How do you design the gilding that goes along edges or fills small empty spaces? Do you just have set patterns that you test out in those spots?
You’ve got a good eye!!! I usually don’t plan them out at all. I just add the jewels and other main decorations on the crown and royal yoke, some Latin stuff about harmony and justice etc, and fill in the leftover spaces with them. Occasionally in big pieces or commissions, I do plan them and add them in the cleaned sketch.
I don’t have a set reference for all of the royal crowns and yokes because im too lazy to remember and make a full turn around of it, and because I like being free to change the designs and stuff! I don’t really have a good excuse for Cadence, Twilight’s and Celestia’s constant design changes, but I do for Luna! I headcanon that Luna’s mane, hooves, occasionally eyes, and armor/jewelry changes like the phases of the moon. That’s why I draw Nightmare Moon’s armor so differently each time, because I imagine it’s made of some cosmic magic material that’s malleable but also very robust.