epic gamer moment

cool

Welp, even WAT than G1 G3 G3.5.

@Background Pony #F610  
Yeah that one

@Digital Seapony  
Bro…

Too true mate

I feel your pain.

@Tirimsil  

 
@Background Pony #F610  

 
That is really cool, actually.

@Antonyourknee  
That is incredibly intimidating.

@Shydale  
I think the smaller nose helps with that a ton. But even then, sometimes some front shots of some regular ponies can look a bit uncanny.

reminds me of this  

@Tirimsil  
yeah djthed tried that deformation based on the camera position thingy

I’m sure absolutely everybody has already said all of this, but I’m going to condense it anyway.
 
Horses do indeed have their eyes on the sides of their heads like frogs. This is chiefly because they are prey animals and their evolution values “ultra widescreen” over binocular vision. Anything strange or maybe hostile that they see coming towards them, they will move away from. The only distance that matters is “as far away as possible”.
 
(A horse who has been looking at you sidelong and turns its nose towards you may be startled once it is able to tell how close you are. Please be very cautious approaching strange horses.)
 
Animals that are predatory, make use of tools or otherwise benefit from fine coordination, and/or rely on facial expressions to communicate tend to have their eyes set closer towards the fronts of their heads instead. Since this is the case in humans, it is generally the case in cartoon characters as well so that they are accepted as “fellows” by human viewers (especially children.)
 
Another problem is that 2D cartoons, even digital / Flash, are to some extent hand-drawn. As such, unlike a 3D model, there is no guarantee that the side view and front view of a character will be anatomically consistent to one another - in fact, it is more likely that they are not, in order to exaggerate desired physical traits from the given view angle.
 
Consider how most characters’ hairstyles mystically flip around if they leave the screen and come back facing the other direction, because otherwise the hair would cover their faces. Less obviously, their eyes also move around on their heads and their faces are generally not quite the same shape.
 
Celestia is by all means the worst offender. Her facial shape is impossible to faithfully copy from all directions she’s been seen in the show. You have to make a concession from one angle or another.
 
There is/was actually a 3D pony artist whose models deform in realtime based on the camera position in order to faithfully copy the inconsistent face proportions of the show from any viewing angle. The example of the technique IIRC was Applejack. It was greatly disturbing when viewed from a face-mounted camera, but nothing seemed out of place when viewed properly.
 
Assuming they are staying in the same spot, though, expressive / human eyes should be treated as “diagonal” or “inset”. The face is not a cube, and the eyes are neither painted flat on the front or one nor painted flat on the sides of one. The “cube” is rather round, almost like a Roblox head, and the eyes cut in from the front of the cube to the sides and thus can be seen at both angles. They should appear more triangular from the side (as seen in this image) and rounder from the front.

@Setsugekka  
From your own link, they don’t generally. When they’re snoot-first sniffing at you they look silly, but still look dignified facing you but snoot-down.

@Antonyourknee  
Ponies eating meat tag intensifies.

Of horse

@GaruuSpike  
Those are like so to be embracing & cute tho

@Shydale Pony #1B91”:/images/2249974#comment_8752363  
kek

@GaruuSpike  

Just think of a human head with a muzzle.

Most cartoon characters are designed to be viewed in three-quarters

@Shydale  
Thanks boss

God, that’s a mood.