2012 Review
Posted 04 Jan 2013
Lots of interesting things have happened in the world of Bible Cartoons last year, here’s my review…
1) Important Bible passages for me & BC this year:
Be Passionate About – ‘…I have…determined to do his will…’ Isaiah 50:7
Purpose – ‘My life is worth nothing…unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord.’ Acts 20:24
Lasting Success – ‘He who abides in Me…bears much fruit.’ John 15:5
You Need a ‘Word’ – ‘Your ears shall hear a word.’ Isaiah 30:21
Stay focussed – ‘…Let us strip off every weight that slows us down.’ Hebrews 12:1
God can turn your failure into success – ‘…Because you say so, I will…’ Luke 5:5 NIV
2) Vision pictures I’ve received from the Lord God this year:
05/January – Had a vision-dream about a whirlpool. I produced a coloured digital painting of the scene I saw, which you can see in the BC blog.
03/June – God was sitting next to me on one of those horse-drawn wooden wagons that are featured in cowboy films! It was a dream about obedience & choosing to follow where God leads me.
3) Interesting facts & Statistics for 2012
8th January we received our 100th customer, & on 31/December/2012 we received our 200th customer!
16th January – Got our first customer from Germany.
15th February – “Jonah, no ordinary fish tale” book loaded onto Amazon! I drew the cover artwork… never had a book on amazon before! ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0076ZSO6Y )
13th April – Got our first ever Danish customer.
8th May -Got our first customer from Singapore.
10th May – Started emailing USA churches, in states where we have not had any customers yet.
7th June – Got our first ever Indonesian customer.
27th June – Started drawing the Olympics sketches.
20th September – Supplied my Bible Cartoons Jonah video to a lady in Eastern states of Australia, who used it on a mission trip.
26th October – Got our first ever customer from Norway.
7th November – Cartooning Development: First time I created a cartoon (Matthew 02 – The Nativity – Scene 09 – Gifts) with more than one version. Colour version, Starlight version, Blue version.
19th December – We got our first ever customer from the Czech Republic.
31st December – Got our 200th customer – Praise the Lord!
The BC website received over 29,000 visits from January to December in 2012.
There were over 24,000 Unique visitors & over 143,000 Page views – wow!
4) BC website improvements made this year:
I’ve done a lot of work on the BC website this year.
23rd January – Added Customer Comments & Testimonials page to BC website. Added all the comments from facebook, email & flickr! from 2009 to present.
6th March – Tried to install an upgraded version of Content Management System, but I messed it up… the BC website was off-line for 3 days!
27th April – Major overhaul of the page on which visitors view the cartoons. New Gallery page template went live, with the Previous & Next arrow navigation.
11th May – Created new, slim buttons for the menu bar, to save some valuable space at the top of every page on the BC website.
21st May – Added a map showing the approximate location of our lovely customers. I make sure that we do not give the exact location away – as we value our customers privacy A LOT!
2nd July – My friend Dan fixed the Search function on BC website – hurray! It had been non-operational for several months.
25th Septemeber – Registered & bought: biblecartoons.net, biblecartoons.org, biblecartoons.biz, biblecartoons.info & biblecartoons.mobi
20th November – Added a slideshow to the BC website homepage.
10th December – Changed the landing page that has been used ever since the BC website went live. The old version showed 4 randomly selected cartoons. Now the landing page is identical to the homepage.
5) BC Merchandise designed & sold this year:
Easter Activity Book
Exodus Activity Book
7 different designs in the “…And you think you’re having a Bad Day!” series of mugs. Also created a one off “True Light” Christmas mug.
Created 3 new Christmas card designs.
6) Viewing figures
Most viewed Old Testament cartoon = Nehemiah 03 – Rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls (3779 viewings to 31/12/2012)
32 cartoons of the 98 OT cartoons currently drawn have been viewed over 1000 times.
of those, 11 cartoons of the 98 OT cartoons currently drawn have been viewed over 2000 times.
of those, 6 cartoons of the 98 OT cartoons currently drawn have been viewed over 3000 times.
Most viewed New Testament cartoon & most viewed Bible Cartoon ever! = Luke 15 – The Prodigal son – Scene 03 – With the pigs (6879 viewings to 31/12/2012)
56 cartoons of the 148 NT cartoons currently drawn have been viewed over 1000 times.
of those, 18 cartoons of the 148 NT cartoons currently drawn have been viewed over 2000 times.
of those, 6 cartoons of the 148 NT cartoons currently drawn have been viewed over 3000 times.
of those, 4 cartoons of the 148 NT cartoons currently drawn have been viewed over 4000 times.
of those, 3 cartoons of the 148 NT cartoons currently drawn have been viewed over 5000 times.
of those, 1 cartoon of the 148 NT cartoons currently drawn have been viewed over 6000 times.
7) Gospel Illustrations drawn this year:
I have only managed to draw 1 Gospel Illustration this year = Communion – Bread & Wine, drawn on 23/May/2012
8) Cartoons drawn this year:
I set out to draw 50 new Bible Cartoons in 2012. I actually managed to draw 59, finishing the last one with a dramatic screech of tyres & plume of smoke… a mere 7 hours before the end of 2012!
Here’s my breakdown of what cartoons I drew in each of the 4 quarters I divide my year up into:
First Quarter
16/01/2012 Exodus 14 – Parting of the Red Sea – Scene 07 – Move on
18/01/2012 Exodus 14 – Parting of the Red Sea – Scene 08 – Cloud
20/01/2012 Exodus 14 – Parting of the Red Sea – Scene 09 – Sea parts
24/01/2012 Exodus 14 – Parting of the Red Sea – Scene 11 – Confusion
26/01/2012 Exodus 14 – Parting of the Red Sea – Scene 12 – Sea returns
31/01/2012 Exodus 14 – Parting of the Red Sea – Scene 13 – Drowned
03/02/2012 Exodus 14 – Parting of the Red Sea – Scene 14 – Trust
10/02/2012 Matthew 03 – Jesus’ baptism – Scene 07 – Dove
29/02/2012 Matthew 04 – Temptation of Jesus – Scene 04 – Temple
02/03/2012 Matthew 04 – Temptation of Jesus – Scene 05 – Mountain
05/03/2012 Matthew 04 – Temptation of Jesus – Scene 06 – Angels
05/03/2012 Mark 15 – The Crucifixion – Scene 02 – Simon of Cyrene
08/03/2012 Matthew 04 – Temptation of Jesus – Scene 01 -Wilderness
09/03/2012 Matthew 04 – Temptation of Jesus – Scene 02 – Fasting
13/03/2012 Matthew 01 – The Nativity – Scene 04 – Jesus’ birth
13/03/2012 Matthew 01 – The Nativity – Scene 0a – Just a stable?
20/03/2012 Mark 15 – Trial of Jesus – Scene 06 – Barabbas released
21/02/2012 Matthew 04 – Temptation of Jesus – Scene 03 – Stones
26/03/2012 Mark 15 – Trial of Jesus – Scene 07 – Jesus flogged
27/03/2012 Mark 15 – Trial of Jesus – Scene 08 – Thorns & abuse
30/03/2012 Mark 15 – The Crucifixion – Scene 05 – Sign board
Second Quarter
09/05/2012 Mark 15 – The Crucifixion – Scene 04 – Soldiers gambling
14/05/2012 Leviticus 16 – The Scapegoat
17/05/2012 Ruth 01 – In Moab – Scene 05 – Ruth determined
29/05/2012 Deuteronomy 1 – Scene 05 – Spies in Eshcol (dappled lighting)
29/05/2012 Deuteronomy 1 – Scene 05 – Spies in Eshcol (simple lighting)
11/06/2012 2 Samuel 6 – The Ark brought to Jerusalem – Scene 05 – David dances
15/06/2012 2 Kings 2 – Elijah taken into heaven – Scene 06 – Chariot of fire
22/06/2012 Matthew 07 – Wise & foolish builders – Scene 01 – Digging foundations
22/06/2012 Matthew 07 – Wise & foolish builders – Scene 02 – Building
22/06/2012 Matthew 07 – Wise & foolish builders – Scene 03 – Foolish Builder finished
23/06/2012 Matthew 07 – Wise & foolish builders – Scene 04 – Storm approaching
26/06/2012 Matthew 07 – Wise & foolish builders – Scene 05 – Swept away
26/06/2012 Matthew 07 – Wise & foolish builders – Scene 06 – Standing on the rock
Third Quarter
05/07/2012 Hebrews 12 – Throw off sin entanglements in the race
13/07/2012 1 Chronicles 10 – King Saul takes his life – Scene 01 – Fierce fighting
18/07/2012 2 Chronicles 9 – Queen of Sheba – Scene 01 – Great caravan
27/07/2012 Ezra 3 – Rebuilding the Temple – Scene 04 – Foundation and tears
30/07/2012 Psalm 119 – Torch Bearer [Olympics]
02/08/2012 Romans 02 – God’s Righteous Judgement – Scene 01 – Passing judgement
10/09/2012 Philippians 2 – Imitating Christ’s Humility
17/09/2012 Matthew 19 – The rich young man – Scene 03 – Camel
20/09/2012 Matthew 18 – Lost sheep parable – Scene 01 – Sheep pen
24/09/2012 Matthew 18 – Lost sheep parable – Scene 02 – Searching
24/09/2012 Matthew 18 – Lost sheep parable – Scene 03 – Found
29/09/2012 Matthew 18 – Lost sheep parable – Scene 04 – Cherished
29/09/2012 Matthew 18 – Lost sheep parable – Scene 05 – Return home
Fourth Quarter
19/10/2012 Matthew 02 – The Nativity – Scene 06 – King Herod’s meeting
24/10/2012 Matthew 02 – The Nativity – Scene 08 – The star
07/11/2012 Matthew 02 – The Nativity – Scene 09 – Gifts (Colour versions)
07/11/2012 Matthew 02 – The Nativity – Scene 09 – Gifts (Starlight versions)
07/11/2012 Matthew 02 – The Nativity – Scene 09 – Gifts (Blue versions)
15/11/2012 Matthew 02 – The Nativity – Scene 10 – Wise men return home
19/11/2012 Matthew 02 – The Nativity – Scene 11 – Joseph’s Dream
28/11/2012 Matthew 02 – The Nativity – Scene 12 – Flight to Egypt (Colour version)
28/11/2012 Matthew 02 – The Nativity – Scene 12 – Flight to Egypt (Night version)
10/12/2012 Matthew 02 – The Nativity – Scene 13 – Infants murdered
05/12/2012 Matthew 02 – The Nativity – Scene 14 – Return to Israel (Colour version)
05/12/2012 Matthew 02 – The Nativity – Scene 14 – Return to Israel (Gold version)
13/12/2012 Matthew 02 – The Nativity – Scene 15 – Nazareth in Galilee
17/12/2012 1 Samuel 17 – David & Goliath – Scene 05 – David and the lion
18/12/2012 1 Samuel 17 – David & Goliath – Scene 06 – David practising
19/12/2012 1 Samuel 17 – David & Goliath – Scene 03 – Goliath boasts [in the valley of Elah]
Conclusion
So there you have it, my review of 2012. It has been an interesting, trying, frustrating, amazing, humbling, brilliant year of my life. I still really love to be involved with the Bible Cartoons Project. I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing with my life. I love the creativity & the fact that I am serving both the Lord & people all over the world is excellent. I love hearing from customers who have used my cartoons for in their churches & ministries. That really helps me to realise that my work makes a different & positive contribution to so many people.
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