Feather colouring (Patreon)

I realised thismorning that I did not have a cutiemark image to do the embroidery on Marksaline. I sent a message off, and started to study her anatomy. Turns out that I can use my Celestia pattern for her (with some improvements), which is AWESOME because I don't have to spend 4+ days patterning. 

Anyway after printing the pattern and readying it for later, I thought I'd start colouring the feathers I had cut the night before. I did some tests to see what the airbrushing would look like, compared to dyeing. 

I used a colour ratio of 1:1 blue to black, so that it was a slightly blue tinted grey (pure black was too warm). I focussed on airbrushing just the center of the feather, so that it left a halo around the edges (that Trico has). I was thrilled with the result, and instantly decided I would be doing this and not dyeing them. The variation in colour makes them look much more realistic than just a flat grey. 

I coloured all the ones that I had trimmed the night before, and made them the darkest grey, since Trico's legs are his darkest tone. I figured I'd only be working on the legs to start with anyway. 

I think I ended up with about 4-5x as many as you can see in the pictures.