This one is very abstract, between the ruin and the shadow of a pony in the middle.

The contrast between the background and the central piece is a bit too much for me though, and I don't know what to make of the three stones that stand out.

Mid-tier.

>>Fenton
Those aren't stones standing out--they're holes, giving a glimpse of the interior wall.

>>Kitcat36
Oooh, I didn't get it. I still can't see it but I understand. So it adds to the abstract atmoshpere then.

I got that they were holes, but they don’t look to me as holes in stonework should look, so I found that jarring. (Holes in stonework tend to follow the lines between the stones, which are usually the weakest points in the wall.) And the inside of the wall should have the same stone texture as outside.

Abstract and moody, and I am wondering if this is a reference to a certain scene in Story of the Blanks. The Artist put effort into this piece but should perhaps have used more reference material before commencing. (Seriously, Image Search is your friend).

Upper mid tier for me.

My first thought was that this was literally just a fireplace of some sort. It wasn't until I looked a lot closer that I saw the pony shape in the center. The 'conservation of attention' thing that happens in writing is also important in visual art; if you want to be sure your audience sees something, add some emphasis so it's clear enough to be certain.

My second guess was that this was a house. But the shape doesn't seem right for that, the 'pedestal' it's on is strange, the ratio of height to width for the door seems off, and the bricks would be impossibly huge.

This feels like a piece that had a fair amount of effort put into it, from things like the lighting and the edges. I just have no idea what's going on or what I'm actually looking at.

A unicorn exploring a beaten down tower or some sort of piece to a castle ruins. It's lovely. And the shade art style is something to behold. While it lacks some detail it stills a solid expression and meaning making this one easy to work with. Well done by the way in explaining what is going on in your mind. It neither confuses us or baffles us with what it brings to the table. My only advice is try silhouette art pieces. Try making blotch style arts some puddles of ink and paint go a long way and I believe you can express yourself best by shaping these pools into a defined shape and size. Rather than the obvious detailed and pretty artwork most will tend to try to pull off.

I'm with >>Not_A_Hat; I didn't even see the pony in the middle at first. I'm also not sure what the stuff on the right (our right), inside the tower's cracked top, is supposed to be - stairs?

The colors are nice, though.

While it most certainly could use work on the visual aspects, that being the building could be more architecturally sound, like you could've taken an image from real life and drawn over that, an inspiration for this can be quite easily removed from the overall picture. Nicely done.

That pony could really use some help standing out in there.

This piece doesn't impress me as much as some of the others, but it does seem like it would be easy to use as a prompt.

A pony investigating a destroyed turret? The walls appear paper-thin; the timbers/rubble inside does not look like timber of any fashion; if the light source is from a horn, why no horn—if from lantern, why so white; holes (in the paper-thin walls) are not sensible; stone pattern is lost on the left side; dual focus of main opening and rubble on right side makes intent difficult to follow; color palette is simple but effective (suggesting fire or sunset). Sound idea suffering in execution—adequate for prompt material, crude as 'art'.

I'll have to agree with the others that the walls look too thin, and while the colors are nice, I don't really see how they add to the meaning. I like how the pony inside is barely showing, which lends a bit of a creepy atmosphere to the piece, so maybe optin for moonlight might have worked better the way I see the picture.

@caption_rates
In solidarity with the ghosts haunting this abandoned building, this caption learned how to become invisible. A tireless advocate for continuing education. 8/10

>>Fenton
>>Kitcat36
>>GroaningGreyAgony
>>Not_A_Hat
>>TitaniumDragon
>>Kritten
>>The_Letter_J
>>KwirkyJ
>>wYvern
>>horizon
Hopefully I tagged everyone, I'm on mobile and my browser doesn't like this input interface for some reason.

So GGA hit the main issue I have with this in retrospect neatly on the head: I did not use references while making this piece. Considering I've never really drawn architecture before, this was a really stupid move. It seems like the biggest problem most people had with this was that it just looked too abstract to be anything real, and that issue could've been resolved completely by me just using references. Blegh.

One of the other main problems with this was that it was completely uninspired. I worked on this for at least ten hours in total, mostly because I kept redoing the design. I had originally started out with the idea of a ruined temple wall being approached by an ambiguous group of ponies. However, I wasn't sure if that was too specific, so I changed it around dramatically. I ended up going through so many ideas before I just decided to go for exploring a ruined house because everything else felt too specific. After seeing some of the other entries, I feel like I should've stuck with my first idea. It probably still wouldn't have been a top contender, the idea in general was formulated because I had no idea what else to draw, but at least it would've likely been less confusing. I also should've changed the base when I changed the idea, but instead I kept the general shape of the building and holes from the temple idea. I didn't consider the fact that holes originally meant to look melted and slagged would absolutely not fit on a brick structure. It seems I had multiple lapses in attention to detail in all aspects of this round. :facehoof:

I really hope that there are more art rounds. While I struggled and ultimately kinda flopped with this, it was still super fun to see what everybody had made and the stories people generated. Maybe next time I can make something that actually works, haha :twilightsheepish:

>>shinygiratinaz
Even though there are some problems with your work, it has still inspired me for another entry. Unfortunately, I hadn't the time to finish it. However, I plan to keep working on it so be assured that you have inspired someone at least.

>>shinygiratinaz
>>Fenton
I also enjoyed the ideas this picture triggered. Sometime I really have to enter a round, instead of chickening out like I do every time, but it was definitely interesting and made an interesting prompt. I'd've liked to have seen your temple pic, too--that sounds really cool!