Being the last week of the year, I thought it would be beneficial to recap the experiences Curls Studio had in 2011. We had 13 tour stops this year, with a total of 20 or so days dedicated “behind the table” – WOW – that’s almost a month in table time. In addition to that, we also had a handful of talk shows, podcasts, and other appearances. Below is our 2011 tour schedule with links to event recaps and photos to each event, so you can click to read all about the events.
2011 TOUR
APR 10 • Capicons
MAY 22 • Handmade Mart
JUN 12 • Capicons
JUN 19 • DC Comicon
JUL 30 • DC Zinefest
AUG 14 • Philly Alternative Comic Con
AUG 20-21 • Baltimore Comic-Con
SEP 9 • Bleeding the Narrative Panel at UMD
SEP 10-11 • Small Press Expo
SEP 16-18 • Intervention
OCT 13-16 • New York Comic Con
OCT 29-30 • VA Comicon
NOV 30 • GV Expo
In addition to listing appearances, I’d thought it would also be nice to recap specific projects of 2011.
In January, I was the first guest of the year on the talk show You, Me, Them, Everybody and it was fun although the bar was very loud. It was also the first time I was on a live show. I participated in Hourly Comic Day for the first time in February. In March and April, I was plugging away on my webcomic, Curls. Around this time also saw the release of Magic Bullet #2, a Washington, DC based comics newspaper which published our Black Magic Tales story, “Good Enough.” In May, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes talked about Curls Studio on their podcast, Jay and Silent Bob Get Jobs. I was also selected to create a monster for Pleasant Plains Workshop and their exhibit, We Are Monsters. The original handcrafted MASER monster sold and was later featured in Curls comic strips. Click here to begin the MASER storyline in Curls. In June, Joe was interviewed live on the You, Me, Them, Everybody talk show. I contributed art to Team Cul De Sac in honor of Richard Thompson’s great comic. The book will be available on June 15, 2012 and I am very excited for it. One of my favorite events of the year was meeting international political cartoonists at The National Press Club. I loved it because it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I appreciated their courage and cultures. It was something I had never experienced before and I think that is why it was enjoyable. In July, August, and September, we were hard at work preparing for the fall conventions. Baltimore Comic-Con, SPX, Intervention, NYCC, and VA Comicon felt like they wear all back-to-back weekends. I’m not gonna lie – the entire fall felt like I was on a spin cycle. We were also guests on the MOKA Podcast and JellyVision. I was asked to speak with on a panel called “Bleeding the Narrative: Comics in Art and Culture” with Jim Rugg, Robert Ullman, Monica Gallagher, and Alexis E. Fajardo at the University of Maryland. At SPX, our comics we selected to be included in the Small Press Expo Collection at the Library of Congress and we gave away a Curls Canvas Print from Easy Canvas Prints. I was interview by Michael O’Connell about Curls and webcomics for an article in The Connection newspapers. In October, a bunch of Curls comic strips were published in Indie Comics Magazine #3. The main highlight of the month was exhibiting at New York Comic Con and tabling next to Bob Camp, co-creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show, in Artist Alley. At NYCC, we also had the opportunity of hosting our panel, “The Other Side of The Table: Lessons from Creators.” The panelists included Raina Telgemeier (Smile, The Baby-Sitters Club), David Gallaher (High Moon, BOX 13) Reilly Brown (Amazing Spider-Man, Power Play) and myself – Carolyn Belefski (Curls, The Legettes). The panel was moderated by Joe Carabeo. Astray Productions filmed the panel and hopefully it will be released online soon. If you can’t wait for the footage, take a listen to the audio here, from our podcast The Carolyn & Joe Show. Speaking of the podcast, it has been released every Tuesday and we are currently on episode 154. That’s pretty monumental! That same month, we exhibited at VA Comicon for the first time and got to meet the creator of The Crow, James O’Barr! In November, I made a Harvey Head for Harvey Pekar’s Kickstarter campaign and was a guest blogger for a second edition of selections for Jimmy Palmiotti’s Sexy Monday feature on his blog. Joe and I also spoke on the topic of “having fun” at the GV Expo, the East Coast’s largest pro video and broadcast expo. December started out nicely with the honor of having one of my Curls comic strips selected to be published in the Philadelphia City Paper‘s special Comics Issue, celebrity judged by Art Baxter. Curls Studio closed the year by giving away issues of Indie Comics Magazine #4, which feature our Black Magic Tales story, “How Roxy and Dean Stole Christmas.”
Whew. That was a mind-blowing year. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted just recapping that! Exhausted – in a good way! We hope you enjoyed all the activities Curls Studio has done this year. Thank you to our fans who read comics, listen to our radio show, and attend our convention appearances. We really appreciate your enthusiasm about what we do and hope to be creating more for you in the future. There’s already material we’ve completed that will be released in 2012 – but we can talk about it just yet. Stay ‘tooned.
Curls Studio loves having fun. Happy 2012 to everyone. Make it fun.