© 5UGURU⠀( ON GITHUB ) ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ OR⠀/MEGZ
Ponytown tint guide
( by hand )
Copyright and Credits
This guide is fully made by @5uguru on Github, and all credits should be given rightfully to that Github. Without further ado, I'm clarifying that the inspiration for this guide was taken from no one. I have been asked multitudes of questions about the tints on my skins, as well as other things.
Yes the ponies here can be colorpicked and they can be taken inspo from but if you're colorpicking, please make sure to give credits as they're all individually handmade.
Information
I have made this guide to give people an idea on how they could tint by hand, and put some additional information which could help in making a skin. This is for the people who don't want to waste 30 minutes (minimum) tinting skins on apps/websites. This is not a guide you should religiously live by, it's just some stuff that has helped me. I follow a lot of procedures so there are gonna be a bunch of things here. This is mostly about harmonising colors, or "Color Theory".
Contact
My Discord is @idolify for the ladies that would be glad to thank me in private. For the men, I have an Atabook... You can contact me for more advice, ask me questions, or give me feedback too! ^_^
For easier understanding light grey text = link, bold highlighted text = headings
Content
- Color Sections
- Base tones and Outlines
- Above Lighting and Shadows
- Hair Shading
- Clothing Colors
- Video Example
- Color Palettes
- Information
Color Sections
Portion 1:⠀For the color white (or its substitutes). Portion 2:⠀Light bases for light skinned ponies. Portion 3:⠀Dark bases for dark skinned ponies. Portion 4:⠀For the color black (or its substitutes)
This is for reference, but these are the areas where I choose my colors from. By "substitute for white" and "substitute for black", I mean using other colors in place of black and white. Two examples are shown below in "Base tones and Outlines" where i used #c4d7d2 in cool tone and #efd9b0 in warm tone instead of using #ffffff (fully white) to make the pony have more color.
Base tones and Outlines
i) Cool tone: ⠀ For cool base tones, use a pink, pink-ish red, or yellow base. If the base color is not a human skin tone, then use the outline colors as substitutes for base. For example, if you want to have a cool pink tone as a base, use the pink colors which are marked in the outline section. Click HERE for an image example!
ii) Outlines: ⠀ Use blue, blue-ish purple, or any blue/purple/pink color that falls under the umbrella of "cool tone". The colors I am referring to are marked above.
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i) Warm tone: ⠀ For warm base tones, use any orange, yellow or yellow-ish orange base. If the base color is not a human skin tone, then use the outline colors as substitutes for base. For example, if you want to have a warm pink tone as a base, use the pink colors which are marked in the outline section. Click HERE for an image example!
ii) Outlines: ⠀ Use green, yellow, green-ish yellow or any red/green/yellow/pink/orange color that falls under the umbrella of "warm tone". The colors I am referring to are marked above.
Below, I will be using cool toned ponies as examples
Above Lighting and Shadows
Above Lighting: ⠀ You use colors as the highlights of the pony . There are usually 2 highlight colors, one for the base (highlight on top of nose, or highlight for face) and one for the hair (highlight on top of hair) for ponies with human skin tone as a base.
Shadows: ⠀ You basically use a color for the shadows of the pony.
→
First, choose a hair base color that's not too dark or too light compared to the outlines, then choose your shadow and highlight colors. For the hair highlight I chose a pink-ish color, and for the face highlights I chose yellow. For the shadows I chose a dark dull cyan color. Both the highlight and shadow colors are cool tone. Go for colors that are identical to the base of the hair or face, but still not fully the same. Also, please beware of making the colors blend well in or else they'll look tacky.
Additional Information:
i) If you choose a shadow color for black hair, you can also use that same shadow color as a substitute for black in the whole pony.
ii) If your pony has black hair, you can use the hair highlight color to shade the skin too. In the images above, I used the hair highlight under the chin area to make the colors harmonise more.
Hair Shading
Zoom in for details! It looks bland because of the white background
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Choosing Colors: ⠀ When shading hair, choose the colors that are near the hair base color (and try to make the colors blend in well together). In the pictures above, I chose a blue hair base color which is a cool tone color. So to shade it, I used the colors pink, cyan, and dark blue.
Additional Information: ⠀ The mane types you use and how uniquely you shade it also plays a part in how your pony's looks. I will make a guide on face shading types and hair shading types too! Two examples are given below.
Type 1 ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ Type 2
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Clothing Colors
Choosing Colors: ⠀ The process is same as hair shading.

i) Choose a base color that's not too dark or too light compared to the outlines. This is so that the highlights and shadows can blend in well.
ii) Choose the colors of the tone you're going for.
iii) Make sure the colors blend in well.
iv) Highlight and shadow colors should be similar to the base of the cloth, but not fully the same.
Video Example
If you still didn't get anything from the above explanations since there can be issues while trying to choose colors, I've made a video example for you.
Example
VIDEO HERE
i) Tones: ⠀ It's a cool toned base highlighted with a color that's slightly leaning more towards yellow compared to the color of the skin base.
ii) Hair: ⠀ Cool toned light blue with cyan highlights and purple-ish blue shadows.
Color Palettes
If the above information is too much to grasp or too long, then I suggest using colors from color palettes. You don't always have to use the exact colors, adjust them to your liking or to make the pony look a bit better because some color palettes can look bland. Below is an example of how you could use a color palette.
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Additional Information: ⠀ Click HERE for a Pinterest board full of color palettes that I've personally found helpful.
Information
Also, sure there can be a neutral tone too, but it won't look as tinted as the other two tones unless there's an overlay/hue on it. And overlays also take a lot of time to do if you're doing it by an app/website. I could make it a part of this guide if needed, just #LetMeKnow.