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| A little taste of my current project, which will be done and posted soon |
TJ here to discuss being a member of the community, how we help each other grow and coming to an understanding of who you are in terms of this hobby and what your voice is. I know that seems like a lot, but just groove with me a while.
For years, I thought growing the community meant growing DFG and all of my effort went into pulling writers and information into this blog, where ideally people could go and maybe even find other blogs that they could be interested in (as long as they also linked back to me. Some of you may remember the DFG hub ... just know that I had great intentions.
What I was missing was that the community (and any community) is about what you and others give, not so much about what you build or how much you can build it. Even though I have built a reputation on It Came From the Forums and other ways to share what artists and businesses are doing, I still ultimately looked to how I could grow this blog. I have turned down positions writing at other blogs because I coveted my information and just wanted it on DFG ... which is just so insane to me now.
My recent hiatus has allowed me the time to explore other hobbies and also to reflect on the 1500+ posts here to really examine why I still do this and what has kept me involved for so long. It all really comes down to the community. All of my best ideas are some sort of colaborative idea that came from shooting the shit with other hobbyists here or from inspiration they shared. It made me appreciate how much we really need to take our ideas and shout them from the mountain tops. We shouldn't be holed up in our little blog wondering what's in it for us, we should be giving.
With that said, you will see me sharing my articles (with slight variations for different audiences as I get more comfortable in new places) on other blogs, like Spiky Bits and Green Stuff Industries. For me, it is all about collaborating with people who I have interacted with and have befriended in the community and it is also about getting those ideas out there and get folks brewing with them.
One post I will be sharing soon is a revamp on my old Dreadclaw Drop Pod conversion and in the article I show off a couple of other takes on the design and I have been inspired by other takes I have found on that design in the forums (there are like 100 posts out there from people who site that conversion and all of them have a cool little twist). That is what I love and what I seek.
As far as my voice goes, I am sure some people will think I am just out to promote myself and my blog and I don't care what they say. I have been doing this online since 2008 and I know my voice and my readers get me too. I am just a dude that really loves the struggle and the work that a good conversion artist goes through to make a model. I understand where that creativity comes from and I totally appreciate the little things that I know are a part of a particular breed of crazy that we all share to some degree.
That being said, I am posting for converters new and old. I am going to write for those people who have to take another path and who want to see some really cool shit. It's all about finding that feeling we all got when we discovered minis and saw our first conversions and just lost our minds. I want to carry that and give it to others and be inspired by feedback from readers and that's it. Oh and while I will make stuff pretty generalized elsewhere, I will make sure to continue adding my personal brand of neurosis in my article;)
With all that being said, the two or three of you left who got this far are hardcore readers and I certainly appreciate it. DFG has had over 3 Million views over the years and I am blown away by all the e-mails and comments and just wild stuff people share with me and I look forward to giving more of that back. Thank you all for just being here.