Comic Creator's Alliance 2011 Fundraising is JAN 11-24

Today, Tuesday, January 11th is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. In honor of the event, I teamed up with the Comic Creator’s Alliance–a group of over 100 comic book creators (both web and print!) who volunteered our artistic talents to raise money and awareness for this cause. You may not know it, but there are currently 27 million enslaved people worldwide- more than double the number of enslaved Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children every year are sold into slavery, most of it sexual. The US Department of Justice estimates 16,000 victims of human trafficking are brought into the United States every year. Unlike slavery in the 19th century, what is happening today is happening in secret. It won’t end until awareness is raised, and people like you and me take a stand.


So here’s what we did: each creator contributed an original drawing of one of our own female characters, and combined them into a single image! This year's theme was "The Brady Bunch." There is so much going on in this image--you can look at the wallpaper for a long time and still find something new! All of the artists included in the drive are amazing and some of the fan favorites are: Scott Sava (The Dreamland Chronicles), Adam Hughes (Star Wars, Wonder Woman), Sarah Ellerton (Inverloch), Bryan Glass & Victor Santos (Mice Templar), Beau Smith (Wynonna Earp: The Yeti Wars), Billy Tucci (Shi), Mookie (Dominic Deegan), Crystal Yates (Earthsong), Lora Innes (The Dreamer), Thom Zahler (Love and Capes), Alison Action (Bear Nuts), and Carolyn Belefski (Curls). View the full listing of contributors here: http://comicalliance.weebly.com/the-people.html.

Donate today to download this unique, once-in-a-lifetime wallpaper. Or, this year you can buy a print! The Donations Drive will last for two weeks, from January 11th – 24th. All proceeds will be split evenly between Love 146 and Gracehaven House- two organizations working on rehabilitation of victims and prevention of this crime.

To learn more about the CCA and to donate visit www.comicalliance.weebly.com. To learn more about the problem, visit http://love146.org/slavery. (Note: contains adult themes and actual accounts of sex slavery.)

CROQ Zine #12

CROQ Zine has published my comic, Foundation Year. The two-page comic is about my first year of school at Virginia Commonwealth University. I received my complementary copies in the mail today, but created the comic in 2008. They recently received funds thru Kickstarter to finally publish the issue in full color and it looks really good. CROQ is also donating many issues to libraries.

Here is the blog I wrote in 2008 about the project if you want to know more about the story: http://curls-studio.blogspot.com/2008/07/foundation-year.html

Thanks to everyone who donated via Kickstarter to make this project happen. It's good to see something you did come alive eventually. If you'd like to order CROQ #12, it is available for $5 with free shipping.

Recap and Podcast: You, Me, Them, Everybody LIVE!

The episode of You, Me, Them, Everybody that we recorded LIVE last Thursday, January 6 is now available here: http://www.youmethemeverybody.com/2011/01/07/episode-122-live-at-the-looking-glass-with

The show was really fun and I'm glad my friends Carlos, Janet and Liz showed up to witness the event. I just listened to the podcast and I must say I heard about 30% more than I actually heard in person. Which, as a guest, is kinda hard because I had trouble hearing in a noisy bar. So if some of my answers are lame, well, oh well. I might have done better if I could hear.

Otherwise, I just want to clarify that my answer to why we started The Carolyn & Joe Show wasn't 100% correct. We will probably hit on it in a future episode, but I just want to mention that we had a few shows on WEBR before I ever heard of Kevin Smith's SModcast. So my answer was a bit wrong or perhaps I heard it as what were influences? Either way, I want to clarify that.


There are more photos of the show on our Facebook Fan Page. "Like" Curls Studio while you're at it.

So without further ado, please listen to YMTE. I come in around 7:27. Host Brandon Wetherbee is really fun and we hope to do some more stuff with him in the future.

Episode 122, You, Me, Them, Everybody Live! at the Looking Glass with Carolyn Belefski, Jeff Maurer and Armida Lowe

The first of the year! It's in the books. The audio books! People listen to those.

Carolyn Belefski is a wonderful cartoonist. You can see her work at curls-studio.com. She is also a fellow podcaster. You can listen to her podcast, The Carolyn and Joe Show, at carolynandjoeshow.wordpress.com. I couldn't have had a better first guest of 2011.

Jeff Maurer is really funny and nice and took a lot of abuse from me. He's currently opening for Jon Oliver, the funny British fellow on "The Daily Show", this weekend (1/7 and 8/11) at the DC Improv. If you like, you know, good comedy, you'll like Mr. Maurer. You can find him on your internet machine at jeffcomedy.com. He has an album you may like. It's called "Smart Setups, Stupid Punchlines". Buy it via amazon regardless of your financial status.

Armida Lowe is leaving DC! Why? I'm not exactly sure! Listen to her last DC interview (probably) and last DC set (probably) on this very show! Visit Armida on myspace (Did you know it's a place for friends? Well, it sure is!).

One of the loudest, tangent filled shows! Enjoi!

Carolyn on You, Me, Them, Everybody LIVE!

To kick off 2011, my first public appearance will be as a guest on the talk show You, Me, Them, Everybody LIVE! this Thursday, January 6.

You are invited to join the live taping of this podcast hosted by Brandon Wetherbee. Guests include cartoonist Carolyn Belefski, stand up comedian Jeff Maurer, a special set from Armida Lowe, music from Ian Walters and more.

The Looking Glass Lounge
3634 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, DC

Show at 8:30 PM, 21+, no cover

For more info on You, Me, Them, Everybody check out this review from Time Out Chicago.

Recap: Curls Studio's Year of 2010

Today is the last day of the year 2010. This past year has been the busiest year I've had in my life. A lot of things happened to me professionally and personally. All the activities we've done with Curls Studio are no exception, as we've kept pushing harder with our creations. We also had 13 tour stops this year, with a total of 18 days dedicated "behind the table." Below is our 2010 tour schedule with links to event recaps and/or photos to each event, so you can click to read all about the events.

2010 TOUR

MAY 2 • DC Comicon
MAY 23 • Handmade Mart
AUG 8 • Philadelphia Alternative Comic Con
AUG 28-29 • Baltimore Comic-Con
SEP 11-12 • Small Press Expo
OCT 2 • Crafty Bastards
OCT 3 • Capicons Comic Book & Pop Culture Con
OCT 8-10 • New York Comic Con
OCT 16-17 • Pittsburgh Indy Comics Expo
OCT 24 • DC Counter Culture Festival
NOV 17 • In Between The Panels: DC's Emergence on the Graphic Novel Scene
NOV 21 • Holiday Heist
DEC 19 • Rock-n-Shop

In addition to listing appearances, I'd thought it would also be nice to recap specific projects of 2010.

I kicked off January with Sketch Before Sleep, where I've been doing a digital sketch everyday with a tablet. I am happy that I will soon have 365 sketches and it is such a landmark look back on all those sketches. In February, I used social media more and ran the first Curls Twitter Contest. Much of March, April and May was spent working on my design career. In June, I was selected to attend the AIGA Leadership Retreat in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was really exciting and exhausting to go from our AIGA DC AIGA 50 exhibit one evening then catch a flight the next morning to take part in a jam packed weekend full of meeting design professionals from across the country. July was probably the most relaxing month of the year... I still remember working, but we did enjoy ourselves by catching The Dead Weather at 9:30 Club. In August, we premiered the trade paperback Black Magic Tales, Volume 1: The Adventures of Roxy & Dean, World Famous Criminals at Baltimore Comic-Con. Our comic Black Magic Tales: Reunion was published in Washington DC's Comics Newspaper, Magic Bullet. September was a handful! We premiered our first Comic Anthology, Carnival, at SPX and I was interviewed for Washington City Paper. I was also nominated for a Lulu Award in the category of "Kim Yale Award for Most Talented Newcomer." Although I did not win, it was awesome to be recognized for my comics. October kept pounding the punches with a tour date almost every weekend! We went to DC, New York and Pittsburgh. At New York Comic Con, we were interviewed by Derek Gordon and also organized a panel called "The Other Side of the Table: Lessons from Creators." It was fun to see James Franco and M. Night Shyamalan at NYCC. October also included a handful of freelance design and illustration projects including illustrations for National Geographic's Great Migrations. In November I was asked to take part in another panel, this one presented by the Women’s National Book Association. I also got to have fun as a guest blogger for Jimmy Palmiotti's Sexy Monday. As 2010 came to a halt, we took part in two holiday shows. December included a storyline in the Curls Webcomic with Curls receiving a Clive Owen and Keith Urban GPS for christmas. Washington City Paper also asked me to select my favorite Curls comics for the year.

I hope you enjoyed all the activities Curls Studio has done this year. I have received a handful of emails or DMs from people thanking me for my sketches everyday, which is very nice to receive. I hope 2011 is an even more accomplished year as I hope to continue progressing and creating.

Thank you to everyone who ever smiled at a Curls Webcomic, reposted any of our work online, told a friend about us, purchased any of our products, came by our table to say hi or supported us in other ways. We truly appreciate all of the recognition and enjoyment.

Curls Studio loves making people happy. Happy 2011 to everyone.

Curls for Comic Creator's Alliance 2011

In January, I'll be taking part in a fundraiser event called the Comic Creators Alliance: Fighting Together to End Human Trafficking. Last year 87 comic creators united to create one desktop wallpaper image featuring all their different characters, and together raised $10,000 for the purpose of fighting Human Trafficking! I've been asked to take part this year, so I'll be adding Curls to the wallpaper along side everyone else.


This year, instead of doing full body shots (last year's Curls contribution to CCA), we're going to be drawing busts "Brady Bunch" style. The wallpaper will feature all creator-owned female characters with the characters looking around at one of the other squares, or making a silly face. My contribution of Curls is above!

What is Human Trafficking? Human Trafficking is a sanitized term for slavery. There are over 27 million people enslaved in the world today, and most if it is young girls being sold into forced prostitution--both over seas and yes, in the United States. In the United States there are only 39 beds at facilities for victims in the entire nation--and at least 16,000 people being trafficked into the US from other countries each year! Not to count the domestic victims already living here.

The money that the CCA raised last year was split between two organizations, one global--Love 146, and a local shelter trying to get up and running--Gracehaven in Ohio. (Toledo, Ohio is one of the largest trafficking hubs in the U.S.) Both organizations were able to expand their particular fights against this heinous problem in 2010. Love 146 is setting up Task Forces around America, local groups of concerned citizens bringing the fight and awareness to their own corners of the nation. Internationally, Love 146 set up the Cambodia Border Officers Project . This is total prevention: officers patrol the border crossing, looking for possible victims and the kids they rescue will never know the horrors they might have. Gracehaven used our funds in the ongoing renovations that are necessary to bring the house up to code--plumbing and air conditioning were installed, along with two new bathrooms. They hope to be up and running soon but must first have six months of operating expenses in the bank. They are currently at one fifth of their goal--let's see what we can do to help them!

If you're a creator and would like to participate, the deadline for contributions is December 31st, 2010. Email ComicCreatorsAlliance@gmail.com to be added to the list. And the Donations Drive goes live January 11th on National Human Trafficking Awareness Day and will last for two weeks. See you then!

Washington City Paper: The Year 2010 in Cartoons

Mike Rhode posted his "Year in Cartoons" for Washington City Paper. He writes:

Other papers may pick what they think were the best cartoons of the year. Here at the City Paper, we're doing it differently. We've asked some local cartoonists to pick their favorite piece that they made over the past year and share it with us.

David Hagen, Steven Artley, Michael Cavna, Donna Lewis, Carolyn Belefski, Nick Galifianakis, Kevin 'Kal' Kallagher, Ann Telnaes, Molly Lawless, Matt Dembicki, Joe Sutliff, Richard Thompson and Matt Wuerker are all featured.


Read the full article here: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/books/2010/12/27/arts-in-review-the-year-in-cartoons