Happy New Year! Here's Who You Are...

Just as 2011 was drawing to a close, this blog crossed a new threshold: there are now over 3,000 followers of Today's Inspiration. Happy New Year to all of you!



And many thanks for your interest and participation in this ongoing research project into/appreciation of mid-century illustration, which I began in late 2005.



In the past I've used the new year as an opportunity to ask "who are you?"... this year I thought instead I'd tell you a little about "who you are."

Beside the 3,000 people who choose to be official followers of this blog, nearly 7,000 of you receive TI via RSS feeds.



As well, about 1,200 of you have signed up for the "daily scan" (sorry that its not always daily anymore... my teaching job often overwhelms my schedule). Its because of the daily scan subscriber list, by way of your names, that I have the clearest picture of who you are. Your names, which I often recognize, or the contact info in your email signature tell me a lot about what kind of people share my interest in illustration from "the last golden age".

I often marvel at what a diverse crowd - both in age range and by profession - you are.

There are hundreds of illustrators, designers, art directors, creative directors and copy writers, journalists and editors, cartoonists, animators, comic book artists and fine artists on the TI mailing list. There are also many (dozens) of educators who teach secondary and post-secondary arts courses. Hundreds of graphic and fine arts students also subscribe to TI. There are also many professionals in a wide range of fields to diverse to list. And lets not forget gallery owners and museum curators, as well as nostalgia collectors and dealers. Then there are just those folks who have a fondness for the period we feature on TI. There are an awful lot of you as well, and I'm grateful to you all for your continuing support and enthusiasm - thank you!

There are easily as many females as males who enjoy Today's Inspiration - and you come from all over the world. Here's a snapshot of site traffic from yesterday morning:







You are busy people. The average visitor to Today's Inspiration stays for only a couple of minutes...



... but your interest level in the content here is quite involved. Most readers view at least two pages, which means you typically look at around ten posts - or two weeks worth of material.



Connected to this blog are visitors who used a variety of social media platforms and tools. Nearly 2,000 people follow our tweets on Twitter (and often retweet them - many thanks!)...



A remarkably similar number follow on Google Plus...



Our posts and single images are regularly reshared by many folks who use Facebook and Tumblr and we are linked to over a hundred blogs and websites. Many thanks to everyone who helps spread the word about Today's Inspiration - I really appreciate your generosity and support!

The 'other half' of Today's Inspiration is on Flickr, where TI's image archive, currently standing at over 11,000 scans, has been viewed more than ten million times - wow! Here some interesting statistics reveal who you are.



Not surprisingly, two of the top three images viewed in the archive feature pin-up style art. As of January 1, 2012 this Coke ad by Haddon Sundblom has been viewed 9,025 times.



This 1952 pin-up calendar page by Ward Brackett has been viewed more than eleven and a half thousand times.



But the number one viewed image of all time in my Flickr archives remains the great "mystery of the ages" ...



This page from an issue of Famous Artists School magazine, a page from an article in which Al Parker describes his illustration workflow, has been viewed over 22,000 times (7 times already this morning as I write this!) and I have absolutely no idea why (Flickr does not provide enough data about viewers to allow me to track back where these daily visitors are coming from).



Returning to the blog, here's what Sitemeter predicts about your visits for the year ahead:



I'm looking forward to sharing more visual inspiration with you in 2012 - and whatever new information I'm able to discover about the art and artists of the mid-20th century. To all of you who share my passion for this material - whoever you are - Happy New Year!