Published Illustrator and Cartoonist

Carolyn Belefski creates and publishes original comics, illustrations, and designs. Carolyn writes and draws the comic strip Curls. She also collaborates with writer Joe Carabeo on the comic books Black Magic Tales, French Fry Club, and The Legettes. BOOM! Studios (Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time), Clorox, National Geographic, The White House, and US National Archives are some of the clients Carolyn has worked with directly.

Convention Appearances and Public Speaker

Carolyn participates in many comic conventions and art fairs along the east coast, including New York Comic Con, Awesome Con, Baltimore Comic-Con, Small Press Expo, and more. She has recently exhibited work at Takoma Park Community Center and Washington Project for the Arts. Carolyn has been invited to speak on panels at University of Maryland, Women’s National Book Association, DC Web Fest, and more. She has also created teaching experiences with US National Archives and Girl Scouts.

Professional Design Experience

Beyond her self-motivated activities at Curls Studio, Carolyn works full-time as a designer and art director in the Washington, DC region. She has been a member of multi-disciplinary teams providing creative services for a broad range of clients focused on entertainment, media, education, health care, and civic innovation for over a decade. She has worked with a broad range of Fortune 500, government, nonprofit, and startup clients. 

If you are interested in working with Carolyn on your project, use the Contact tab to inquire about rates and information about how to get started.

Please email your local event organizer if you would like Carolyn to appear at your convention, school, gallery, or other function.

Our Story

Curls

Carolyn’s comic strip Curls was first published in The Commonwealth Times, the student newspaper of Virginia Commonwealth University. While earning a BFA degree in Communication Arts and Design, Carolyn began publishing Curls as a webcomic. In 2010, Curls was nominated for the Friends of Lulu Kim Yale Award to recognize women in cartooning. In 2013, 2014, and 2015 Carolyn was voted Best Visual Artist runner-up for Washington City Paper’s Best of DC awards.

National Cartoonists Society

Carolyn became a National Cartoonists Society member in 2012 and recently rolled off serving on the National Board of Directors. Carolyn continues her involvement with NCS as a chapter chair of the Washington, DC chapter. With NCS, she started Cartoonists Draw Blood by connecting with the American Red Cross, gathering local cartoonists, and organizing a blood drive where blood donors receive a sketch from a cartoonist. With the first five blood drives, “Cartoonists Draw Blood” helped save the lives of over 500 strangers.

Carolyn conceived and produced the NCS Activity Book, an all-ages book with 50 pages of puzzles plus activities and worked with Sergio Aragonés on the cover. She designed the masthead, communicated directly with over fifty contributors (some of the biggest names in cartooning), and created a page featuring Curls characters! All proceeds go to the National Cartoonist Society Foundation, the charitable arm of the NCS, to help fund future “Cartooning for Kids” event programming.

AIGA

From 2007 thru 2011, Carolyn volunteered her time to the design community through AIGA, the largest professional membership organization for design, by serving on the AIGA DC Board of Directors. Carolyn worked as Special Projects Coordinator, Continuum Chair, and AIGA 50 Co-Chair. She continues to be active with AIGA members and was invited to lead a workshop called Design & Doodle.

Magic Bullet

Carolyn served as Editor-In-Chief of Magic Bullet, Washington, DC’s comics anthology newspaper. She produced and published issues 6 thru 9. Magic Bullet has a print run of 5,000 and can be found at many east coast comic conventions and Washington, DC area venues, including coffee shops, tattoo parlors, theaters, and more. This opportunity allowed Carolyn to coordinate with over 50 artists and writers per issue, handle budget, increase advertising revenue by 200%, arrange distribution, and organize multiple creator appearances in local book stores for Free Comic Book Day events.

FIND CAROLYN’S WORK IN:

Carolyn’s illustrations and comics have been published in publications such as:

AWARDS

Graphic Design USA — 2019 Health + Wellness Design Award  |  2018 Danaher Annual Report
Ringo Award  |  Best Anthology  |  Mine!  |  2018
Washington City Paper — Best of DC, Best Visual Artist Runner-up  |  2013 – 2015
Davey Award — 2015 Corporate Identity, Logos  |  DC Brewers Guild Logo
Davey Award — 2015 Print Collateral  |  Danaher Conference On Growth Program
Communicator Awards  |  National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Brochure  |  2012
Shel Dorf Award — Original Graphic Novel of the Year  |  District Comics  |  2013
Friends of Lulu — Kim Yale Award Nomination  |  2010

CURLS STUDIO HAS EXHIBITED AT:

SELECTED PRESS

NOV 2021 The Wall Street Journal – Pantone’s 2022 Color of the Year Has a Lot of Competition
OCT 2018 American Red Cross
APR 2018 A Case For Pencils – National Cartoonists Society
MAR 2018 PREVIEWS - Women In Comics Month: Interview with Carolyn Belefski
JUN 2015 Northern Virginia Magazine - Curl Power
MAR 2015 PREVIEWS - Women In Comics Month: Interview with Carolyn Belefski
FEB 5, 2015 The Washington Post – White House comics? How cartoonist Carolyn Belefski got an unexpected booster shot-in-the-arm from HealthCare.gov
JAN 29, 2015 Fusion – Cartooning for the White House: A chat with the artist behind the #GetCovered comics
NOV 7, 2013 The Washington Post – Besides juice and cookies, blood donors at D.C. drive received cartoonists’ original art
APR 20, 2013 The Washington Post – Comic Riffs – Awesome Con: ‘Curls’ creator Carolyn Belefski on the creative ‘mischief’ that has spawned her rich art career
APR 18, 2013 The Washington Post – Awesome Con D.C.: Washington’s very first comic convention
SEP 7, 2010 Washington City Paper – Meet a Local Cartoonist: A Chat with Carolyn Belefski