New York Comic Con 2021

New York Comic Con returns this week (October 7-10, 2021) at Javits Center located at 429 11th Avenue in NYC. New York Comic Con is the East Coast's largest pop culture convention and the only one that takes place in the comic book, publishing, media, and licensing capital of the world — Gotham City. 

Carolyn Belefski and Joe Carabeo (Curls Studio) will be at Booth #2823 all four days with Francis Bonnet (Suburban Fairy Tales). The location is near Bandai Namco on show floor level 3. 

Carolyn Belefski will be signing nearby at National Cartoonists Society Booth #2928 this Thursday and Friday 1-4PM. 

Show Floor Hours 

Thursday: 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM 

Friday: 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM 

Saturday: 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM 

Sunday: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM 

 Hope to see you soon in the city that never sleeps!

2021 Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC) -- Expo and Discord Stream

I'm proud to be selected to be a part of Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC) for the first time, even if it's a virtual appearance this year. CXC is based in Columbus, Ohio and is all about making connections between people with a passion for the art of cartoons -- a comics, art, and animation festival. The event is founded by curator of The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, Lucy Shelton Caswell -- along with the husband and wife team behind Cartoon Books, Columbus native Jeff Smith (Bone) and his wife Vijaya Iyer. 

This year's event lasts four days (September 30 - October 3, 2021) and is a combination of in-person and online events. I'm part of the Expo (curated online marketplace) and I'll be doing a Discord meet-up on Saturday, October 2, 2021 from 8:00 to 8:30 PM EST. Hope you can spend part of your Saturday evening with me! 

The CXC Discord server is where you can interact with CXC Exhibitors and participate in demos, live drawing sessions, and gameful cartooning events.

Join the Discord server here: http://cartooncrossroadscolumbus.org/discord

New to Discord? Read about it here: https://discord.com/why-discord-is-different

Look for the Exhibitors Showcase channel to watch the video, and use the #discussion channel to interact live!

Don’t want to use Discord? Watch this event on the CXC Discord public stream: https://www.twitch.tv/cxcfestival_discord

Carolyn Belefski Discord Stream: https://www.cartooncrossroadscolumbus.org/?session=carolyn-belefski-discord-stream

CXC Expo: https://www.cartooncrossroadscolumbus.org/?page_id=3708

Exhibition Book "A Boy and His Tiger: A Tribute to Bill Watterson"

Here is a photo of the "A Boy and His Tiger: A Tribute to Bill Watterson" exhibition book. Thanks to the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, California for inviting me to contribute original art that went up for auction last year to raise money for the museum (along with Patrick McDonnell, Lynn Johnston, Steve Martin, Harry Bliss, Mo Willems, Dana Simpson, and more). The full color exhibition catalog is available for $24.99 here: https://www.cartoonart.org/store.

In other Cartoon Art Museum news... John Oliver’s show Last Week Tonight is going to donate $10,000 grants to five American museums to host and exhibit that includes works from Oliver’s recently-cultivated “weird art” collection. The five museums that will be receiving the money are the Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota, the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, the William V. Banks Broadcast Museum and Media Center in Detroit, and the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco.

Awesome Con is August 20-22, 2021

We hope you can join us on August 20-22, 2021 for the eighth edition of Awesome Con at the DC Convention Center. Curls Studio will be located at table D11 in Artist Alley all three days. View the map above where the yellow pulse signal circles are so you'll know where to find us.

Join me Saturday, August 21 from 11:30am to Noon for Create Your Superhero Symbol with Carolyn Belefski at the Awesome Con Jr. Workshops area.

Joe Carabeo will be presenting the Awesome Con Short Film Fest. Each year fans gather to watch specially selected short films in the categories of comedy, drama, horror, action, science fiction, documentaries, and more.

Exhibit Hall Hours

Friday, August 20 | Noon - 8:00pm
Saturday, August 21 | 10:00am - 7:00pm
Sunday, August 22 | 10:00am - 5:00pm

Short Film Fest Hours

Friday, August 20 | 3:00pm - 5:00pm | Room 150AB
Sci Fi, Action and Horror

Saturday, August 21 | 3:00pm - 5:00pm | Room 150AB
Comedy and Drama

Sunday, August 22 | 3:00 pm - 5:00pm | Room 150AB
Awesome Docs and More

Visit to Cul de Sac manhole cover

If you're a fan of Richard Thompson's comic strip Cul de Sac, you can physically visit the inspiration for part of the strip in Virginia. That's exactly what I did last fall to show some appreciation to this manhole cover and do some dances and jumps, just like Alice. Richard watched his young daughter dance on the manhole cover one day and it inspired him to draw it in his strip! 

Pay your homage at 2511 North Harrison Street in Arlington (across from Duck Donuts). 

Cicada Hard Enamel Pin Kickstarter

We're raising funds to produce limited edition hard enamel pins with a modern original illustrated Periodical Cicada design. The pins will be produced at 1.5" tall with two red rhinestones to represent the cicada eyes. Other features include matte gold plating and translucent enamel for the wings. Each pin will be fixed with a brown rubber clutch and come with a backing card. The design portrays an hourglass shape of the body made with the overlapping wings that evokes time passage.  

The campaign launched last Wednesday and will go thru the month of June. I've been fascinated by cicadas ever since I was young and remember collecting their exoskeletons in a square plastic strawberry container at my grandparent's house. I also am fond of wearing them on my shirt as a cicada brooch -- and that is what inspired this creative project.

If you feel the need to wear a cicada all the time, then please pledge to the Kickstarter. We'd enjoy your support and fondness for this exciting insect. Please pass this limited edition opportunity on to your friends as well! Thank you.

Pledge today: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/carolynbelefski/cicada-enamel-pin

Banana Bandana™ Update and Ordering Info

The Banana Bandana™ project was funded through Kickstarter back in February and shipped in March. I flipped the classic bandana print and paired it with banana humor in a modern paisley design to create a fashionable scarf face covering. Originally it started with yellow fabric, but then I added brown fabric alternative near the end of the Kickstarter campaign -- so now we have two color options.

If you missed pledging to the campaign to back the project, have no fear! Bandanas are available for purchase here: http://www.carolynbelefski.com/store/banana-bandana-fashionable-scarf-face-covering

Big thanks to photographer Joe Carabeo from Astray Productions and model Camille Richardson for stunning Banana Bandana™ product images.

It was great to create this during the COVID-19 era. I have new projects and ideas up my sleeves and have been working in my sketchbooks. Hopefully I'll be able to appear at some in-person comics events later in 2021.