By Diane Tsai
“It’s been called fat pony, it’s been called Shetland pony, it’s got a lot of different names,” said cartoonist Kate Beaton of her beloved equestrian character.
Beaton, the creator of Hark! A Vagrant!, says she first started drawing the pony in 2008. Since then, it’s been featured on Adventure Time and is now a main character in her new children’s book, The Princess and the Pony.
She was inspired by a class trip to the Shetland Islands. “It was like a dream,” Beaton said. “They’re so small! Everything there is small. Their sheep are smaller. It’s a place after my own heart.”
In the video above, Beaton teaches you how to draw her signature pony in a few simple steps.
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Write to Diane Tsai at diane.tsai@time.com