The “I Love To Write Day Creative Writing Journal” is now available on Amazon — it’s being published to celebrate the 20th anniversary of I Love To Write Day, a grassroots campaign John Riddle launched in 2002 to have people of all ages spend time writing every November 15. John reached out to me to contribute comic strips about creativity and the creative process to the publication.
87 creative experts including writers, authors, musicians, artists, photographers, actors, directors, and more professions have contributed tips on how to be creative and shared their own creative journey. It also includes 30 challenges that give you the opportunity to “think outside of the box” to use your imagination like never before.
Every weekend in October Curls Studio exhibited or attended a convention of some sort. We ended the month with Baltimore Comic-Con on October 28-30 and had a wonderful time tabling amongst the best and brightest in the Kids Love Comics section. This year’s table layout was great and the show even had signage for Kids Love Comics and Artist Alley, which was beneficial to both attendees and exhibitors so everyone knew the show floor well. On Saturday I wore my Curls Utz parody shirt (Curlz) and we started the day giving Jamar Nicholas “Leon’s Favorite Cake” which is German Chocolate Cake with buttercream frosting and crushed pistachios on top. We did this to celebrate his new book with Scholastic. Later in the day I attended John Gallagher’s art seminar at our Kids Love Comics pavilion.
We debuted the “DC Region Cartoonists” poster featuring both National Cartoonists Society members and non-members who all live within an hour or so of Washington, DC (you can never get the timing just right with all the traffic around here). Here is a photo of me dressed as Abby Hatcher and Mark Wheatley with the poster. This is my first time officially cosplaying at a show because I thought it would be a fun surprise and so close to Halloween so why not (although if you look closely at my SPX outfit and booth display from earlier this year, you could come to the conclusion that maybe I was Lucy from Peanuts). If you would like to purchase a poster, please contact me.
On Sunday I got to meet Jill Thompson and showed her my page in the Scary Godmother Baltimore Comic-Con Yearbook. The original piece was auctioned off on Saturday at the show and the family who purchased it came by the Curls Studio table to have me personalize the back. I was happy to see so many people enjoying the book and collecting everyone’s autographs. I also had a blast next to Mark and Chris Mariano and talking about their book, Loud Cow.
Be on the lookout for a special episode of the Unpacking Peanuts podcast called Charles Schulz 100th Birthday party. Hosts Jimmy Gownley and Harold Buchholz interviewed me and others for the show and I look forward to listening as well as checking out their other episodes.
You can purchase the shirts I wore at Baltimore Comic-Con from my Cotton Bureau shop and there’s also my online store for mostly everything else if you could not make it to the show in-person. Curls Studio would like to thank the show organizers and volunteers for hosting this event. Next year SPX and Baltimore Comic-Con are on the same weekend in early September, so we’ll have to figure out how to do that because I don’t want to pick between them (both are so good for different reasons). We might have to do a set-up where Joe and I will be at different shows on different days and mix it up. We will figure it all out and you’ll see all the details right here on the blog and our socials.
Visit Curls Studio at Table K17 in Kids Love Comics
Friday, October 28 — 1:00 PM – 7:00 PMSaturday, October 29 — 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM Sunday, October 30 — 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Visit Curls Studio at Baltimore Comic-Con in the Kids Love Comics section at Table K17. Click on the map image above to see a large map of where to find us. This year we are offering a special if you purchase $5 or more — you can select a free print (five print options to select from). You can also earn a free print if you correctly guess who I’m cosplaying as on Sunday!
We are prepped for Halloween and will have our two Cartoonists Draw Blood anthologies we produced (Trick or Treat / Monsters). You can also bid on Carolyn Belefski’s original art made for the Jill Thompson “Scary Godmother” themed yearbook as well as get your book signed at Booth K17 for the scavenger hunt. The Hero Initiative Art Auction takes places Saturday at 5:00 PM in Rooms 339-342.
Here are some “Curls Studio Visits…” Convention Films, produced by Astray Productions, to get you in the mood!
New York Comic Con happened earlier this month and Curls Studio had a fun (yet exhausting) time. I didn’t get to hang away from the table too often, but I got to take a photo at the My Neighbor Totoro display (waiting to take the cat bus). I premiered the new “Pizza Slice” charm and had a signing at National Cartoonists Society booth on Thursday and Friday. Joe got an exclusive poster from Paul Pope that was his mission to obtain and he also told me he thinks he saw WWE wrestler Omos walk in the crowd, although he didn’t call out to him to get a confirmation. I feel like it was probably him because if you see someone strikingly tall like that there aren’t many people who have his physique and look.
We enjoyed being in the city and got to experience wonderful dining at Planet Taco (I had the three “Out Of This World” tacos — Mars Vegetarian Chorizo, Venus, and Saturn). We ate pizza from three different joints over the course of our stay and I had my first Everything Egg Bagel (not to be confused with egg filling inside, but imagine an egg bagel with everything spices on top).
On Friday night I walked over to Poster House for their First Friday events with free admission. The exhibits “Masked Vigilantes On Silent Motorbikes” and “Air-India’s Maharaja: Advertising Gone Rogue” were on display and I met up with a friend at the museum. We both had dice readings from Maia Lorian. Look for my Instagram (@CarolynBelefski) to be updated with a post solely about my participation at Poster House within the next few weeks. Afterwards we ate at Eataly, our most expensive meal of the trip. It was tasty, but not filling enough. I was so hungry and ended up getting a slice of pizza later on at night.
I got to play ping pong at PingPod. I visited Coney Island and it was a better experience than last year when the weather was drizzling and the town didn’t look as vibrant as it could be on a nicer day. I rode Deno’s Wonder Wheel for the first time! Luna Park was decorated for Halloween and they had a fog bubble machine. When popped, the grayish bubbles let out mystical fog. I learned that apparently Nathan’s does not make the creamy orange shake anymore (so I’m glad to have gotten that last year).
After the show we heard that former WWE wrestler Enzo Amore was at NYCC at a table about a two minute walk away from our booth. I didn’t know he was there and missed him, but it would have been great to see him. Reminds me of how last year I found out after the event that MJF, Danhausen, and Orange Cassidy were all there and I missed out on that too. But it also shows how going to all these comic cons is “work” for us and we have to be at our table and represent the books we create. Yes, we get to have a good time and it is sort of a mini vacation, but we are also there to invest in ourselves.
We hope to be back at NYCC in the future. Big thanks to Francis Bonnet, Joe Carabeo, Hannah Mount, NYCC staff, NYCC volunteers, NCS, the kind people at the hotel, and everyone who stopped by the booth.
Our next tour stop for this year is Baltimore Comic-Con (Booth K17) this coming Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The East Coast’s largest pop culture convention, New York Comic Con returns this week (October 6-9, 2022) at Javits Center located at 429 11th Avenue. Carolyn Belefski and Joe Carabeo (Curls Studio) will be at Booth #1950 all four days. The location is on show floor level 3.
Carolyn Belefski will be signing at National Cartoonists Society Booth #3504 this Thursday 1:00 PM – 4:00PM and Friday 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM.
