PLEASE Full View this image! I spent hours on details X3

Okay so I have a REALLY stubborn muse and apparently I needed to finish this first before I can work on anything else. X3

So I was paired up with Mari for the Let It Snow art swap this year on the My Little Pony Arena and since she replied to my email to comment on this pic, I am gonna post it here so others can see it too! ^^ Her form had asked for a pic of Big Brother Salty with possibly Big Brother Barnacle. I was really trying to capture how she draws them, but also still my style. ^^ I am pretty sure I accomplished that.

Basically what I tried to do was think about what I thought of when I heard "Winter" and then tried to work from there. Granted with Salty and Barnacle for a subject I thought more about tropical places first so that did make things rather difficult. XD

I knew I wanted them outside in the snow, since that to me says Winter the most. I didn't think of Ice Skating right away, but I thought it would be the best way to show off the two of them together. I thought about snowball fights and a snow angels, but really there would be a small version of one of the guys or a lot of empty space so I had to think of something else. Then I got this pose in mind. XD Since there weren't any rules against anthros, I figured I'd draw them as anthros for Mari since I know she likes them. ^^ And don't ask me why Barnacle has a pony tail, braid, earring and scruff on his chin. XD I think the Pirate theme took over for him lol.

Also for the background, I wanted to do a kind of muted background but was starting to get worried that perhaps the couple popped too much. But I think it turned out okay in the end. ^^ The ice they are skating on is actually 5 layers if you count their reflection XD And each of the trees in the background were drawn by hand, though I will admit the really faded ones in the back were a duplicated layer set to lower opacity XD.

Umm I dunno if there's anything else to say but... Enjoy! ^^