2013 – Andertoons Cartoon Blog

So this is my last post for 2013, and it’s also my 2500th Andertoons Cartoon Blog post. I started this way back in May of 2004, so next year I’ll have been doing this for a decade. Can you believe it?!

Last year around this time I wrote about how I’d changed the scheduling and content of the blog to some success. So I thought this year I’d do the same sort of thing, ponder next year’s blogging direction, and highlight some of my favorite posts from 2013.

2013 Blog Stats

Let’s start with the bad news. Blog pageviews dropped an average of 37% this year over last, which sounds awful, right? But when you look back, it’s not really that bad. Pageviews went up 293% for the same period (first 49 weeks of the calendar year) from 2009-2010, went up again by 1837% from 2010-2011 (I know, right?!), and went up again 21% from 2011-2012. And a lot of 2012’s traffic was spiky, especially around popular How-To-Draw posts.

Also, average time on blog pages increased this year over last by 28%, the bounce rate dropped by 12%, and overall pageviews on all of Andertoons.com were up. So it’s not as bad as it first sounds.

Here are the top blog posts from 2012:

And here are the top blog posts from 2013:

Blog Home Page
How to Draw a Cartoon Shark (From 2012)
20 Educational Cartoons for Back to School
Teacher Cartoons for Back to School (From 2012)
How to Draw a Cartoon C-3PO
How to Draw a Cartoon Turkey (From 2012)
How to Draw a Cartoon Bunny (From 2012)
How to Draw a Cartoon R2D2 (From 2012)
LEGO Alphabet Spaceships A-Z (From 2011)
Teacher Cartoons for Teachers Appreciation Week (From 2012)

Here’s what I’m taking away from this. The How To Draw lessons were a good new draw (no pun intended) in 2012, but in 2013 they were less novel and garnered less interest. So while I think I can expect some nice evergreen traffic from them in the future, the HTDs are going away for 2014.

The blogs from 2013 that performed well were collections of cartoons on a single topic (thanks, teachers!), so I’m probably going to be doing those more often going forward.

And although video takes some time to do well, and it hasn’t performed as well as I’d like, I’m probably going to continue with the occasional watch-me-draw post. The people that watch them really like them, and I enjoy doing them. Plus, I get to just talk and let someone else transcribe the audio!

Best of Blog

So now that the numbers are out of the way, here are the blogs I thought were some of this year’s standouts, as well as the ones that got the most pageviews.

January

My pick – How to Draw a Cartoon Polar Bear – I did some GIFs for a few How-To-Draws this year and this is one. Plus, polar bears are great.

Most viewed – Same as above.

February

My pick – Success in Comics 2013 – The Daily Cartoonist did a better job reporting this, but I had to include it here because it was just a truly fantastic event.

Most viewed – LEGO Valentine Spaceship – This was super fun to build, and, except for the pilot and the “arrow,” every piece is red!

March

My pick – Writing Cartoons – 9 Ideas For Generating Ideas – I talk in depth about how and where I find stuff to play with and make fun of.

Most viewed – How To Draw A Cartoon Baby Chick – Tutorial – I think this isn’t one of my better HTDs, but the numbers disagree.

April

My pick – I Get A Caption With A Little Help From My Friends – I document how my Twitter followers help me figure out a caption.

Most viewed – How To Draw A Cartoon C-3PO – Tutorial – This is just barely in April (on the 3oth), but like R2D2 the year before, it brought in big numbers.

May

My pick – FAIL! – A few of my most notable failures and why they’re fantastic.

Most viewed – Same as above (but just barely…)

June

My pick – 5 Cartooning Books You Should Read Right Now – $47 on Amazon will buy you a first rate cartooning education.

Most viewed – Same as above

July

My pick – Jack Kirby’s Lone Ranger (1971) – So the movie was a dud, but you have to see this Kirby card game art.

Most viewed – How to Draw a Cartoon Giant Robot – I loved Pacific Rim, so this makes me happy.

August

My pick – Custom Cartoons – A Look Behind the Scenes – Follow along as I create a custom cartoon for a client from beginning to end.

Most viewed – 20 Education Cartoons for Back to School – The little post that could.

September

My pick – Sketching, Resketching & Inking Cartoons – The 15 minute video takes you from pencil to final ink.

Most viewed – How To Draw A Cartoon Scarecrow – This trounced the above video, but I stand by my choice.

October

My pick – LEGO Zombie Spaceship Powered By Brains – I didn’t post as much LEGO as I’d have liked to this year, but I really enjoyed building and sharing this for Halloween.

Most viewed – Halloween Cartoons for 2103 – Halloween cartoons always perform well.

November

My pick – OSU Festival of Cartoon Art – 2013 – I think this is a good overview of the weekend, and there’s loads of pictures.

Most viewed – How To Draw A Cartoon Pilgrim – Maybe I need to rethink this whole dropping the HTD thing. Sheesh!

December

My pick – Christmas Cartoons – 2013 – I just think this is a pretty good batch.

Most viewed – How To Draw A Cartoon Reindeer – Tutorial – So when I wrote this is was too early to tell, but based on the rest of the year I feel pretty confident on this.

Wrapping Up

So that’s it for the blog for 2013. When I checked in early December I was ranking #6 on Google for “cartoon blog” behind such notable blogs as Cartoon Brew, cartoony pal Mike Lynch, and The New Yorker. And while I’d prefer to rank a bit higher, that’s pretty OK with me. I sometimes need to remind myself that as much as I enjoy writing this blog, the whole reason I started it was to draw more traffic to Andertoons.com. So as long as it’s fun to create and driving traffic, I think you can probably expect another 2500 posts.

Happy New Year!

This weekend was C2E2 here in Chicagoland, and the organizers were kind enough to grant me another press pass this year so I could share the experience with you! (Here’s my 2012 post.)

I attended on Friday this year and once again it was a fantastic time!

There was a large crowd, but it neve felt crowded. Here’s a view of some of the floor:

And here’s Artist’s Alley:

I hit Artist’s Alley right away and was able to chat with My Little Pony writer Katie Cook before her line got too long:

She did a small piece for my daughter and I picked up her first Gronk book. I should have picked up both volumes, as my daughter read the first cover to cover as soon as I handed it to her.

Next up was Super Dinosaur‘s Jason Howard:

We chatted again about kids comics and I told him how much my son and I enjoyed reading SD together. A super nice guy!

I stopped by Amanda Conner’s table, and although the line was short and orderly (shorterly?), she didn’t have any new items to purchase. Ditto for J. Scott Campbell:

I think he actually had a smallish sketchbook I don’t have, but I like his larger hardcover collections better.

See, I’m not a bring-a-box-of-comics-to-get-autographed guy, I’m more of a I-like-your-work-and-I-want-buy-something-neat guy, which is less common I suspect. Still, it was good to see fans and artists alike happy to see each other.

Then it was time for some C2E2 shopping!

I wasn’t really looking for any older comics, but goodness knows there were plenty. And lots and lots and lots of toys and collectables!

This next one floored me, and I came really close to buying it:

I didn’t see much of a webcomic presence at C2E2 this year, but the Cyanide and Happiness guys were doing a brisk business. Good for them!

Another almost buy…

There was a lot of LEGO at this show too, but the prices were a bit high and I saw too many custom and post-keychain minifigs for my tastes. Still, I found an Avengers polybag that never made its way to the States.

Of course you had your Renassiance folks…

…your zombies…

…and the requisite cool car.

And finally, the cosplayers. Even on a Friday there was a lot to see!

There’s always a lot of Harley Quinns, but I gave this one high marks for carrying around what looked to be a really heavy hammer all day:

And of course you have your Deadpool:

I thought these two Disney princesses were not only well done, but a breath of fresh air.

I found out after this pic that She-Ra and Dredd here weren’t together, but I’d like to think that maybe they might find a C2E2 love crossover:

She-Hulk and her little Loki:

Thor here made a farting nose as I was taking this and made the Valkyrie laugh really hard. Wish I’d have been quicker on the camera to grab it.

But my favorite cosplay of the whole day was also probably the simplest:

So that’s it for this year. I wish I could’ve seen a panel or two, but I spent too much time tracking down a giant pink Kirby for my daughter. I’d promised myself I was going to get Felicia Day’s autograph too, but suspected I’d only be able to say “Felicia pretty” before looking at my feet and giggling.

Another great C2E2 and I can’t wait for next year!

Tag: 2013