Visit to Pleasant Plains Workshop

What happens when Fire meets Curls? A couple Saturdays ago, Joe and I swinged by Pleasant Plains Workshop to visit my fellow AIGA DC board member, Anthony Dihle from Fire Studio and check out his workspace. Pleasant Plains Workshop is studio space with a storefront that features works by its resident artists along with a rotating lineup of works and projects by other DC-based artists and designers.


Anthony designs and screen prints concert posters for many bands and events in the DC area. You may remember he did this poster for Rock-n-Shop at the Black Cat. We also got to meet Kristina Bilonick, who shares the studio with Anthony. They gave us a tour of the space and we got to see their storefront gallery.


Now you can Meet Anthony too! AIGA-GMU is presenting Anthony this Thursday in their "Spotlight on DC Design" series. The event is free, so stop by SoA Room 1007 4400 University Drive in Fairfax, VA from 7:30PM to 8:30PM.

Curls "Out Loud" Product Packaging Poll

In case you didn't know, I have a webcomic called Curls that's updated every Monday and Thursday. I usually do not post Curls strips on this production blog, but since today's strip has a poll in it, I figured it would be a good idea to let more people know about it on this site as well. Be sure to read Curls every Monday and Thursday at this site: http://www.curls-studio.com/curls

CURLS POLL: Crisspix Crackers, Hot Timbers, Fluff Muffs, or Honky Tonkers? What ARE those? Vote which product packaging would you like me to draw below (scroll down to click "done" to complete vote) and I will draw the product with the most votes by the end on the day on Monday, February 28, 2011 and post the winning product illustration on Tuesday, March 1, 2011.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

garmentDISTRICT presents Light It Up

Curls Studio is participating in LIGHT IT UP hosted by garmentDISTRICT opening today, February 18 from 6-10 PM at 1005 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC.


I created two original inked illustrations in 5" x 7" frames specifically for this event. The art shows Dean Casanova and Roxy Monroe with their cat, Black Magic. They are Curls Studio's creator-owned "Black Magic Tales" comic characters. The art is also marked in red with a "Roxy and Dean" one-of-a-kind stamp.

View the gallery and boutique featuring local designers with entertainment at the neighboring LUX Lounge tonight.

Hours of Operation - Boutique, Lounge, Sewing Room
Wednesday-Friday: 5-9 PM
Saturday: 12-9 PM
Sunday: 12-6 PM
Presidents Day, Monday 2/21: 12-9 PM

garmentDISTRICT: a temporary retail and art installation will be open February 18 thru March 20, 2011.

Carolyn Belefski - Artist Statement
My comic art is exciting and fun because it revolves around the creator-owned characters Curls Studio owns. I think and focus on their personalities, movements and what makes them who they are. The art represents the story and each illustration shows the viewer the character's attitude and reactions to the world around them.

One of my top goals is an artist is to entertain and make people happy. I set out to produce a reaction from the viewer and evoke the emotive qualities of the character. Many people these days are loosing touch with the qualities of being human, so I believe it is important for a viewer to feel something and experience a story thru my art.

Carolyn Belefski - Influences
Everything I have ever seen or experienced in life goes into what I create, however cartoon animation is a major influence on my comics style. I enjoy the work and creations of Chuck Jones, Vincent van Gogh, Marc Chagall, Walt Disney, Jeff Smith, Paul Reubens, Tim Burton, Bruce Timm, Jean Shepherd and many other storytellers.

Curls Facebook Avatar

Here's a Facebook avatar of my character, Curls. I got the idea from a fantastic designer named Ashley Hay and the article Jill Pantozzi wrote about her avatar creations on Newsarama.

Ashley has designed similar icons for Wolverine, Harley Quinn, Mario and more. Be sure to check out the article and see more of her work.

Feel free to use my Curls icon as your Facebook avatar to spread the love of the Curls Webcomic.

Oh and while you're logged into Facebook, be sure to "Like" the Curls Studio Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Curls-Studio/50763422380

Mount Pleasant Temporium

The Mount Pleasant Temporium is a temporary, pop-up retailer coming to Mount. Pleasant Street, NW for 24 consecutive days from February18 through March 13. The project, located at 3068 Mount Pleasant Street, NW, is part of the District’s new Temporary Urbanism initiative and features handmade goods for sale from 30 local, independent crafters and artists.


Curls Studio has three books for sale at Mount Pleasant Temporium.

Black Magic Tales 2 - Exclusive Interview $3
Black Magic Tales, Volume 1- The Adventures of Roxy and Dean, World Famous Criminals $10
Carnival Anthology $4

The Temporium’s special events schedule includes autobiographical and theatrical storytelling, crafting, book readings, and live music. All events are free and open to the public. Opening weekend includes a reception on Friday, February 18 from 7 PM to 9 PM.

Meet the Vendors: DC Comics Conspiracy

For more information, please visit: http://mtptemporium.com

Hourly Comic Day 2011

Less than 24 hours ago I did not know about Hourly Comic Day, but when I arrived at work and logged on to Twitter, many people were tweeting about it (hashtag: #hourlycomicday). Apparently every February 1st is Hourly Comic Day. From what I gather, participants are encouraged to do a comic every hour they are awake. I figured why not try it? Above are the 15 panels I did in 15 hours.

Note: The Hourly Comic is broken up into three parts. Please click on each to read and click on the image if you need to zoom in more.

In addition, today made me wonder - why do cartoonists do this to themselves? Cartooning can be very painful, yet people keep coming up with these challenges. Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoy them. I participated in 24 Hour Comics Day in 2008, which we did a full page every hour for 24 hours straight. If you didn't know this by now, cartoonists are crazy!

In all seriousness, this challenge was good because it got me to draw faster and just put it out there. It's not perfect and sometimes that makes my style more loose, which can be interesting. Also I don't even know if I did the challenge correctly. I did one panel every hour as opposed to a full three-panel comic. I don't know if there were any rules to this and I also saw a few online with one panel. Either way I did something today.

Let me know if you have a specific panel you like. I like 1PM and the way I drew my hat at 5PM. What do you like about my Hourly Comic?