Drunken bluebell

Alright, a little backstory about this.

This was a project I began a few months ago when I started taking a beginners digital art class. I wanted to do something fast and simple that I could put out on the web for feedback on illustration technique and comic formatting. This took way longer than I had initially anticipated.

This was probably the worst project to start on because of how long and tedious the comic ended up being, as I needed to make all new backgrounds and furniture and couldn’t rely on the show for environmental design, (ill explain why later). Because I basically learned everything I now know about adobe illustrator by doing this comic it is VERY inconsistent in style. Many aspects, particularly the eyes of the characters, changed over the course of the comics creation and I was too anxious about doing this in a timely manner to go back and fix all of them. That all being said I think I did fairly well for my first comic ever.

Ok, now fore the actual subject of the comic. The piece is set in the MLP universe (obviously), but rather than being set in any of the known towns like ponyville or canterlot, it set in a city I made up called Manasazi (I might change the name later). The city is located inside a gigantic fissure in the earth, making it essentially a subterranean city. I had the city set in a cave like formation because most of Manasazis inhabitants are bat ponies, and working off of the fact most bats live in caves is just so damn original of me. The reason that I couldn’t base any of the furniture or decorations on scenes from the show is because the city is based on the Anasazi cliff dwellings (the name Manasazi is a crude fusion of the word mane and the name of the old American society, the Anasazi. I would be afraid of offending someone but I think the Anasazi are no longer around). The reason I chose to base this pony city on the Anasazi is because they were essentially highly advanced cavemen, which I think is really awesome and I don’t think old America is represented enough in our entertainment these days.

The problem with basing the city on traditional American architecture is that most of the show mlp is filled with European looking buildings. This means I couldn’t just copy paste a background, and had to build a living room from scratch.

Now for the story. Meadowspring (the lime haired changeling) and bluebell (the short blue mare) are part of the Manasazi city guard. Their entire team gets suspended for gross negligence and misconduct, long story, so in their distress they go out to a bar that night and drink their problems away with a bottle of whiskey. Meadowspring was the ‘designated driver’ and sat around while her friends poisoned themselves sick, as she cant drink alcohol due to her changeling liver (head cannon ho!). bluebell is a bit reckless and gives in to peer pressure easily, so she drank WAY more than her body weight could handle.

The other two ponies in the comic are Cog, Meadowsprings earthpony father, and Willow, her changeling mother. Because bluebell is essentially an exchange student from canterlot, she is staying at their house until she can find a place of her own.

So yea.

Please, give criticism and comments, I’m learning and plan to do more comics so any help would be greatly appreciated.