Wow! Some amazing coats! You are all making me think my idea won't have a chance unless they let a couple of hundred through this month!

@ WhiteTiger: I think it would look better if the belly ribbon went down straighter? Have a look at girths on classic saddles for a reference! I've got a feeling some drafts are shown with bands around their bellies too? It's generally awesome!

You’re welcome and thank you too Aɴᴀɴkᴀ. I’ll remove a bit of it when I work on it later today. Same with Rowans suggestion too I never thought of using that as a reference for it lol I’ll see if it looks a bit better straight. Thank you both

And I’ve seen some of your WIP posts in this thread before it was refreshed RowanGreen and you do some great work I don’t think you will need to rely on hundreds getting through for yours to.

I don't know if this is the right topic.. I'm having problems with the template for the GA. It's tiny so when I put my artwork on it, it's super pixellated. Is this right? Am I using the template wrong? I just clicked 'save image' from the link, then 'open with photoshop'...

The template is relatively small which can be an issue if your drawing is a lot bigger. I always have to shrink my creation massively to fit into the frame, but once it fits the sharpen tool can help out with the blurriness. Unfortunately you cannot distort the frame, so you have to just squish your drawing into it.. hope this helps.

It does help, thanks so much!!

Probably won't make the deadline myself this month for a debut GA attempt bc I'm still um, grappling w/ the line art...digi art noob problems I guess

However, y'all have some terrific submissions lined up so far. Best of luck to everybody in advance of the voting!!!

How does everyone manage to draw/paint on such a small canvas size (300 x 300) without the art looking all pixilated around the edges? Or am I doing something wrong?

^whoops sorry, I just saw the previous post. What canvas size do you normally use? I don’t want to have to shrink it too much out of fear of ruining it completely.

I always paint on a relatively large canvas and just shrink the drawing later. Some details are destroyed this way but it seems to work ok. As I mentioned previously I use the sharpen tool later on my final shrunken piece. I feel like using a larger canvas is overall just a lot easier because brushes have a minimal size which may be harder to manipulate when you use a small canvas. I do not remember how much I use but it is the default canvas on the autodesk sketchbook app. It is huge though in the thousands :P I dunno but I would not be too worried about it being ruined also because the people that vote will not look into the details of your art and only you will know the actual detail potential it has.



Love your way of coloring so much it is so satisfying

That blending is gorgeous and the shine on the coat wow!

And thank you *Foxi*

Your artwork is really amazing


I am working on this:


*reference photo is mine, it´s my dog*

I use a 10x10” at 300 dpi to start but my drawings are always a good bit smaller so I shrink the canvas down to whatever the actual drawing is. Somewhere around a 5x5” at a good resolution (300 is my standard) would probably work. Quality gets pretty destroyed no matter what you do at 300x300 px though.

Here's what I'm working on. Lots to do yet, but I wanted to get some colour on and see what it looked like.

Lines by *Foxi* but I have been fiddling with them! I want it to be a Hafflinger, so I've changed the head shape a bit, enlarged the eye and givin it a thicker tail base. Also trying to do bigger hooves and feathering, but think I may have overdone it. Grrrr I hate feet and legs! Thinking of moving the tail in front to hide the back ones. Also going to add some Birthday stuff, so wondering if I can contrive to hide the front legs with that LOL

Thank you guys for your kind words. Really pleased i managed to get it in!

Guys, I need help! And quick, before the discount runs out!! I'm doing a HR design, and the template/frame isn't working because it's not transparent. Can anybody link me the transparent one or something? Thanks in advance!

I've tried creating a few coats, but can never get them to turn out right. what Art programs does everyone use?

Well I mean I can't really download anything atm (oof) so I use a browser program called Kleki (it would be perfect if it only had the dang lasso/select tool!!!), though a lot of people use FireAlpaca since it's free and then there's Clip Studio Paint/Pro, ProCreate for iPads (though that might be free idk) and then of course Adobe Photoshop. I know Autodesk Sketchbook is out there though I don't know if it's that good or not.

However, the art program you use doesn't necessarily have a huge effect on your art. Drawing does take time and experience, but it really helps to understand the anatomy of the horse to get your drawings on point. Also, this makes such a big difference: FLIP YOUR CANVAS! This way you'll be able to see if it is off balance.

I have little to no art skills (no I didn't draw my pfp that's a screenshot from one of wolfychu's animations) so I don't know what I'm talking about lol, but I mean the 2 tips I gave really help me.

Also- thoughts?

I've been a bit out, but now that I've checked this new threat for creations... guys, you're doing wonderful.!! The creations are so pretty, all of them, but I'll nitpick a few, excuse me

@*Foxi* - the new "themes" on your horses are soo good. I can't keep my eyes off that kelp horse.! I really love kelpies and their looks, so that horse is def up my alley. It looks so fantastic and I love the shading and how you blend green into it's fur and main shading as well.! Really keeps the coat fitting together with all the accessories. Your horses and way of shading is just spectacular ♥

@Starynight - that horse turned out really well too.! I love the shading here as well a lot.I really love that purple/violet tint.?? in the shading there, I think it gives the horse a bit more life. But I really really like the mane and how you drew it.! But the whole horse is really great.

@WhiteTiger - I was scrolling through the pages from first to last so I've seen the progress. At first the horse looked a bit blurry and didn't catch my interest even with the dapples, but the finished piece.?? Man, you worked amazingly on it, it looks fantastic.! You did such an amazing job with the dapples and the shading on them. And I really like the accessories there too.! The bows and the balloon are shaded really well and fit. It looks so nice and turned out just great.

I may not be so active here though, but it's really nice to come here from time to time to look at all the wonderful creations here. uwu

@ HORSE_LOVER: great design

One thing that might improve it: the edges on the hills are fuzzy. If you have them on layers you could just erase along the edge to get a sharp edge

You could put in some more detail on the leaves and on the hills if you have time. You could add trees, make them darker and have the lights of a town...

About the uploading problem: it doesn't need to be transparent for a ray, so that's not the problem. The usual problem is that it's not lined up in the template correctly with the border round the edge: that does have to be exact.

What I do: open the template in your editing program. Copy the background including the border to a new layer (usually it would be 'duplicate layer': set the layer to transparent). Select the area in the middle. Use a rubber to erase it: it should then be transparent to what's behind it.

I then do my ray on another layer (actually several other layers...). When I'm finished I put the frame layer over the top. This does mean I cut off the edge of what I've done, but it means I'm sure it's fitted right in the frame. 1 pixel in front of the frame and it won't work!

Don't know if that helps, but hopefully someone else will find it useful if you don't!

Thank you so much NoticeMeSenpai, I really appreciate the kind words. My work always starts out blurry and a bit... well bland. I worry going in strong in the beginning thinking that I’ll mess up somewhere or change my mind haha but I get there in the end. Weird way of working

I tried to draw two horses based on two different diamond apple coats.
This one is almost finished:

And the other one is WIP:

Done! Hope u like it



*my dog loves to be dirty so the horse must be too

Just a gentle reminder that this topic is for getting help with creating your coats. Posting finished coats, especially just before voting, is dangerously close to advertising for votes, which isn't allowed as per the original post.