



Here we are once again ladies and gentlemen! Probably my favorite time of year, and the same can be said for some of you too, the Newbie Artist Training Grounds have returned! For the next 30 or so odd days pony artists new and old will be honing their skills and having a bit of fun while they are at it as they draw pictures according to our prompts each day, sometimes with wonderfully off the wall responses.





Phoe, the founder of this wonderful event! Without her we wouldn't be sitting on nearly a decade of events that have given some of the fandom's most talented artists a start. Of course I can't start an NATG without mentioning, the founder of this wonderful event! Without her we wouldn't be sitting on nearly a decade of events that have given some of the fandom's most talented artists a start.





As always, I am pleased to continue this tradition Phoe started and it makes me happy to no end hearing from those of you that say "The NATG got me into drawing ponies." and still stick with it today. So, without further delay, let's get started and have some fun!





To get things started we always start simple here at the NATG grounds so this prompt will be an old friend to you guys who have done these before. For today I would like you all to Draw a pony standing/Draw a pony holding the line.





here as well as our tutorial codex filled with useful pony drawing tips here. You can find today's submitteras well as our tutorial codex filled with useful pony drawing tips





check after the break for all the details you need for this event, including how to submit, some commonly asked questions, our schedule and more!



Important Update: DeviantArt has changed the URLs on their images since last year so they are usually too long for our compiler. I'll be asking Seth about this today for a fix or work around. In the meantime you could use free hosting sites like Imgur, Twitter, Derpibooru, and images uploaded in Discord I believe, to get your image uploaded into the compiler!



Sorry for the inconvenience.



Update Number 2: We have fixed the character limit for URLs so you should be able to use DeviantArt URLs again! A big thanks to Leon for the fix! Now, as this is our first NATG post for this year,for all the details you need for this event, including how to submit, some commonly asked questions, our schedule and more!

For those wanting to know when Makeup Days are:





While we commonly say the ATG lasts 30 days technically it's more like it lasts for 30 prompts. After 10 prompts there will be a rest/makeup day for those of you who want to recharge your batteries, makeup prompts that you missed, or if you just want to try some old prompts over again.

To simplify everything there will be:

A makeup day after prompt 10 (After Day 10)

A makeup day after prompt 20 (After Day 20)

And a makeup day after prompt 29 (After Day 29, the reason being that day 30 is the graduation day prompt and the gallery presented the following day marks the closing ceremonies for the NATG)

Attention Discord Users:





#artist-training-grounds

So What Is The Artist Training Grounds (NATG)?



Now for the nitty-gritty of the event for those of you joining for the first time and for returning artists as well! The Newbie Artist Training Grounds is an event for people in the fandom hoping to take their first stab at drawing colorful equines (and improving skills/just having fun for people who are already in the trade) and then have their artwork shared on the website for others to enjoy and provide feedback! The hope is that by drawing every day it can become a habit that can lead to a lifelong love for not only creating pony art but art in general.



Each day we will have a prompt, usually starting off very simple and then progressively moving into more complex territory with prompts I hope can be interpreted in multiple ways thus tickling the artistic muse and resulting in a variety of pics. These prompts will last for 24 hours in which time you can submit your picture or pictures (if you're feeling really creative with a prompt) to our compiler, though it is usually a soft 24 hours and pics can be accepted for a half hour to an hour after the 'official' closing time.



Are There Limits On The Media I Can Use?



In the past we've had ponies submitted on all sorts of media, drawn with all sorts of tools. If you want to draw your ponies completely on a chalkboard with colorful chalk, go for it! If you want to just use lined paper with your mechanical pencil from school, no problem! The point is to get you guys drawing and as art takes many forms it would be unfair of us to limit how you create your artwork.





As with last year this applies to 3D art too as it is also a form of artwork.





If there are any questions not answered up above, leave them in the comments or email me at [email protected] and I'll be sure to answer them.

OCs are welcome, art doesn't need to contain canon ponies. Other species from the MLP universe are welcome too, so feel free to draw dragons, zebras, gryphons, yaks, timberwolves, Breezies, donkeys, Equestria Girls style characters, anthro, ect as long as you feel comfortable drawing them for the day's prompt.



Also, images must be Safe for work!



Finally, all skill levels are welcome from those who have never drawn before up to those who have been drawing for several years. All are welcome to participate!





What Limits Are There On My Artwork Content?





Basically nothing explicit or really violent. A good guideline is to refer to our Drawfriends: if you've seen something similar posted then it should be ok to submit to the ATG.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Tutorial For Submitting to Our Compiler





A tutorial for grabbing the DIRECT URL of an image can be found below:

(Note: Imgur is recommended if you are new to this, but plenty of others allow you to grab direct URL)