My Muse Is

In April of 2003, I was a student in Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of Communication Arts and Design. We were given a poster for a department wide project called "My Muse Is" in which we could do whatever we wanted. The poster had blue grid and the title at top in a digital looking typeface. At the bottom, there was a questionnaire with some questions about the future and if you liked grids or not or if you thought MTV graphics were cool or not or if you drank coffee or something like that.


I selected to turn the poster over and work on the plain white back. I painted a picture of Curls with Bugs Bunny and wrote some of the questions given in paragraph form at the bottom. I remember one of my teachers saying that if he stood back and watched the entire gallery, my poster stood out the most... especially because of the hot pink border! Haha! Looking back, I can see how far I've come and how far I have to go. It is good to have this piece as a reminder of my original intent as an artist and a reminder of my love for Bugs Bunny. What's up doc?

Here is what I wrote: My name is Carolyn Belefski. I am graduating in May 2004 with a degree in Communication Arts & Design. I don't want or plan to be a millionaire, but if it happens, I bet I'll be the same person (but with better clothes). I believe a designer can change the world. Grids are useful, but very constraining. For inspiration I go on a walk and go out to see things and watch people. Sometimes I find inspiration from movies and characters. I really love to design characters. The girl posing with Bugs Bunny in this poster is a character I created. Her name is Curls Girl and she is a character in my comic strip, Curls. My Muse is Chuck Jones, who designed many of the Warner Brothers cartoon characters. His work is amazing. I looked back and realized how I got into art and drawing when I was smaller and thought of how much Chuck Jones and cartoons in general influenced me. Chuck Jones was really the first artist name I can remember hearing about and his work "drew" me into the art world. I'm lucky it did because I am happy to be where I am in life right now and it can only get better!

And here is a video I just rediscovered and posted to my YouTube channel of the reception at VCU's Anderson Gallery:

The General Design Company - AIGA DC Continuum Fund Button Campaign

Last month James Hobbs and I helped organize the second set of buttons for AIGA DC's Continuum Fund Button Campaign to help DC metro area students pursue a graphic design degree. The buttons premiered last month at Sea Change: AIGA Leadership Retreat 2009 in Portland, Oregon. All proceeds go to AIGA DC’s Continuum Fund Scholarship, which allows young people from minority and economically disadvantaged backgrounds not only to realize their artistic dreams, but also to give back to their communities.

Soung Wiser of The General Design Company helped coordinate this set of three buttons. The congratulatory, buddy nature of the fist bump, the high five and the thumbs up drove the idea for the thank you buttons. The hand gestures bring a feeling of connection, community and a "Hey, isn't it awesome to be part of this? Slap me some skin!"

The button sets will be available at future AIGA DC events for the suggested minimum donation of $5. Thanks goes out to Tamera Lawrence who designed the label and Joe Carabeo of Astray Productions for photographing the buttons.

If you would like more information about AIGA DC's Continuum Fund Scholarship or have questions about donating to AIGA DC's Continuum Fund, please email continuum@aigadc.org or visit www.aigadc.org/continuum.

More photos can be found on the AIGA DC Flickr page.

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Carolyn Belefski
Continuum Chair, AIGA DC

"Has Boobs, Reads Comics" Submission

Jill Pantozzi from "Has Boobs, Reads Comics" is holding a contest for a sign she can display on her trip to Comic-Con International: San Diego. I discovered her on Twitter last month and have since been reading her amazing blog. She is very active in the comic community and writes for Girls Entertainment Network.

For my submission, I wanted to focus on her with the title of her blog. In the background I included all female characters. I thought about using males also, but then decided to focus on the boobs because of Jill's funny title. On the left are Wonder Woman, Zatanna, and Poison Ivy. On the right are my original characters from The Legettes: Elle, Layla, and Gwen. The Legettes will premiere at SPX in September.

The Legettes is a burlesque group in the dark and dangerous future where analog and digital are at constant war and everything we were ever afraid of has happened. While not on stage, The Legettes work as super secret spies who dream of changing the world.

Fight Club Friday

Last Friday I did an illustration for THE PULSE's Fight Club Friday feature which allows readers to examine the combatants chosen each week and tell why they think one hero or villain will triumph against the opponent. This time around Storm from X-Men battled the Flash's foe, the Weather Wizard. Apparently there's some heat over mohawk Storm. That's good because it will generate discussion. Thanks to Jennifer Contino for publishing this illustration!

Curls: Leaving Maggie's Farm

This episode of Curls is inspired by the protesting duck near the end of the Bob Dylan influenced movie I'm Not There and is based on the lyrics to his song, Maggie's Farm. I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more. Enjoy.

Recap: Handmade Mart

Last Sunday, May 31, 2009 Curls Studio participated in the first ever Handmade Mart on Ellsworth Drive in Silver Spring, Maryland. This was our first big craft show where we had to fill a full 10' x 10' tent. In order to fill space and have our area interactive I thought to display my Curls greeting cards in the sky on a clothesline with pins. I really give a pat on my back for that idea, because it's pretty clever although one person mentioned our space was not very tall friendly!


We had a great time interacting with people who weren't accustomed to or where shocked to see indie comics at an event like this. Children seemed to be especially excited, but were often shot down by their parents who said comics were not for them. Sadly, we still need to educate certain people that some comics are all ages. Specifically our Kid Roxy books! Come on people... the characters are in 8th grade!

A man near us was proclaiming the world to end on May 21, 2011 and we watched so many people argue with him. He was singing about it too. If I knew the world was going to end, I would not be standing around with a sandwich board sign on my body announcing it. There were a lot of entertaining people and activities going on along with huge gusts of wind. When it got windy Joe and I had to hold down our comics and tent, but luckily we held down the fort well and enjoyed our time at Handmade Mart. Hopefully we introduced a new audience to our products.

For more photos, visit our Flickr site (curls-studio2).

Recap: DC Counter Culture Festival 2009

On Sunday, May 24, 2009 Curls Studio participated in the fourth annual DC Counter Culture Festival at The Soundry in Vienna, VA. We had a lot of fun catching up with fellow comic creators and meeting new ones. This year there were ongoing presentations and workshops such as Michael Auger's Blacklight Workshop, The Geek Comedy Tour, and Gyotaku Fish Printing with Anthony Dihle. We all got involved in quick jam sketches and ate hotdogs and burgers from The Soundry. I really enjoyed the eclectic nature of this years event, but 12 hours of table time made for a long day!


Viva Vienna was going on down the street at the same time so I headed there for a bit and got a Bucket O' Fries. What is better than a bucket of fries that says "Bucket O' Fries" on the actual bucket? I don't think there is anything better than that. Thanks to DC Conspiracy for organizing the event and thanks to anyone who purchased our items. For more photos, visit our Flickr site (curls-studio2).