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So. Here we are at the end.
Gosh, I think my chest just squeezed a little at writing that. My Little Pony has always had a place in my life, but G4 took it to another level I never even thought a TV could. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the reason why I am still here, today, making art like I am. I wouldn’t even have the career or following that I have without it. It’s the reason why I even pushed myself to begin digitally drawing. I don’t talk about this, but I have not always had a lot of confidence in my art. A majority of my friends tell me I have a talent and a gift for color now, but that is not what I have always been told. I have always been relentlessly artistic, I don’t think there has been a time where I’ve really stopped drawing. But there was a time where I had stopped believing in myself.

It’s really hard to have any sort of confidence when it feels like all of your peers are lightyears ahead of you, and there is absolutely no way to catch up to any of them. I had the bare minimum of support during highschool in pretty much everything, and it crushed my self-confidence. Watching everyone around me grow by leaps and bounds when I could barely muster the energy to even hop over the lowest fence of success, and when I did manage to get over the fence, I got chastised for why I didn’t get over it faster or better or with a backflip. I wasn’t even all that good at being mediocre, or at least that’s what it felt like. So I just sort of… Stopped trying, and kept my head down. While my artistic friends flourished, taking extra classes and building portfolios for art schools, I just did what I could to get by. I tried my best with what I had been handed, but I had given up trying to be anywhere near where my peers were.

And then the summer of 2010, while I was sitting on a friend’s stoop talking about what she was going to do after she moved away to Florida and then do art school in the fall, she said to me, “Hey, have you seen the new My Little Pony show? It’s really good, the animation is really good for a Flash show.”I went home, and found the first episode on Youtube. (Remember when the whole first season was on Youtube?) And about ten minutes in, I was yelling, “MOOOOM YOU HAVE TO COME SEE HOW CUTE THIS IS!! THERE’S A LITTLE YELLOW PONY THAT CAN’T TALK!!!!”
I wanted to draw the cute little horses. I wanted to draw them SO. BAD.

And the rest is pretty much history! By the time 2010 had rolled around, my confidence had been restored. I had FINALLY managed to get some professional art classes under my belt, FINALLY got my confidence back because I had professors that looked at me and said, “I know you can do better than that. I know you can. Do it.” I finally had people around me that didn’t make me feel like I was inherently stupid. It’s crazy what having a little support can do for a person. But I took the skills I had, and started growing them as much as I could. I got a digital drawing tablet because I wanted to draw better. I drew and drew and drew. I started Filly Queen Chrysalis, and it was the catalyst for my experimentation with digital painting. I started taking commissions because of this show! Hek, the only reason I have a Patreon is because of My Little Pony! It’s how I met some of the most supportive people in my life. It’s why I started playing Dungeons and Dragons again.

Friendship IS magic.

I’m so happy that this show has brought me to the good people in my life and helped me find a place where I am really happy. I think about what my life would have been like if I hadn’t started going down this path with my art, and I think it would be pretty boring. I’d most likely still be happy, but I don’t think my life would have as much color in it as it does now. Literally, because we all know I drown my pieces in color. But really, truly, and honestly, I am so grateful for this show. I may not have been able to keep up with or the fandom surrounding it, but I will always be so thankful for it. It’s probably been one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.

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Posted previously at: 2019-10-17T17:38:25