Recap: Curls Studio's Year of 2020

I almost wasn't going to write about 2020, but after a week passing into 2021, I felt like it was still a year and some stuff happened, so it shouldn't be overlooked or ignored or acting like it never happened. As we all know, Coronavirus disease has globally affected our lives. Because of Covid-19, we were unable to attend any comic conventions. All the shows we were expected to be at were canceled. Curls Studio usually spends about 16-20 days a year behind a table, plus several appearance at schools and other events.

The year started off well with a successful Blue Rose hard enamel pin Kickstarter as part of their Make 100 incentive. The project went so well that we had pledges for all 100 pins and started a 2.0 version of the same design with a different colorway. The project ended up surpassing my goal and becoming 516% funded. If you are interested, I still have Blue Rose 2.0 pins available for purchase in the store.

In February I designed typography and animated film titles for the Joe Carabeo film, DELETE.

The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, CA asked me to contribute original art for "A Boy and His Tiger: A Tribute to Bill Watterson" as homage to Bill Watterson and his comic strip creation Calvin and Hobbes.

By the time March came around, we were under lockdown and outlook didn't look good for any of the upcoming events and conventions. So on March 21, 2020 I quickly started #CarolynsCreativeChallenge to encourage everyone to be creative at home using everyday supplies and materials. I did over 50 days of prompted projects including sock puppets, a fizzy lemonade recipe, creating a comic strip, cut paper, food necklaces, toilet paper roll character designs, melting crayons, marbleizing paper, food art, and many more. You can still join in the activities anytime at www.carolynbelefski.com/ccc.

A big disappointment this year is missing out on having an in-person National Cartoonists Society Reuben Awards weekend. I was organizing cartoonist appearances at the children's hospital in Kansas City, MO and had a lot of fun stuff planned, including a printed NCS Activity Book to debut at the hospital event. Because this was unable to happen in-person this year, the NCS Activity Book became pay-what-you-can downloadable PDF to raise money for future events. I organized 50 artists to each contribute a page (mazes, search & find, connect the dots, tic-tac-toe, spot the difference, word search, crossword, coloring and drawing games, and more) to the book and worked on the phone with Sergio Aragonés for the cover, which he asked me to color. I had a great time conceiving and producing the Activity Book for the NCS.

The closest thing to events in 2020 were three virtual programs I was asked to be a part of. On Astray Live "We Make Movies" I talked about designing film titles, Baltimore Comic-Con asked me to do "Creative Crafts Challenges" on the Kids Love Comics channel, and WOM CON was a one-day WOMen run comics pop-up where I shared a glimpse of my studio and process.

2020 was year unlike any other! A year we might not want to remember, but will never forget. For me, like so many others, a big change is working from home -- new routines, keeping a balance, maintaining health, and lowering certain expectations.

I've already started 2021 with a new Kickstarter, raising funds to produce at least 100 Banana Bandanas -- which I will post about in the next blog entry. Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2021!

National Cartoonists Society Activity Book

Introducing the NCS Activity Book! The history of this project is that at the Chapter Chairs Meeting in May 2019 at Huntington Beach, CA I presented the idea to have an Activity Book and the reaction was, "Well then why don't you produce it?" At that point it became a personal mission to gather the best cartoonists with children's focused content. Originally this was going to be a printed book that the NCS would have debuted at the children's hospital visit I was organizing for this year's Reubens Weekend in Kansas City, MO. 

Of course, like mostly everything in 2020, the event was canceled due to Covid-19. The plan was after the hospital event we'd have it available for schools, libraries, book signings, future children’s hospital visits, etc. Instead, NCS has now made it available as a PDF that anyone can download and print out (hopefully we will eventually have a printed version). We are suggesting a donation of any amount you choose for the book, all the proceeds of which will go to the National Cartoonist Society Foundation, the charitable arm of the NCS, to help fund future “Cartooning for Kids” event programming.

One of the cool things for me is working with Sergio Aragonés during several chats over the phone and him asking me to color the cover. I also got to design the masthead, communicate directly with over fifty contributors, and create a page featuring my Curls characters! Huge thanks to everyone involved and the cartoonists for donating their time and skills to come up with original page material.

The all-ages book is 50 pages of puzzles and activities, all of which are done “coloring book” style so kids can both do the activity and color the pages. Inside you’ll find art by some of the biggest names in cartooning. If you are in need of some stay-at-home summer fun, pledge what you can for a PDF download by visiting www.nationalcartoonists.com/product/ncs-activity-book.

If you are looking for other fun activities to do this summer, check out

#CarolynsCreativeChallenge for projects in comics, cooking, crafts, sculpture, design, drawing, and more art to enhance your brain at www.carolynbelefski.com/ccc.