GET OUT OF MY BASEMENT!

Would you believe, the 5th prompt requests: "Draw a pony sprinting // Draw a pony running for their lives". We're still stuck at prompt 2, pony on the move and walking the walk! The record is skipping something fierce. Run to the hills, it's Iron Maiden!

As always, draw (or sculpt or do a photo-montage), host the image of what you made in an online gallery and drop the URL into the submission form here, it's live. King Grimlock does not specifying the prompt in the submitter, but otherwise it's the usual: you can enter five different images per prompt. The maximum resolution is 2000x2000 pixels, so chose a link from your gallery that points to a version of your image that does not exceed 2,000 pixels on either side. Also, don't exceed 4 Mb per picture or the poniloader will plotz and choke on your picture. MLPforums and Discord work as image hosts in a pinch, although I think that there's an expiry date on those options. Xitter works somehow, it looks like Mastodon does, probably Bluesky as well, if you're savvy. I use Flickr and Imgur apparently works too. The pictures will be visible on EqD along with the next task at 9 PM (MST) on June 10th. The URL pattern is changing each time but since I'm keen to guess, I think that it will be this: https://www.equestriadaily.com/2025/06/newbie-artist-training-grounds-xv_10.html . I think KG isn't taking notes, he's back to using the calendar date. I wouldn't put any money on my guess.

So be sure to get your drawings in well before 9 PM Mountain Standard Time (or midnight Eastern Daylight Savings Time and 5 AM UTC). The time before last King Grimlock was at least an hour early taking what had been submitted so far and compiling it into the gallery posted with the next prompt announcement. I missed that deadline. But the grace period is at least two extra days and KG goes back to edit in the late submissions, usually around the same time he posts the next prompt. This time the submitter isn't set to close for prompt 5 until June 13th, so this time the grace period could be 5 days past the deadline, but don't bet on it. The funny/brave face prompt submitter got closed suddenly last night, KG switched the close date from June 15 to June 7, causing it to close (but not dump my 'brave face' submission). I don't think there will be any late submission catch-up days in this NATG.

Off topic submissions, more than was usual in past years, are showing up in the gallery. That's because King Grimlock is also posting what Calpain is prompting on Bluesky in his fringe NATG and people have been hybridizing this NATG with it. So look out for ponies: "watching time fly by" or "stuck in the past".

This time it's: "Draw a pony trotting // Draw a pony on a scenic walk ". It's like we're back to prompt 2, pony on the move and walking the walk. It's déjà vu all over again. I should draw a pony dragging a cut-out of a walking pony from the previous prompt.

As always, draw (or sculpt or do a photo-montage), host the image of what you made in an online gallery and drop the URL into the submission form here, it's live. King Grimlock is still not specifying a prompt there, but otherwise it's as expected: you can enter five different images per prompt. The maximum resolution is 2000x2000 pixels, so chose a link from your gallery that points to a version of your image that does not exceed 2,000 pixels on either side. Also, don't exceed 4 Mb per picture or the poniloader will plotz and choke on your picture. MLPforums and Discord work as image hosts in a pinch, although I think that there's an expiry date on those options. Xitter works somehow, it looks like Mastodon does, probably Bluesky as well. I use Flickr and Imgur is said to work too. The pictures will be visible on EqD along with the next task at 9 PM (MST) on June 8th. The URL pattern is changing each time but since I'm keen to guess, I think that it will end in -xv-prompt-5.html . Ha! no. It ended up being this: https://www.equestriadaily.com/2025/06/newbie-artist-training-grounds-xv_8.html . 8 for June 8th.

So be sure to get your drawings in well before 9 PM Mountain Standard Time (or midnight Eastern Daylight Savings Time and 5 AM UTC). Last time King Grimlock was at least an hour early taking what had been submitted so far and compiling it into the gallery posted with the next prompt announcement. I missed that deadline. Eventually KG will go back and edit in the late submissions, but it could be a while. The grace period is getting longer, the submitter isn't set to close for prompt 4 until June 25th! That's, like, 16 days past the deadline. I don't think there will be any late submission catch-up days in this NATG.

Off topic stuff is showing up in the gallery, apparently since King Grimlock also posts the current prompts Calpain is putting up on Bluesky. As a result, there is much romance in the mix.

Onwards: "Draw a pony making a funny expression // Draw a pony putting on a brave face ". Oh! What's this? Maybe KG got my email! There is an idiom but mostly those are art prompts! The submitter for the previous prompt is open until June 7th so late submission are possible, the late submissions will be added to the posted gallery some time later. It was 2 days later for the first prompt pair.

As always, draw (or sculpt or do a photo-montage), host the image of what you made in an online gallery and drop the URL into the submission form here, it's live. King Grimlock forgot to specify a prompt but otherwise it's as expected: you can enter six different images per prompt. The maximum resolution is 2000x2000 pixels, so chose a link from your gallery that points to a version of your image that does not exceed 2,000 pixels on either side. Also, don't exceed 4 Mb per picture or the poniloader will plotz and choke on your picture. MLPforums and Discord work as image hosts in a pinch, although I think that there's an expiry date on those options. Xitter works somehow, it looks like Mastodon does, probably Bluesky as well. I use Flickr and Imgur is said to work too. The pictures will be visible on EqD along with the next task at 9 PM (MST) on June 6th, here: https://www.equestriadaily.com/2025/06/newbie-artist-training-grounds-xv.html

So be sure to get your drawings in before 9 PM Mountain Standard Time (or midnight Eastern Daylight Savings Time and 5 AM UTC) June 6th to get posted when to next prompt pair appears, otherwise it could be a while: this time KG set the submitter to close on June 15th!

spirit high by Soobel
Source: https://www.deviantart.com/soobel/art/1202455472

The next pair of prompts is: "Draw a pony on the move // Draw a pony walking the walk". I'm skipping calling this "Day 3" as King Grimlock has labeled it on EqD, that's just confusing. The submitter for the previous prompt is still open and late submission haven't been added to the posted gallery yet, so King Grimlock isn't burning the midnight oil keeping up. The gallery generated by the submitter for the first prompt pair (which is here) is still locked under password, invisible unless you can guess the username and password. Admin admin doesn't work. 8^D

As always, draw (or sculpt or do a photo-montage), host the image of what you made in an online gallery and drop the URL into the submission form here, it's live. King Grimlock forgot to specify a prompt but otherwise it's as expected: you can enter five different images per prompt. The maximum resolution is 2000x2000 pixels, so chose a link from your gallery that points to a version of your image that does not exceed 2,000 pixels on either side. Also, don't exceed 4 Mb per picture or the poniloader will plotz and choke on your picture. MLPforums and Discord work as image hosts in a pinch, although I think that there's an expiry date on those options. Xitter works somehow, it looks like Mastodon does, probably Bluesky as well. I use Flickr and Imgur is said to work too. The pictures will be visible on EqD along with the next task at 9 PM (MST) on June 4th. My URL guess was wrong, KG switched to counting prompts, not days. This is the URL KG used and where the art got posted: https://www.equestriadaily.com/2025/06/newbie-artist-training-grounds-prompt-3.html .

So be sure to get your drawings in before 9 PM Mountain Standard Time (or midnight Eastern Daylight Savings Time and 5 AM UTC). I don't know if King Grimlock is up to the task of editing in late submissions, so even though the previous submitter hasn't been closed yet, there might not be a grace period past the deadline. I don't know if there will be any late submission catch-up days this time around.

The 2nd prompt resulted in 63 submissions. The total so far for NATG XV stands at 145 submissions.

I also liked these ones:


Trotting across the moor by Cahandariella
Source: https://www.deviantart.com/cahandariella/art/Trotting-across-the-moor-1203014840

and


Chill Walk by Dusthiel
source: https://www.deviantart.com/dusthiel/art/NATG-2025-D3-Chill-Walk-1202272368

It's that time of year when Equestria Daily sends out the call for people to assemble their pony swag for photo shoot. Easy for you if you only have like four things. Not so easy if you have like 400 items scattered hither and yon. Some people even have what looks like a pony store in one room. That looks like a lot of work. I just spent a few hours piling mostly plushes on a couch. No way am I going to get everything I own into one picture.

The deadline for sending in your picture(s) is 1st of June at 1:00 AM PST (Pacific Standard Time) and the submit link for sending your swag photo(s) is here: https://poniloader.equestriadaily.com/index.php?task=competition&competition=452

Meanwhile, a 15 prompt Newbie Artist Training Ground is set to begin June 1st with the first prompt to be posted on EqD at 8 PM PST/ The submit link isn't live yet but it should be https://poniloader.equestriadaily.com/index.php?task=competition&competition=453 when it does go live. Each prompt should allow you 48 hours this time so the event will last all month despite there only being 15 prompts.