonna be black, I wanted to create some visual interest/contrast.

His eyes may be a little too saturated (I kinda wanted them to "pop" or stand out) so I gave some alternatives in that little box over there.

Feel free to use the eye-dropper tool and see what works for you!

Everyone else feel free to throw in your two cents. Which of the three ponies do you like more? Also do you have any alternatives that you would like to share?