Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Does all anthro looks like Disney?

The Old King
Medium: digital painting
Experimenting with brushes in Photoshop. :)

I recently posted this on DeviantArt, and the first comment said it reminds them of Simba from The Lion King. I don't understand, though, because I based this off of real life lion reference photos. I didn't give him eyebrows, eye rings, or even remotely human-like eyes. The eyes are lion eyes. The proportions and structure are real life lion anatomy, not based off of Disney. He's not even colored like Simba. It's only mildly anthropomorphized with a furrowed brow and downturned mouth. I'm curious what reminds people of Simba. I wonder if it's just because he's a lion with a facial expression. My friend on DeviantArt doesn't know why it reminds him of Simba, either, lol! 😂

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

European Guard

The European Guard
Medium: digital painting
Here is the final installment of the Lion Guards from all continents! Here is Kion the European gray wolf, Fuli the red deer, Beshte the moose, Ono the Peregrine falcon, and Bunga the European badger.

Ocean Guard: unicornarama.deviantart.com/ar… 
Asian Guard: unicornarama.deviantart.com/ar…
North American Guard: unicornarama.deviantart.com/ar…
Arctic Guard: unicornarama.deviantart.com/ar…
Australian Guard: unicornarama.deviantart.com/ar…
South American Guard: unicornarama.deviantart.com/ar…
European Guard: unicornarama.deviantart.com/ar…

Saturday, November 25, 2017

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Happy Halloween!

I feel like I should have posted these yesterday...

Candy Corn Pegasus, character study
Medium: digital painting
Pumpkin Pegasus, character study color alteration
Medium: digital painting

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Teal Dragon

Ordian the Teal Dragon
Medium: digital painting
Commission for MCsaurus on Deviantart of his character Ordian:
https://mcsaurus.deviantart.com/art/Ordian-the-Teal-Dragon-282702832
https://mcsaurus.deviantart.com/art/Mattimeo-ride-on-Ordian-283034836


Monday, August 7, 2017

Smartphone wallpapers

Unicorn smartphone wallpaper
Medium: digital painting


Unicorn smartphone wallpaper lock screen
Medium: digital painting

LOTR Horses: Galadriel

LOTR Horses: Galadriel
Medium: digital painting
Here is Galadriel in my LOTR Horses series! She didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped; her anatomy is a little off. But oh well!



Pig Dragon

He's ugly and cute at the same time. 😁

Pig Dragon
Medium: digital painting
Pig Dragons are a domestic species of dragon. They are are on the smaller side, about the size of a pony. Their small wings allow them to fly only for short distances. They are ridable, but they generally stay close to the ground when being ridden, due to not being strong flyers. They are omnivorous creatures with a powerful sense of smell. They are very friendly and sociable, and are known for their voracious appetites. Wild pig dragons, sometimes called boar dragons, can be very aggressive. Both pig and boar dragons have thick, scaly hides. They use their spade-shaped noses to root through dirt to find food. Pig dragons breed once a year, producing up to five hatchlings, which the mother cares for until they are nearly mature.


Thursday, July 13, 2017

Summertime Horse

Summer Waves
Medium: digital painting
Spring: http://kristengracehall.blogspot.com/2017/03/springtime-horse.html




Thursday, June 15, 2017

Aragorn

LOTR Horses: Aragorn
Medium: digital painting
I'm planning to draw the entire Fellowship (and some other favorites) as horses! I enjoy doing animal crossovers with books and movies (don't judge), and I wanted to to Lord of the Rings. So here is Aragorn!
I feel like his pretty dapples got lost in the shading...



Friday, June 9, 2017

Pony Cas

Pony Cas Does Not Understand
Medium: digital painting, mixed media
Only those inside the fandoms will understand this painting. XD


Sunday, May 28, 2017

MLP OC

Unicornarama
Medium: digital painting
I finally drew my little winged fire unicorn character in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic style! I designed the original character to represent myself online so as not to show my face in profile pictures, etc., so it's made to represent things I like and things that represent me.

The original character is a winged unicorn/alicorn (because it wasn't meant to fit into the MLP universe), but for this drawing, I just made her a simple unicorn because I don't want to presume that I'm somehow better than everyone else, that I've reached a higher plain of understanding, etc. I chose a Unicorn rather than an Earth Pony or a Pegasus because both Earth Ponies and Pegasi are associated with physical abilities, such as great strength, stamina, speed, etc., none of which that I have. Fluttershy is an exception to that rule, but I didn't want to make myself an exception. I'm definitely a thinker, and any physical talents I have are small-scale coordination, like art, not full-body coordination. I think a Unicorn works best for that!

The colors are simply my favorite colors (pink and orange), so no real self-analyzing there. I kept the fire mane and tail from the original design even though regular MLP ponies don't have special manes and tails. It was the key part of the original deign, so I kept it. I guess if I didn't paint it as fire, it would just be regular hair, but in those colors. The fire represents how I'm passionate - sometimes too passionate - about issues I care about. There are a few things in life that I'm "on fire" for!

The cutie mark represents several things. Obviously the heart symbolizes love, because everything I believe comes from a place of love, even though some people might have difficulty seeing that, especially if they're already opposed to what I believe before we even begin. For example, I oppose animal cruelty because I love. I believe all people should consider adoption first because I love. The starburst around the heart represents purity, so in this case, pure love. I believe love (including romantic love) can be pure and should not rely on physical intimacy to sustain it. Physical intimacy is a wonderful way to express love, but I do not believe it should be a crutch for love. The sparkles represent clarity. I believe in keeping a clear mind at all times for all things. Logic and rationality are very important to me, and while everything I believe is rooted in love, I view the world through a lens of rationality. Essentially, the cutie mark symbolizes truth and love.



Saturday, May 27, 2017

South American Guard

South American Guard
Medium: digital painting

Just in time for summer, here is South America's guard! We have Kion the jaguar (the fiercest), Fuli the vicuña (the fastest), Bunga white-nosed coati (the bravest), Beshte the tapir (the strongest), and Ono the toco toucan (the keenest of sight.)

Kion of course had to be a jaguar (what other animal was there for him?), but the others were harder. South America has a lot of birds, jungle, and mountainous animals, but not much in the way of fast runners or exceptionally large, strong animals. I decided to go with a tapir for Beshte because they're sturdy and tough, and a vicunga for Fuli because they're plains/mountain-dwellers and can run reasonably fast. Herbivores that live out in the open must be speedy or they'll be killed off by predators. As always, Bunga was the hardest. Bravery is subjective. I decided to go with an animal that often hangs around humans, because in my opinion, an animal must be pretty "brave" to live so close to humans. And a toucan was a must for Ono, because...toucan!

Ocean Guard: unicornarama.deviantart.com/ar… 
Asian Guard: unicornarama.deviantart.com/ar…
North American Guard: unicornarama.deviantart.com/ar…
Arctic Guard: unicornarama.deviantart.com/ar…
Australian Guard: unicornarama.deviantart.com/ar…

South American Guard: unicornarama.deviantart.com/ar…


Thursday, May 18, 2017

Non-Verbal Learning Disorder

NLD
Medium: oil on canvas

An oil painting depicting non-verbal learning disorder. NLD people are very literal, so much so that others often misunderstand them by reading unintended meaning into their words. To an NLD person, understanding normal human speech is like constantly trying to crack a code. Interacting is exhausting, and while many NLD people truly love others, they usually need significant amounts of time alone to “recharge.” NLD people often hold views which many people consider to be contradictory because of the associations normal people make with those views. However, NLD people look at the views themselves rather than what people generally associate with them, and thus their views are not contradictory at all, but rather complimentary, like the colors in the painting.


Traditional Artwork

'Tis a Head
Medium: charcoal on paper

For Karissa
Medium: gouache on unprimed canvas


Goldfish
Medium: oil on canvas




Friday, March 31, 2017

Wolf

Dirty Paws
Medium: digital painting
Her dirty paws and furry coat,
She ran down the forest slope.
The forest of talking trees,
They used to sing about the birds and the bees.
The bees had declared a war,
The sky wasn't big enough for them all.
The birds, they got help from below,
From dirty paws and the creatures of snow.


So for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes.
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines.
But she and her furry friends
Took down the queen bee and her men.
And that's how the story goes,
The story of the beast with those four dirty paws!



Sunday, March 26, 2017

Springtime Horse

Spring Blossoms
Medium; digital painting
Pull out the tissues! Spring is here! And Happy early Easter, everyone!


Friday, February 10, 2017

The Fall of Lucifer

Defeated Foe
Medium: digital painting
Depicting the fall of Lucifer, this painting seeks to portray Lucifer as very real, but that  he is a defeated foe. For all his talk, he's nothing more than a created being completely under God's control. His halo, which was used in traditional Christian artwork to portray purity and innocence, is shattering, and his wings are being burned black. In the background, another angel has already made the choice to be burned and is being chased out of Heaven.

A fair amount of research went into this painting. According to Ezekial 28:14, Lucifer is, or was, a cherub (singular of cherubim, and not to be confused with the secular Putti, nude infants with wings). Fortunately for me, cherubim are one of the few angelic creatures that the Bible actually gives us a description of, however vague and confusing it may be. Ezekial 1:4-28 and Ezekial 10 describe cherubim as having four wings and four faces - human, bull, lion, and eagle (interestingly enough, avian, bovine, human, and feline features appear frequently in pagan religious artwork, leading to the theory that many pagan gods may actually have been fallen cherubim, perhaps Satan himself. Seeing as he wanted to be like God, it stands to reason that he would want people to worship him as a god.) It's not said what their bodies look like, but Ezekial does describe them as having human hands. They are described as having calf's feet, and, while his feet are in shadow, I do paint him with cloven feet. It's speculated that the satyr image of devils originated with the calf foot description. Ezekial also describes them as sometimes being accompanied by concentric wheels which are "full of eyes," and that the spirits of the cherubim are within the wheels (perhaps some sort of angelic external hard drive?), but as it's uncertain if the Ophanum, as they are called, are part of the cherubim or simply another creature that typically accompanies them. In Luke 2:18, Lucifer is described as falling from Heaven "like lightning," which I incorporated as God's judgment taking the form of lightning.



Friday, January 20, 2017

Lion King Horses: Nuka

Lion King Horses: Nuka
Medium: digital painting
I had a request to draw Nuka from Lion King II: Simba's Pride as a horse, so here he is!


Sunday, January 1, 2017

Arctic Wildlife

The Arctic Guard
Medium: digital painting
Just in time for the new year and winter, here is the arctic continent's guard, the Arctic Guard! We have Kion the polar bear (the fiercest), Fuli the snowshoe hare (the fastest), Bunga the arctic fox (the bravest), Beshte the musk ox (the strongest), and Ono the snowy owl (the keenest of sight.)

I picked a musk ox for Beshte because they are strong and tough. I almost made him a reindeer, but I decided to go for an ox because they are stouter than reindeer, which works well for Beshte. Kion is a polar bear because they're big, fierce, and they're iconic for the polar/arctic regions. Fuli is a snowshoe hare because they are incredibly fast runners (or hoppers?) over land and snow. Unfortunately she probably wouldn't be able to take on an enemy animal in one-on-one combat, but who knows? Maybe this bunny has a black belt. For Ono, there were many arctic birds to choose from, among them eagles and skuas, but I settled on a snowy owl because they are known for having more powerful night vision than other birds. Bunga was tricky, as he always is, (what exactly is bravery in the animal kingdom?), so to pick an animal for him, I watched nature documentaries and watched to see which types of animals were more likely to put themselves in danger. A lot of animals do that, naturally, especially birds, but one animal that I noticed always running into chaotic situations was the fox. Foxes frequently brave battles between larger predators in order to snatch scraps of food. While there are undoubtedly other animals that can be considered brave, I liked the idea of having a fox in the guard.


Ocean Guard: http://kristengracehall.blogspot.com/2016/08/marine-animals.html
Asian Guard: http://kristengracehall.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-asian-guard.html
North American Guard: http://kristengracehall.blogspot.com/2016/06/north-american-wildlife.html
Arctic Guard: http://kristengracehall.blogspot.com/2017/01/arctic-wildlife.html




Not Deer

  Spookable Medium: digital painting "...and then it stood on its hind legs."