This blog began in June as a sort of trial balloon with the intention of highlighting the many accomplishments of KU’s illustration concentration. There is a myth, repeat myth, that KU is shutting down illustration. The roots of this misconception may be due to the reduced footprint of illustration in the new Sharadin building. But we have had some significant accomplishments in the illustration area in the new Sharadin, including the Brad Holland Exhibition. This was the first one-person illustration exhibition in Sharadin in over 25 years! This year we also had The Dornish Collection Exhibition of children’s book illustration, which broke all records for gallery attendance. We also hosted three exceptional visiting artists illustrators in 2010, Bret Helquist, Peter Kuper, and Megan Halsey. We look forward to Caldecott winner Jerry Pinkney‘s visit in April.
The future looks bright. Enrollment in upper level illustration classes is up at Kutztown University. Applications for CD are higher than ever, and there is a lot of talent headed our way. Spread the word.
A special thank you to Prof. Denise Bolser. She wrote two blog posts this year, and one on advice for illustrators is among our most popular and practical, See link below.
The folks at WordPress sent me stats and a chart for the first year of Illustration Concentration Blog :
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.
Crunchy numbers
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 5,800 times in 2010. That’s about 14 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 33 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 111 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 24mb. That’s about 2 pictures per week.
The busiest day of the year was December 4th with 152 views. The most popular post that day was What’s SpongeBob Really Like?.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, kutztown.edu, faculty.kutztown.edu, mail.yahoo.com, and twitter.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for spongebob, spongebob pictures, sponge bob, renee french, and tom whalen.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
What’s SpongeBob Really Like? November 2010
Every Picture Tells a Story -The Dornish Collection October 2010
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The Sketchbook Project July 2010
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Fan Art: Works for Tom Whalen July 2010
Making it as an Illustrator by Denise Bosler September 2010
Illustration Concentration 