Warning: Pony levels are now at maximum.

I will be at Bronycon, booth 816, August 1-3rd, Baltimore Convention Center. Come by and say hi! I’m hoping to have this ready as a poster in time.

Everything here is colored from original line art by myself, Garrett Gilchrist (Tygerbug). Except Applejack. The background is also original.

Color vector versions of the characters were created by:

Dentist : Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Princess Cadance, Trixie Lulamoon, Daring Do, Derpy Hooves, Sweetie Belle

:iconfirestorm-can: Firestorm-CAN : Princess Luna, Doctor Whooves, Discord

:iconsupermatt314: Supermatt314: DJ P0N3 Vinyl Scratch, Lyra Heartstrings

:iconare-you-jealous: Are-You-Jealous: Fluttershy

:iconhombre0: Hombre0: Rarity

:iconzutheskunk: ZutheSkunk: Lauren Faust

:icongratlofatic: Gratlofatic: Octavia

With many thanks to these talented vector artists.

Applejack is a Hasbro vector – authors unknown.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was created by :iconfyre-flye: Lauren Faust and is owned by Hasbro.

What a long, strange trip it’s been.

I started doing art based on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in 2011. I admired Lauren Faust’s concept for the series. I liked the screenplay structure of the pilot, in which the lead character’s flaws (not wanting to make friends) must be overcome in order to save the day. I liked the recognizable character archetypes of the six leads. Their differences allowed for conflict and humor, as in any classic sitcom, or well-designed TV series. For a kid’s show, it was well thought out stuff.

The fandom was more surprising, creating lots of interesting art and content. There are a lot of negative stereotypes about the “Brony” fandom, and that’s a shame because there’s a lot of good that goes on there too.

In a lot of kid’s shows there’s just one “girl” character. By putting so much thought, energy and fun into a property like My Little Pony, the show stated that there’s more than one way to be a “girl.” That subtly feminist attitude is something I really support – and unfortunately it’s a lesson that Hollywood, the toy companies, and the internet at large are apparently never going to learn. There are a lot of people and companies that took entirely the wrong lesson from that first season of this show.

I’m 33 years old, so I’m just old enough to be disconnected from most of what goes on on the internet. Most websites just seem like a lot of racist, sexist, illiterate twelve-year-olds fighting amongst themselves.

But colorful animated ponies, that I can support. After all the time I spent cheerleading The Muppets, Animaniacs, and so on, this was about the closest thing 2011 had to offer.

People started to hire me to draw ponies. I did one official T-shirt for WeLoveFine, did work for Tara Strong’s charity efforts, hosted the Bronycon Artist’s panel a few times, appeared on Equestria Daily and the Everfree Network, visited Everfree Northwest and Big Apple Ponycon (my panel was cut for time). Oh, a lot of things. Memories. A lot of people. Good people. A lot of ponies.

It’s hundreds of ponies later now. You could say this poster is a look back.

Oh, so much pony.

EDIT: No, I don’t hate Applejack. It’s a joke.

I tried out a lot of different artwork I’d done for this piece. Zecora, Scootaloo and Cheerilee nearly made the cut (and Fausticorn, Octavia and Sweetie Belle nearly didn’t). I decided not to use any characters from my Pony Noir piece, which meant I didn’t have any good images of Applejack or Spike (or Celestia). Which came as a surprise. I know they’re underrated characters, and I was disappointed in myself since I haven’t drawn them much either! So I made a joke of it. Best background pony.