Hello everypony!

I'm very excited to announce something new for the group that has been in planning for quite a while now - The "Featured Artist of the Week" journal. Every Friday, we'll feature an artist from the community, showcase their art, and conduct an interview with the regarding their art, their thoughts on MLP, and anything else that they'd like to talk about. We'll be featuring all sorts of artists as well - digital artists, traditional artists, crafters, musicians, animators, you name it!

Starting off this exciting new segment, our first featured artist will be the extremely talented *MissyAsylum.

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1) For starters, please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself.

As you can see, my username is MissyAsylum, but my real name is Nikki (I don’t have a preference to either name).  I am at this time a junior in high school, 17 years old, and have a huge passion for drawing and creating- who doesn’t?

2) How long have you been drawing? What got you started in art?

I never thought I’d be so passionate about art.  Like almost every person on this planet, I have drawn from a young age and enjoyed doodling on math notes my entire life.  When I was very young, during my elementary school years, I was obsessed with telling stories- I have counted probably near 400 individual stories (some written out, some drawn as comics), which were all written before sixth grade.  From sixth grade to eighth, I spent my years completing 3 comic books that had a total of over 500 pages.  However I was much more enamored with writing than I was with drawing.  I would like to say that my passion with art truly began three years ago, when my parents bought me a drawing tablet.  I didn’t think much of it at the time, but that one tablet generated years of creating.  What was a hobby became an interest, and what was an interest became a passion.  I started really focusing on advancing my drawing through studies about a year and a half ago.

3) What is your primary motivation for drawing? What are the reasons you draw?

I create a lot of my art to release stress.  Occasionally I’ll draw a friend’s request if I’m up to it.  However when I get meaningful with my art, I love to revolve around the idea of humans reconnecting with nature and our planet.

4) How did you enter the My Little Pony fandom?

I probably discovered the fandom like a lot of other people did; someone recommended it to me. The absolute very first MLP:FiM related post I ever saw was the “Night on Pony” video (if you haven’t seen it, here’s the link- [link]. Let me tell you honestly- I was really confused.  What was this compilation of colorful horses?  What did it mean?  Immediately after I searched up the show for the first time, but didn’t watch the first episode through.  It was later when my friend recommended it that I went back and watched the first twenty episodes in a row, and proclaimed my love to the adorable show.

5) Who is your favorite pony, and why?

We all know how hard of a question that is!  When it comes to character personality, I feel that Twilight and Rarity have a lot of color in their attitudes and have well-developed qualities.  The ponies that are the most fun to draw are Fluttershy and the alicorns because I can get really in-depth with their hair and feathers (my two favorite aspects to draw!).

6) What about your favorite episode?

Hmm, another tough question.  Of course, all the episodes in the first season are classics, and really became the basis for the fandom.  As for season 2 and 3, I really enjoyed Discord’s character (who doesn’t love a hybrid goat…bat…dragon… draconius thing ).  Hearts and Hooves day was fun to watch, and I’m sure every brony loves Sleepless in Ponyville.  The almost-sister relationship between RD and Scootaloo is so precious! <3  One of the top episodes for me however is Keep Calm and Flutter on, which addresses the marvelous change present in MLP that I will talk about in the next question.

7) What is your favorite thing about/aspect of My Little Pony?
The best part about the show is the fact that there are changes.  There have been far too many shows that hint at some sort of change but never get around to it, which leaves a lot of fans frustrated.  Just think back to the Powerpuff Girls- how many times have you thought you were going to see Ms. Bellum’s face?  My Little Pony actually has advances in the show, such as Twilight becoming an alicorn, Discord becoming reformed, Rainbow Dash getting into the Wonderbolt academy, and Rarity going to Canterlot and living her dreams.  The songs are also incredibly catchy and the voice acting is gorgeous.  

8) Describe your artistic process - how do you turn your ideas into completed images?

I’ll just be anywhere- at school, about to go to sleep, in the shower, eating cereal, when all of the sudden an image just slaps me in the face.  If I don’t sketch it down I’ll probably forget it, and depending on how well the sketch will turn out will determine if I’ll use it for the first sketch layer or not.  From there it’ll depend on how much time I have; usually pictures can take anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks.

9) Who are some of your favorite artists, and do you have any inspirations or role models for your art?

Oh, where do I begin?  If we’re looking at masters, I really appreciate Van Gogh’s style and Salvador Dali’s unique surrealism.  Did you know Dali actually had an older brother who died, and his parents kept telling Dali that he was the reincarnation of his brother?  As for online artists, there are tons of people that inspire me!  I adore: iconoceantan: anime style, she was always a role model for anime art.   has an adorable style as well that I really admire. has also inspired me for quite some time, as well as with her beautiful coloring.   is absolutely amazing; I wish I could digitally paint like him. ^_^  As for pony artists, JanAnimations on YouTube and have some amazing show-quality work. Let’s not forget and who helped to bring us this amazing show!

10) Do you have any tips or suggestions you would like to share?

I believe that when I go through my artistic process, details are very important to achieving your desired look.  Also, don’t be afraid to express your emotions and tone with color and contrast.

11) Anything else you would like to add?

Stay in school, don’t do drugs and eat your vegetables!  In all seriousness, thank you for taking the time to read this!  I really have to shout out my appreciation for all the bronies out there- thank you for making an incredibly amazing community of loving people! /)

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I would like to thank *MissyAsylum for the interview and for being our first featured artist. Stay tuned to see who next week's featured artist is!

Cheers!
Joey

Hiya everypony!

We're out to find more moderators for our group!

Do you think you'd be interested in working as either an Art Juror or on the Sorting Team?

We're currently hiring, and currently hiring bigtime!

Here's what I'm looking for:

A willingness to help out!

A committment to the group, and being active!

Being a team player!

Some group experience is preferred but not necessary.

If you think you may be interested, feel free to send me, =Fifth--Element a note, and we can talk!

I hope to see a lot of notes!

~Fifth Element, CEO

Good morning everypony! Or afternoon, or evening, or whatever time of day you’re reading this. It’s my great pleasure to announce our June 2013 contest! For this contest, we will be doing something a little different, so that it even if you're not great at art, you can give this one a try.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to come up with a storyboard about summer in Ponyville. You can use your own characters or canon characters, or even a mix. It’s up to you. So, you'll be writing a small scene, and drawing it out as well!

With the objective being a storyboard, collaborations are accepted. If you want to illustrate it while your friend wants to write it, go ahead.

Submit your entries to the "June 2013 Contest" Folder.

The contest ends Saturday, June 29th 2013. The winning entries will be announced shortly after.

Good luck to everypony!

Hello everypony!

It is my great pleasure to announce that our group has just recently hit the 20,000 member mark!

I would personally like to thank all of you, as this couldn't have been done without you!

Please, help spread the word of our group! We hope that we're doing a good job in supporting artists and showing off their work, and we'd like to expand our watcher base! Tell your friends about the group, and get some more people to join! The more the merrier!

Thank you all once again, and I hope you're still here at the 30,000-member mark!

~Fifth Element, Group Leader