So, it’s now 2025 and I am feeling a little like “Oh, where did 2024 go?” but I always feel that way at the end of the year, so what else is new? I had a very quiet end of the year mostly at home with my cat and my husband. Since I saw all my family for Thanksgiving, we didn’t gather again in December, which was quite all right with me. Sometimes a little quiet is very good for me and I traveled nearly every month of 2024, so I was very okay with not traveling in December.
Let’s talk about how the year 2024 went for Paper Thin Personas and my paper doll creations.
Four big things happened in 2024, two are sort of behind the scenes and two are fun paper doll projects that I got to work with other folks on. I rarely get to do that, so that was really nice.
Behind the Scenes Things:
- I got a new logo and color scheme, which I really like. (More about that here.)
- I got the site properly registered with Google Search Console (This is super backend, but was pretty easy once I realized what I needed to do and looking at my stats, I do think it made a difference.)
Fun Paper Doll Projects:
- I got to design the menus for the 2024 Paper Doll Convention in Indianapolis. It was so much fun. Really. The designs were cute and they came out beautifully, though I remember struggling for ideas for a while.
- My art was licensed by Colouring Heaven for their Paper Dolls issue 74 of their magazine. The magazine is available to order in a print version or a digital printable version. You can get it from newsstands in the UK, but since I don’t live there, I don’t know the details on that. I did get some copies for myself and I’ve been coloring them and they’re very fun.
Paper Thin Personas By the Numbers
So, according to Google Analytics, I got about a 50% increase year over year in visitors to Paper Thin Personas. Given that the site is held together with digital chewing gum, duct tape and string, this has strained all the things. I’m in contact with someone who I hope can fix up some things. So, that’s a 2025 problem to solve, but it is a good problem to have.
Over the course of 2024, I posted 56 times (mostly paper dolls), but there were some WIP posts and other things. I did 39 new paper doll posts and 12 exclusive posts for my Patrons.
I had 13 historical paper doll posts, 12 fantasy/sci-fi paper doll posts and 6 contemporary fashion posts.
I think my 1930s project and my current 1830s project skew the numbers a bit. All in all, I am super happy with these. I am very proud of the work I put together this year. Because 2024 was a very busy year for me professionally, I didn’t have nearly as much time to work on Paper Thin Personas as I had hoped. Most of the year, I felt “way behind”. Seeing these numbers makes me feel a little better about things.
So, what was popular this year? Let’s find out…
Top 5 Most Viewed Paper Dolls Created in 2024
- Valentine’s Day 2024 was my most popular paper doll this year. I’m very proud of her, so I am super happy you all like her too. Her wardrobe is mostly so impractical for where I live in Alaska.
- Fall Fashionista My niece helped me pick out colors for this paper doll, so I am super excited to see it on this list.
- Cut & Color Couture Series: A Steampunk Lady I wonder if this is on the list because it was popular, or because it was up for a long time without anything new being posted. Hard to say.
- Ensemble Eclectica: Specs & Posies Another one I think is very cute, so happy she was popular.
- Snowflake Sophistication: Winter Princess Paper Doll Also, one I love. I loved it so much, I sent it into Paper Doll Studio for their winter issue. Over the top princess gowns fill me with a strange sort of joy.
Top 5 of Posts in 2024 Over All
- Marisole Monday Modern Girl in Black and White remains the most popular post on the site by a huge margin with 13K views this year. It’s always the most popular post on the site, not idea why, but I strongly suspect it’s positioning on Google Image Search has everything to do with it’s popularity.
- Citrus Summer has impressively managed to push aside other contenders to slip right behind Modern Girl in popularity.
- Black and White Printable Paper Dolls…. Marisole Monday & Friends is a collection of three different black and white sets. Again, I have no idea why it remains so popular.
- Female Proportions for Drawing was a post I made for my own reference, but I am glad other people seem to find it helpful. It’s not very detailed, but it is popular.
- Calculating clothing combinations… is another one of my posts which always shows up in my top lists as I compile them. I have no idea why it shows up so often, but hey- a little algebra never hurt anyone. I think people use it for calculating packing for trips. I don’t think most people are using it to calculate paper doll statistics.
I really don’t think of the above list as being at all trust worthy. It rarely changes, honestly, these have beern the most popular posts on Paper Thin Personas for literally years. I debated even putting it out there, but who knows? Maybe someone finds it interesting.
Ever wondered something about Paper Thin Personas? Let me know in a comment. I’m always happy to answer questions and who knows? It might become another post.