Lucy Bellwood – Page 42

Sea Creature Commissions

Wrapped up this little triptych of sea creatures last week for a client in Seattle. They were so much fun to paint! I really enjoy working with vibrant watercolors. He asked for a layout where they could hang staggered on a vertical plane, so I overlapped the elements from each one to give them a little continuity. I couldn’t really get them to match up perfectly in the WordPress interface, but this is close.

If you’re interested in a small watercolor commission of your own, I currently have some slots available. Get in touch at lucypcbellwood[at]gmail[dot]com for more info!

Main, News

True Believer Digital Downloads!

I thought the Waterlogged IndieGoGo campaign was going to be the most exciting news of the week, but it turns out there are more goodies in store!

You can now acquire True Believer, my breakout comic from last year, as a high-quality digital download via Gumroad. I’m excited about this for a number of reasons, not least of which is Gumroad’s elegant sales system. The base price for the download is $3, but you can pay more if you really enjoy it and/or want to help me keep making comics with more of a boost. You’ll receive the full 36-page story via immediate download, plus a link in your email in case you lose track of it in the future. Gumroad is excellent because you can also revisit the site and it will remember your purchases, so you can download it again if your email explodes or something equally horrific.

Basically, once you buy this thing you’ll never be able to get rid of it. Hooray!

For those of you who weren’t around when all this happened, True Believer is the story of why I got into making comics for a living in the first place. It’s an origin story, an homage to teachers past and present, and a treatise on creativity all rolled into one. While I have plenty of print copies still available from the massively successful Kickstarter campaign, it’s always nice to have more options. If you have questions about Gumroad or issues with your download, don’t hesitate to let me know, otherwise: have at it!

Main, News

Waterlogged: Tales from the Seventh Sea

Really exciting news this week: Waterlogged, the 200-page anthology of nautical comics I contributed to last year, is finally going to print!

If you read this blog, I assume you share some of my enthusiasm for all things oceanic, so this is probably the collection for you. The stories cover everything from pirates and sailors to nautical mythology enthusiasts, plus the book itself promises to be gorgeous — I mean, just look at that cover illustration by Laura Bifano.

If you want a taste of the goods, you can read “Navy Ink”, the story I contributed in collaboration with Shannon Campbell, right here on my site. Just click the image below!

I was also thrilled when Cloudscape, the organization behind the anthology, asked me to do some chapter heading illustrations in the style of old tattoos. Here’s a selection:

They’ve launched an IndieGoGo campaign (with a super delightful video, I might add) and are hoping to have copies out by July. Unfortunately this means that I won’t have the book at my table for most conventions this season, but the sooner the campaign reaches its goal, the faster things will happen. To that end, check it out! Throw in some cash! Get amazing comics in return!

Relevant to that: if you’re interested in receiving a SUPER AFFORDABLE custom avatar commission from me, check out the Siren’s Avatar tier, where you can request a portrait commission from an artist of your choice. I’ve only made myself available for five slots, so hop on it if you’re interested. Other reward tiers include e-books, signed editions of the anthology, exclusive prints, and a jumbo pack of comics from all 30 contributors.

Phew, so that’s the biggest news this week. More to come soon!

Main, News

The Niftymancer Kickstarter Campaign & Symbolia Process Photos!

Hey everyone, long time no blog! I have a couple pressing items to throw out before I dive back into finishing these stories for Symbolia magazine. Niftymancer, the lane defense game I’ve been doing some animation work for, is entering the final hours of its Kickstarter fundraising campaign. There’s a chunk of change left to go, but with your help we can push it over the line! The game features character designs by Justin Hillgrove, of Imps and Monsters fame, and has been a ton of fun to work on. You can check out the characters I’ve been animating below:

In the land of comics, I’ve been hard at work on the finishing stages of my story for Symbolia Magazine. Here’s a quick bunch of photos from the two weeks I was away in California. Lots of inking, lots of toning, lots of lettering, and even a little color! All that’s left are the interactive elements and then this thing will be finished.

More news to come later this week, including an exciting announcement about the publication of Navy Ink, the tattoo-based story I posted a few months ago. In the meantime, check out Niftymancer on Kickstarter and enjoy the rest of the weeekend!

Art, Main, News

Periscope Portrait

I’m sad to report that my internship at Periscope Studio officially came to a close on February 27th. It was an amazing four and a half months, but I’m not going to write too much about what being there meant to me. Not only because I’ll get all mushy and start crying on you guys, but also because…

I’M NOT GOING ANYWHERE! That’s right. I know. I don’t believe it myself, but it’s true. I get to stay. At Periscope. For the foreseeable future. (I’m trying to use real words to talk about this rather than just replacing every letter in this sentence with an exclamation point, can you tell?)

Now, I’m only a lowly Studio Assistant, but it means I’ll continue to work alongside an incredible group of dedicated, powerhouse artists who inspire me to improve every day. If I have to run blogs and scan pages and help with shipping to make that happen, I’m more than happy to do so.

ANYWAY. That’s some of the big news I’ve been sitting on for a while. And boy howdy am I excited about it.

To thank everyone at the Studio for being so welcoming and helpful, I spent part of last week drawing up this group portrait of all the members. Ain’t they a studly bunch?

I’ll be away in California for the next three weeks helping out with a family medical situation, but I hope to keep you all abreast of what’s on the drawing table during that time. (And I should note that any orders you place in the store while I’m gone won’t ship until I return on April 3rd! Thanks for being patient.)

So long for now!

Art, News

Vancouver Maritime Museum Installation

Some of you may recall I was doing some illustration work for the Vancouver Maritime Museum last month. Their Art of the Sailor exhibit opened this week, and Alina Anghel (of the Vancouver Trolley Company Blog) was kind enough to snap a photo of my giant poster on the wall!

The exhibit runs through October, so I’m really excited to see it in person when I visit for VanCAF in May. In the meantime, if you’re in the Vancouver area, be sure to stop in and check it out! There are a ton of educational and entertaining elements involved — including beautiful pieces of scrimshaw and many photographs of actual sailors showing off their ink. To learn more, check out this in-depth article on The Tyee blog.

I’m also excited to announce that the Museum will be stocking all three issues of Baggywrinkles in their store. There have been some delays, so they might not arrive for a week or two, but hopefully Vancouverites can pick up copies on site before too long.

More art to come soon!

Art, Main, News

Assorted Doings

Hello everyone!

Still recovering from Emerald City over here, but I’m excited to say that I’m well into inking my story for Symbolia Magazine, which will basically be my full-time job for the next few weeks. Things will be quiet while I’m working on that, but afterwards it’ll be on to Baggywrinkles #4 and beyond! I’ll post previews as I can.

In other news, blogger Greg Burgas picked up a copy of True Believer at the convention, and was kind enough to give it a very thorough review on Comic Book Resources this week. Here’s a teaser:

“[Death can] become hackneyed, the way a writer approaches it, but Bellwood manages to let the emotions come out without going too far and getting into mawkishness […] As we move through the book, it becomes more intense and more personal, in a way that grabs the reader and doesn’t let go […] ‘True Believer’ is an intense work that has a lot going on in it, and Bellwood transitions easily between many different moods.”

What a guy! You can read the whole thing here.

For those of you who stopped by, thanks for saying hello! To those who couldn’t make it, never fear. I’ll be at tabling at the Stumptown Comics Fest next month with all these goodies and more.

When we met, Greg was also quite taken with the table’s squeaky walrus, so here’s the ridiculous photo he took of my cheesiest convention face.

Aaaaand finally, Grace Allison did a wonderful marker coloring demo at Periscope yesterday, so here’s the portrait I whipped up to practice on (we only had super skinny scraps of Bristol. Can you tell?).

Until next time, friends!

Conventions

Emerald City Comicon THIS WEEKEND!

Okay gang, sorry for the suuuuper short notice, but it looks like I’ll be tabling at Emerald City Comicon this weekend! The show runs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and boasts the biggest attendance of comics and pop culture stars in the Pacific Northwest. To give you an idea of just how massive this party’s gonna be, here’s a map of the Periscope Studio table block, where I’ll be squished in between Paul Guinan & Anina Bennett and Jonathan Case.

Yeah, that’s right. You have to cross a SKY BRIDGE to get to us. How cool is that?

Tickets are actually sold out, so if you’re already planning to go to the show, be sure to stop by table 2621 and say hi! I’ll have Baggywrinkles 1, 2, and 3, True Believer, Tales from the Fragment, Ladies’ FIGHT FOR YOUR ART shirts (sorry dudes, sold out of yours), button packs, mini prints, monkey’s fists, and some crazy little animal watercolors for your perusal, purchase, and enjoyment.

Hope to see you there!

Main

Doing It Anyway

Although it’s been one of Those Days, I’m excited to say that I’m finally through to the backend on my first story for Symbolia Magazine! Here’s the whole thing all tinylike (no spoilers!) before I print it out and start inking.

After spending all this time researching uniforms and protocol and environments and guns (oh God, the guns), I’m really excited to work on other projects next month. Give me environments I know full of things I can draw! Still, this has been a fantastic challenge so far and I’m really excited to finally get it off the computer and onto the drawing board. Until I’m splashing ink on things, it just doesn’t feel like making comics.

In related news, I scripted out Baggywrinkles #4 is a sleepless fever last night.

Turns out everything I thought was hilarious at 2am held up in the cold light of morning. Success!

The story will be around 12 pages and should be out in time for the Stumptown Comics Fest in April. But first, I’ve got another story to pencil and ink. So I’ll get back to that.

Onward, ever onward.

Art

Another Commission

Forgot to post this a while ago, but here’s an anniversary commission I did back in December! Probably would’ve been fitting to post on Valentine’s Day, but ohhhh wellllll.