Recap: Curls Studio's Year of 2015

2015 has been an excellent year for Curls Studio creators Joe Carabeo and Carolyn Belefski, so we decided to celebrate with a year-in-review recap blog post!

One of the major events that happened to Carolyn this year is that she had the opportunity to draw cartoons for The White House. The White House Office of Digital Strategy approached Carolyn with the concept of creating health care comics for the Affordable Care Act. First Lady Michelle Obama posted one of the comics on her Instagram and Twitter accounts and it received over 16,000 likes on Instagram in less than a day. Carolyn’s #GetCovered comic series was covered by several news outlets including The Washington Post, CBR, The Blaze, The Patriot Post, ComicsDC, and more.

Carolyn also launched her first Kickstarter campaign and it was a success! We were able to publish a book of every Curls comic strip ever created. Thanks to our awesome backers for pledging to make this project come to life. If you missed out on the Kickstarter, you can still purchase the Curls book from the store at carolynbelefski.com.

RISE: Comics Against Bullying (Northwest Press) published a story Carolyn illustrated, written by Amber Love. "Left Behind" and is a bittersweet tale about what happened after a young woman had unclothed pictures of herself circulated through school. It’s about her mother, former friend, and dog trying to move on living life without her.

We made a total of 13 live event appearances this year. Early in the year we did a presentation to kids at Stone Branch School of Art. Then we exhibited at Smudge in Arlington, Virginia. We traveled to Pittsburgh for Indy Comic Expo and the New Jersey Meadowlands for East Coast Comicon. We also exhibited at Creator Con in Maryland. We celebrated Free Comic Book Day at our local store and hit up major conventions including Awesome Con in DC, Small Press Expo, Baltimore Comic-Con, and  New York Comic Con.

Because of media attention from The White House comics and my Curls Kickstarter campaign, several outlets wanted to do profiles on me. VCUarts Newsletter and Northern Virginia Magazine (Best of NOVA issue) both did print articles on the news and featured my artwork.

Carolyn was also a runner-up for the third year in a row for Best Visual Artist in Washington City Paper's 2015 Best of D.C. Reader Poll.

Curls Studio exhibited our Black Magic Tales comics at the cARToons exhibit at Politics and Prose in Washington, DC. Carolyn sold a Curls print from that art show to someone visiting from Beijing! Even with the Curls Kickstarter rewards -- Iceland, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Luxembourg... Curls has gone further than we've physically gone for sure!

Black Magic Tales was published in Magic Bullet, Washington, DC's comics anthology. Issues #10 and #11 were released this year.

During New York Comic Con, we recorded a Carolyn and Joe Show podcast from the Wyndham New Yorker hotel room we stayed at. We had an electrifying conversation about Nikola Tesla while staying in the actual room that Tesla lived in for ten years until his death in that very room!

Carolyn and Joe Show participated at the inaugural DC PodFest and did a live show with a special guest -- you may remember him from WrestleMania 30 -- Shocked Undertaker Guy, Ellis Mbeh!

On Halloween, Carolyn organized the third annual Cartoonists Draw Blood drive with Troy-Jeffrey Allen. Donors gave blood to the American Red Cross and then the Washington, DC chapter of National Cartoonists Society and other local cartoonists drew for the donors as a "thank you." The event was a success and we saved many lives. We already have a date confirmed for next year -- it's Saturday, October 29, 2016.

So much has happened this year and we've been busy. We hope to create more for you in 2016 and all the years to come!

Happy New Year from Curls Studio!

Profiled in VCUarts 2015 Spring Newsletter

The VCUarts Studio Spring 2015 newsletter recently profiled me for the comics I created for The White House's #GetCovered social media campaign. VCUarts is a publication Virginia Commonwealth University mails out to all art graduates and current students.

I was interviewed for this article a few months ago, soon after I launched my Kickstarter campaign to print all the Curls comic strips in one book, so it does mention the Kickstarter, however the campaign was fast over by the time the newsletter arrived in my mailbox. Either way, I'm glad the Kickstarter has been a success and I'm glad they mentioned Curls and my other projects in addition to all the press The White House comics has received.

Thanks to VCU and The White House again for this opportunity!

Comics for The White House Media Coverage

Thanks to The Washington Post Comic Riffs for reporting about the comics I created with The White House for HealthCare.gov. I'm receiving notes from many people telling me how wonderfully written the article is and I've passed the info on to Michael Cavna.

Thank you so much to The White House again for this opportunity and The Washington Post, as well as other media outlets who have posted about the comics. Below is a listing of all the articles I aware of. I've also been getting a ton of support on my Facebook page. Many people are excited and happy about these comics.

You can read the stories here:

The Washington Post | White House comics? How cartoonist Carolyn Belefski got an unexpected booster shot-in-the-arm from HealthCare.gov

by Michael Cavna

Fusion | Cartooning for the White House: A chat with the artist behind the #GetCovered comics

by Jen Sorensen

CBR | White House uses comic reminders about Obamacare deadline

by Kevin Melrose

The Blaze | These Cartoons are the White House’s Latest Effort to Make Obamacare Seem Cool

by Fred Lucas

The Patriot Post | White House Resorts to Childish Cartoons to Promote O'Care

CBR | Comics A.M. | Creators

by Brigid Alverson

Fusion | Going Viral | Obama hopes a selfie stick will get more young people signed up for healthcare
by Abby Rogers

The Making of Carolyn Belefski's White House Cartoons

A lot of people have been asking about the work I recently did for The White House, which was released this week on their social media platforms. Since I posted process and the concept sketch of the comic book cover I did for Cartoon Network's Adventure Time comic this past summer, I thought many artists and creative types would get a kick out of this project showcasing the Affordable Care Act. I enjoy seeing behind-the-scenes, but the final product is always what the public will see. Here you will get a glimpse behind the curtain.

The White House Office of Digital Strategy approached me with the concept of creating health care comics. They provided the personas (athletic, hipster, caregiver, etc.) and I developed sketches of the character designs for approval. Above you will see the first and only attempt of the character designs. Stage one complete!

At this time I also provided three layout options on how tell the story best on social media. The White House provided me with dimensions that were possible for the project. As you can see in the top right, we selected the character head in the center and the text surrounding that area so it would not get cropped on certain sites (like Twitter) in preview. 

To clarify, yes, it would get cropped, but the text would not get cut off. The image above shows how we considered how the crop would look like. This was the first one I completed, and once that was approved, I completed the other comics for each character. They provided me with a script and did allow me to contribute to the story. It was a total collaboration!

I must also correct myself, in an interview with Jen Sorensen posted earlier today, I mentioned there were no art edits, but I was mistaken because I remembered (while writing this blog) that there was one change. I originally drew the guy at the gym working out without a shirt and showing his nipples. They asked me not to show the nipples in the preview section (area viewed in social, the non black area above), but I decided to put a shirt on him instead of redrawing the whole image. I only had to erase the nipples, add sleeves, and color in the shirt in Photoshop. This change only took five minutes and was easier to do than redraw the whole panel. Work smarter, not harder! Perhaps I forgot about this change because it didn't take long to alter. I would have liked to include the nipples because it's funny and I like to call them pepperonis, but I don't know if America can take another wardrobe malfunction. But hey, the Super Bowl is this Sunday so maybe Katy Perry is planning to stun us.

Regarding color palette we agreed to have a minimal flat color look and I selected the colors. After the first one was approved, I hit the ground running with the same look and colors to make each comic connect and work together as a system.

Yesterday First Lady posted the athletic cartoon I illustrated for ‪#‎GetCovered‬ on her Instagram and Twitter accounts. Right now it has received 16,041 likes on Instagram. It feels good to have Michelle Obama and the rest of the world see my art. 

I know the health care debate is rough from all angles. Because of these illustrations, I've read people's comments calling me a sell out and telling me how to draw. I've also seen other media sites say this is The White House's attempt to make Obamacare seem cool. I take that as a compliment because my cartoons are cool! Another site called it childish. I have some news for them: Cartoons can be all-ages. Adults can enjoy them too. You can be "grown-up" and contribute to society, read comics, watch animation, or draw. I pay my mortgage, car bill, buy groceries, and commute to work every day. I can enjoy cartoons. Don't call us childish. Call us childlike. There is a difference.

Another point I want to make is that I have worked for conservative and liberal clients. You may have conservative and liberal friends. Or friends who are environmental. Or libertarian. Or friends who like pizza crust or don't (for the record, I'm not friends with those people). I am an equal opportunity artist and I work with people who want to work with me.

Part of why I took this gig on was because I was extremely pleased that The White House was interested in publishing comics and trying something different. Reaching out to new audiences who are visual learners or experimenting with Instagram is not a bad thing. I know how politics work, but please -- attacking art as a medium is an all-time low. Anyone remember prehistoric cave paintings? This is history. Art is history.

I also took on this assignment because it is important to take care of yourself and know what your options are. I like how many of the characters in this series are aiming to be the best version of themselves they can be. The images showcase healthy eating and exercising, which are important to me. Taking care of yourself and your body shows self respect and I wish more Americans and humans overall showed that initiative.

Not all the comics have been posted on their social media accounts at this time, but you can view them all by visiting WhiteHouse.gov or by looking below. The caregiver cartoon has been animated and is on The White House Instagram account.

Thank you to The White House for this opportunity and thank you to so many people online who have "liked" and commented and reposted. If you enjoyed these cartoons, please read my comic strip Curls and the other fun things I create to make others smile. I really do enjoy being Cartoonist for America.

Available for Freelance Work
If you are interested in my illustration and/or design skills, please email Carolyn Belefski at info@curls-studio.com. View my portfolio: http://www.carolynbelefski.com