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Description
Eastward

My submission for NATG XII Makeup Day 1! Submitting for Day 3: "Draw a pony filled with determination / Draw a pony ready to take on the world." So, whew, for this prompt, I think it's a no-brainer that Dash immediately came to mind. And you can probably see why I needed two days to get it done (might've been 14 hours total?), haha. But more than that. I've been recently reading through the amazing fanfic series Austraeoh. The description merely says "Rainbow Dash flies East." And it was what immediately came to mind for me for this prompt on Day 3. I can't think of a pony more filled with determination that Dashie, and in Austraeoh, she really does take on the world in her Eastward journey. And so, when this idea came to mind, I just knew I had to draw it. I've been utterly in love with the Austraeoh series from the moment I started reading it, I'm currently on the IV book in the series, Odrsjot, and I basically can't stop reading it, haha. It kinda' means something special to me at this point, so I really wanted to take this opportunity to make an homage to the series and the depth at which I've enjoyed it so far. Here we have a slightly contemplative focused Dashie, determined to travel Eastward, and take on the world if necessary to do so.

I really wanted the mood and atmosphere to both be kind of intense and subdued. I actually took very heavy inspiration from this drawing by DeltauraArt of Dashie also inspired from the Austraeoh series. It's an incredible piece that's been stuck in my head since I saw it, and twice as much once I came back to it and realised it was from Austraeoh after having started the series. So I knew it was the exact atmosphere I wanted to capture. So I tried to mimic it here, being pretty new at this new more highly rendered drawing style. And having references really help with that. Though I used more than that piece as a reference for bits a pieces, it was just the biggest inspiration.

Speaking of, this is actually my first hoof try at a more involved and highly rendered style like this. I really wanted to go for a more detailed style as I really wanted to capture the vividness I felt of these moments in the Austraeoh series. Some of my favourite moments are just Dash alone with her thoughts, enduring her travel Eastward. And, of course, I had in the back of my mind that piece that I felt capture that vividness quite well, which helps when you can see an example of something you wanted to capture.

So, yeah, I'm really super proud of this. It's not perfect in a lot of ways, but those ways are largely in that I'm super new to this. I largely started out having absolutely no idea what I was doing. How do you shade a mane to look like locks of hair? How do you soft shade the body so it looks accurate? How do you draw reflective metals? How the bucking Celestia do you freaking draw wings? xD The wings might be the weakest part, though I think I gave them a good go. I studied a little bit of actual wing anatomy to try draw this, so I can kinda' see where it doesn't solidly show that anatomy, but honestly as a bit of mix of realistic and the more cartoon-y show style, I think it pretty much looks fine. Also some of the shading on the back parts of the mane don't really feel like they look all that great? I was kinda' just placing shading here or there at that point, haha. Though by the time I got to the tail I started to feel a little more confident how to do it, I think. Also, lighting, Tia, it's so confusing xD I kinda' just used that inspiration as my biggest guide, hoping it's right, but like, the sunset is on the left, causing back lighting and reflections, but the body light source is on the right? That's how it was in DeltauraArt's piece, and I guess the sun is pretty far away any other light source or reflection could be closer. Probably makes more sense when the pony isn't flying, though, I'm not sure Also not sure if the tail reflections are in weird places. But, aside from all that nit-picking, I look at it as a whole, it all largely just fits together and works, and I'm just wow, yeah, I'm happy with that. So yeah!

Also, I was listening to this song, Eastward by Silver Note also inspired by Austraeoh, on repeat the whole time while I finished drawing this today. It's such a great song!

Alright, now, seriously, go read Austraeoh, it's an amazing series! xD

Description
Eastward

My submission for NATG XII Makeup Day 1! Submitting for Day 3: "Draw a pony filled with determination / Draw a pony ready to take on the world." So, whew, for this prompt, I think it's a no-brainer that Dash immediately came to mind. And you can probably see why I needed two days to get it done (might've been 14 hours total?), haha. But more than that. I've been recently reading through the amazing fanfic series Austraeoh. The description merely says "Rainbow Dash flies East." And it was what immediately came to mind for me for this prompt on Day 3. I can't think of a pony more filled with determination that Dashie, and in Austraeoh, she really does take on the world in her Eastward journey. And so, when this idea came to mind, I just knew I had to draw it. I've been utterly in love with the Austraeoh series from the moment I started reading it, I'm currently on the IV book in the series, Odrsjot, and I basically can't stop reading it, haha. It kinda' means something special to me at this point, so I really wanted to take this opportunity to make an homage to the series and the depth at which I've enjoyed it so far. Here we have a slightly contemplative focused Dashie, determined to travel Eastward, and take on the world if necessary to do so.

I really wanted the mood and atmosphere to both be kind of intense and subdued. I actually took very heavy inspiration from this drawing by DeltauraArt of Dashie also inspired from the Austraeoh series. It's an incredible piece that's been stuck in my head since I saw it, and twice as much once I came back to it and realised it was from Austraeoh after having started the series. So I knew it was the exact atmosphere I wanted to capture. So I tried to mimic it here, being pretty new at this new more highly rendered drawing style. And having references really help with that. Though I used more than that piece as a reference for bits a pieces, it was just the biggest inspiration.

Speaking of, this is actually my first hoof try at a more involved and highly rendered style like this. I really wanted to go for a more detailed style as I really wanted to capture the vividness I felt of these moments in the Austraeoh series. Some of my favourite moments are just Dash alone with her thoughts, enduring her travel Eastward. And, of course, I had in the back of my mind that piece that I felt capture that vividness quite well, which helps when you can see an example of something you wanted to capture.

So, yeah, I'm really super proud of this. It's not perfect in a lot of ways, but those ways are largely in that I'm super new to this. I largely started out having absolutely no idea what I was doing. How do you shade a mane to look like locks of hair? How do you soft shade the body so it looks accurate? How do you draw reflective metals? How the bucking Celestia do you freaking draw wings? xD The wings might be the weakest part, though I think I gave them a good go. I studied a little bit of actual wing anatomy to try draw this, so I can kinda' see where it doesn't solidly show that anatomy, but honestly as a bit of mix of realistic and the more cartoon-y show style, I think it pretty much looks fine. Also some of the shading on the back parts of the mane don't really feel like they look all that great? I was kinda' just placing shading here or there at that point, haha. Though by the time I got to the tail I started to feel a little more confident how to do it, I think. Also, lighting, Tia, it's so confusing xD I kinda' just used that inspiration as my biggest guide, hoping it's right, but like, the sunset is on the left, causing back lighting and reflections, but the body light source is on the right? That's how it was in DeltauraArt's piece, and I guess the sun is pretty far away any other light source or reflection could be closer. Probably makes more sense when the pony isn't flying, though, I'm not sure Also not sure if the tail reflections are in weird places. But, aside from all that nit-picking, I look at it as a whole, it all largely just fits together and works, and I'm just wow, yeah, I'm happy with that. So yeah!

Also, I was listening to this song, Eastward by Silver Note also inspired by Austraeoh, on repeat the whole time while I finished drawing this today. It's such a great song!

Alright, now, seriously, go read Austraeoh, it's an amazing series! xD