Well Sh*t
Shall we try again this year?
Out of Roof and Home [Signal Boost]
IF you don't know WandererD let me be the first to say he's a worthwhile guy to know.
He's a top writer and moderator on Fimfiction that wrote such excellent fics as XCOM: Ranger, Sparkle's No1 Assistant, The Empty Room, The Sweetie Chronicles, and (my personal fave) The Three Sisters series. Among so many more.
He's excellent at getting so many people together and keeping them together by his kind, empathetic personality and generous wit.
He's also the goofball who invited this idiot sculptor to the Brony Writer's dinner at Bronycon 2013 just so I'd have an excuse to go outside and make some friends. He's a fool. Cuz it worked. I've been invited back every year since.
So when I ask you to help him out. Please understand you're helping someone whose helped so many out. He deserves to keep his home & have a stable life. So if you can help out, it would be much appreciated.
Donate here:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/ga5dc-roof-and-home
For more info:
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/892413/hello-everyone-please-read
Some sculptures I've done for him in the past:
2o2o
Some housekeeping:
Fuck Photobucket & their imposed bandwidth limits. Its gone and ruined the page I'd spent weeks creating (I'm not a programmer by nature, that ship sailed long ago). And with the Eclipse on the horizon, I'm not so sure I want to redo it. Tbh fam, I'd hate to leave it like this but idk how I'm gonna fix it.
Edit: I moved over to Imgur. I'd thought they deleted images after 6 months but apparently that no longer holds true as of a few years ago. Yay me
Lighter news, I have a new job! Started this past December.
Its a county gig, so I'm riding all around some dozen different towns now and srsly longer hours. Importantly the pay is good, better than it was before. The people are okay, in fact a number I knew from my old job. Its part in what's taken my time these past few months and why nothing has seemed to move on this glacial page. Alas I've also joined the drones of artists and upped my microblogging game. Where I'd confessed to a figurative raging river of media flowing (Its December! Time to vacate the premises) thru twitter, it seems I'd caught a following myself. A pittance for sure, but enough to intrigue me to its vices. So off to the birds I go now where some of my works (and works in progress) have been posted as of late. You can catch that mild sculpting action here on my Twitter
What is the future of dustysculptures?
Perhaps the more pertinent question I'm facing right now and one I've been pondering for weeks. And tbh at this exact moment I'm not entirely sure.
Passion is the princess your strive for (or prince if you're so inclined), so the internet tells me. The more you show your passion the more you're appreciated or perhaps just recognized, for better or for worse.With the end of G4, I'm filtering thru my passions, seeing what I can distill into something tangible & creative. The idea is the cheap creative currency that runs this business and I've got as many to fill a cow. Just nothing to milk yet. To that end, I'll warn you right now there may be an upheaval in its midst. Nothing completely outta left field, I'd think. A change in technique, maybe instruments, or even mediums. I'm still feeling it out. Give me some time.
Its coupled in the midst of an upheaval of my schedule as my job has taken a much larger part of my life in the form of work hours. To the point that scheduling has become an issue. So I'm still in that transition period where I'm not sure how things are going to go. Its a mildly debilitating balance where I can't quite commit to anything yet from 3 weeks to 3 months from now. Which includes commitments to convention travel and the like.
Till then, I'm still doodling on my tablet, and feeling out my own works (which have been all over the place as of late [2020-2-3 [Warning:Nudity]). I guess we'll just wait and see.
Also happy 7th Anniversary to: PonySculptors! There's plenty of fresh faces & a couple of returning sculptors in there, so take your perusal if you wish. Its been a long road but we keep chugging along! Here's the write up my long time and faraway friend uBrosis did for the occasion:
7th Anniversary!7th Year Anniversary!
Our little group is now seven years old!
And the show might have ended but we are not going anywhere! and who knows how many new sculptures the upcoming pony shows and movie will bring us!
And since we in the admin department did not manage to come up with anything special to do for this anniversary we will just do as the previous two years and show of two random sculptures from each folder with finished sculptures!
But first two little rule changes that we decided to do... and promptly forgot to tell anyone about... First of some of you have asked us if we accept sculptures based of characters from "Them's fighting herds" and yes we do.
Secondly with our current rules we only allow hand sculpted sculptures but since alot of the sculptures that are used as a base in the process to make sculpture moulds gets ruined in the process we have decided to allow a single sculpture from each casted pony mould, note that the body of the sculptures must be noticeble different
Happy Sculpting!
~dusty
She said come along bungaloo through the nite!
And by the way she's moving she's dynamite,
Might she not
With all she's got...
BronyCon 2019 - Going out on Top
BronyCon
A time and a half. And about quadruple that since its closing.
As I've read thru a ton of words dedicated to recapping BronyCon and I can't help but noticing through it all that most of them are a rambling mess and wondering why.
Its because while Bronycon was a big event, it is always the small stuff we remember. Its always the names & the tiny little experiences that go with each person. Whether its a well timed joke or a proffered challenge that was met (or regrettably not). Because that's what BronyCon promoted: An environment to have a ton of little moments attached to faces of your ilk. The people at BronyCon don't call each other by their real names (well maybe a few) but by their 'internet handles' written on badges around their necks. Its both an anonymity and familiarity that provides ample room for shenanigans to happen. I love it and it should continue. Hopefully for many, many years to come.
However, I won't deny that I had a good cry thinking about BronyCon. Wasn't at the most opportune time tho.
It came to me on Sunday, the last day of BronyCon. My bro & I had just packed up our booth and was just about to head out. However that first step away from my booth just hit me like a sudden rain cloud had burst over head. It containing all the memories of BronyCon & opportunities its given me.
In a moment after, I was raining too. In the middle of the vendor hall.
Other than the mild embarrassment, it honestly wasn't gloom & doom. In fact, it gave me a small sense of relief & acceptance I'd needed to make the trip home. It also told me how fast my brother was to accessing tissues on command (Pretty damn fast).
But honestly if you were there at BronyCon, you'd know not many paid that rain cloud much heed. Most were perfectly content to run around with the full force & energy deserving of a brony convention and suffer a longer goodbye hug with a 'I'll see you at the next convention' in the end. Even the posted memorial set in the 2nd floor corner turned to jokes and memes with an 'F' every square foot & appropriately lighted fedora hanging next to the Equestrian flag posted at one end.
I couldn't imagine a better way for BronyCon to go out:
Sure the con was done but we sure as hell weren't.
BronyCon Swag:
Tons of Prints, Enamel pins, & good readin'
*Plushies not included XP
Finally as I had a bit of space on my table I'd thought a great way to spend it was by creating a signing board for anyone who passed by to sign. So here it is:
Thank you to everyone who came by & signed it!
*Notable Signings: DustyKatt, Calpain, Fisherpon, Shuxer59, uBrosis, Ridleyman9000, Aleximus Prime, Hobbsmeerkat, Siifoe, Earthsong9405, Dogstomp, Acesential, WandererD, Ardail, CadmiumCrab, Peruserofpieces, JoeyH3, Deadparrot, Earth-pony Creations, fleebites, dojerodesigns & friends.
If you missed all the twitter media bonanza
With that concludes the last BronyCon Shoutout.
I don't have much more to say so I'll quote what I wrote in last year's journal since I think it still rings true even right now:
"BronyCon has always been a tentpole for dustysculptures. Being about half way through the year its a good gauge to see how I'm doing as a sculptor & how you guys are doing as well. There are also the milestones only achieved thanks to BronyCon: My first vendor opportunity, my first panel hosting, even my one time daily deviation was me putting together all the BronyCon ponies. So to see it leave next year will be a hard pill to swallow for sure. But like all good things are bound to end eventually. We'd joked about it from the beginning, the tenuous balance this community had in the beginning won through sheer exuberance & fraternity. Its hard to see the event go. But I know we'll make its send off a good one. We're a community. Some would say the best one! Out lasting Homestuck & striving past Undertale, we've got a lot left in us. I know that should BronyCon go, there will be others. Should those go to then we will have each other & the memories we shared. "
Keep it going & happy sculpting~
~dusty
P.S. Individual shoutouts forthcoming~
Digging And Driving for Charity
Whilst I dig thru my google docs on finally putting together a BronyCon journal, I thought I'd shed some light on a problem plaguing a fellow PonySculptors
chipperpony is in financial trouble stemming from the ever present hospital bills. They were involved in a car accident 5 weeks ago & fractured their hip in several places requiring a harrowing amount of surgery.
They're on the mend now but between the extended hospital stay & the lack of work time, their wallet is not looking too good.
If you can help out with even a small donation please follow the link below. Both Chipperpony & I would be immensely appreciative~!
Speaking on Charity: (See more pics here)
BronyCon tweeted out this went for a whooping $1600 at the Charity auction!!
I can't express how amazing the journey was to put this together & seeing each piece delivered to me one by one until complete. Even the assembly & delivery at BronyCon had its moment of strife: We almost didn't get accepted into the auction! They ran out of space! But thanks to uBrosis & I, we pitched a convincing enough story to have the auctioneers to push aside some table space for our collab.
If you didn't catch the who's who, here's what sculptor did what:
xofox - The Plaque, cutie mark bases, & Rarity
uBrosis - Fluttershy
NToonz - Rainbow Dash
Ridleyman9000 - Applejack
chipperpony - Pinkie
dustysculptures (me) - Twilight
Poor Pinkie couldn't make it cuz the aforementioned chipperpony was indisposed. They will be delivered when first able (Plz plz plz help her out!)
Anyway, I've had that BronyCon journal sitting for a while. A forewarning: Its sappy & nostalgic; Kinda hard not to feel that way when something you've loved for 7 years comes to an end. I've tried to put a 'posi' spin on it but I wanted to keep it real and maybe a bit raw. I plan on finally finishing that this weekend. Look forward to it!
Happy sculpting
~dusty