I was having hope for 2015 to bo a good year, but the first major news story of the year is terrorizing.
Yesterday was a terrible day for cartoonists, satirists, writers, and journalists around the world. The attack on Charlie Hebdo publication headquarters killed several people in France.
After meeting several political cartoonists back in 2011, I was aware that many cartoonists are targeted everyday for their voice. I was aware that Charlie Hebdo was targeted before and, sadly, I’m not surprised this tragedy has happened. I like to live in a land of endless rainbows and bubble tea, but the world outside my protective bubble is a messed up place.
These days you never know who you will offend. My wish is that cartoons and articles open up dialogue about issues and real verbal discussion arises. Killing is not the answer. Let’s solve our problems with art. You can have a gun or you can have a pencil.
Violence is weakness. Art is power.
Wow. I can’t believe 2014 is over and we’ve recently rang in 2015. Last year was pretty crazy and ended so quickly. I wanted to highlight some of 2014’s best moments.
Overall 2014 brought us around 16 full days exhibiting at comic conventions. I did elect to cut back on some tour dates this year and concentrate on work, but looking at the list now it seems we only took out one that required travel and expanded to shows that are closer to the homebase.
2014 TOUR
FEB 13-28 • cARToons Exhibit at UDC
MAR 8 • Smudge! Expo
APR 18-20 • Awesome Con DC
MAY 3 • Free Comic Book Day Big Planet Comics
MAY 10 • ANS Sci-Fi & Comic-Con
MAY 17 • Gaithersburg Book Festival
MAY 31 • Cartoonists Draw Blood
JUL 20 • SuperNoVa Comicon
JUL 26 • Signing at Fantom Comics
SEP 5-7 • Baltimore Comic-Con
SEP 13-14 • Small Press Expo
OCT 9-12 • New York Comic Con
OCT 18 • Annapolis Comic-Con
OCT 22 • Design & Doodle Workshop
The main highlights for me in 2014 included:
• Fun energy at Awesome Con DC in April
• Being voted (for the second year in a row) as runner-up for Best Visual Artist by Washington City Paper readers
• Taking part in the second “Cartoonists Draw Blood” blood drive with the American Red Cross at Seekers Church in May
• Having a published Adventure Time #29 cover
• Editing issues #8 and #9 of Magic Bullet, Washington, DC’s comics newspaper
• I now have Instagram and Vine
• New York Comic-Con was our biggest and most successful show ever
• Asked to lead the Design & Doodle Workshop during DC Design Week
• Amber Love and I will have a comic in RISE: Comics Against Bullying, geared to be distributed free by organizations such as GLAAD, Stand for the Silent, and Prism Comics
• The Carolyn & Joe Show podcast also recorded a new episode for each week of 2014 and we now have over 300 episodes
My goals for 2015 are to focus and not get distracted by outside forces (see 2015 New Year’s Resolutions from Panel Patter and Pals). I hope to be more active in social media because I spent a full year not posting to any outlet during weekdays because of a demanding job. I’m still working full-time, but I now have more freedom to think and contribute to the world and plan to use that liberty. Thanks for keeping up with Curls Studio and our activities.
I hope you had a great holiday season and let’s see each other in 2015 and beyond!
Earlier this year I worked on a freelance design project with Anne Likes Red. I was contacted to create and illustrate several characters for a postcard set, animated promotional video, and trade show display for NASW Assurance Services, Inc. focusing on professional liability insurance for social workers.
Watch the animated film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEGy0vqduZY
There is a Kickstarter anthology project that I am a part of called RISE: Comics Against Bullying, which ends in 5 days. As of this writing, the project is funded a bit over 75%.
This comics series dealing with bullying is geared to be distributed free by organizations such as GLAAD, Stand for the Silent, and Prism Comics.
The story I am illustrating is written by Amber Love. It’s about the consequences of teens who feel they are mature enough to take nude selfies and the damage it does to one girl and her loved ones.
There are several other artists and writers to check out as well who are working on this project with their own stories.
To find out more, please read Amber’s blog post about the project and pledge towards the Kickstarter to make it become a reality.