Trot cycle tips

Usually you have at least 3 different manes a down, a normal, and an up.

The 1st, 5th, 8th, 9th, 13th 16th frames use normal.
The 2nd-4th, 10th-12th use down,
The 6th, 7th, 14th.15th use up.

Sometimes you can get away without an up but try to put it in there if you can. The up doesnt mean you have to have the whole hair go up just a few parts of it like the very top of it or the bangs or whatever seems natural.


The tail is the next thing to worry about. Most have the tail usually scrunch up during the animation.

1st,2nd, 8th-10th, 16th use the first tail, 
then 3rd, 6th,7th, 11th,14th,15th use a slightly scrunched up version
then 4th,5th, 12th,13th use a slightly more scrunched up version. 

Look at the mane ponies to see what I mean. Make sure its subtle. The parts of the tail shouldnt move more than a few pixels in relation to the rest of the tail. Also check the back fore leg to see if it would come across the tail thereby covering some of it up to make sure it goes in front of it instead of behind if you were copy pasting.


Next you usually have two cutie marks. A regular and a skewed

1-4, 11-16 use the normal one
5-10 use the skewed one.

I suggest checking out the tutorial video found at the link below.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/sgvodqeja0w4e7q/make_your_own_pony_gif.zip

It's Monkeyjay's (made the basic pony design we are currently using, mane 6 and other ponies) guide to how he made them so pay attention.