Lucy Bellwood

England, Ho!

In case you haven’t heard, I’m on my way to England! I’ll see all you US cats in three weeks. The laptop is staying here in my absence, so please expect some delays on email communication. I’ll be around on Twitter, most likely, and posting art as I go. If you’re around London on the 20th there might even be a sketch meet-up. Keep your eyes on the web for more details.

If you’re in the UK this month, be sure to come say hello at Thought Bubble in Leeds November 15th and 16th. Otherwise I’ll catch you when I’m back in the States at the end of the month.

Huge thanks to all you Patreon supporters and kind-hearted Thought Bubble Fund contributors. You made this happen. I’m so grateful.

P.S. Want some comics to tide you over till I return? Down to the Seas Again is up in its entirety for free on The Nib! Check it out here.

Comics

New Comic: Pacific Passages (Baggywrinkles #5!)

Happy Friday, comics friends! I come bearing tidings of a new Baggywrinkles installment. Pacific Passages is a historical story that’s been in the works since earlier this year. It’s written by R.J. Mockford, a maritime historian who’s done a lot of work on the history of the original Lady Washington, and illustrated by me!

If you’d like to order a print copy listen close: I’ve only got 20 of them available right now and I’m flying to England next week so the order window is only open between now and Monday. You can get the individual issue here or the five-issue Baggywrinkles bundle here. You can also get a shiny PDF version on Gumroad!

And now, without further ado, THE COMIC:

Many thanks to all of you who have been supporting me on Patreon! This comic couldn’t have happened without you.

Essays

New Essay: “Sexy Lucy”

“So, I have a challenge for you.”

I’m sitting on the couch scarfing pomegranate seeds and ice cream while my gentleman friend looks up from doing the crossword.

“I’d love to see you draw Sexy Lucy. I mean, if you want to. If you think it would be fun.”

I laugh through a mouthful of dessert. “What? Why?”

“Well, I saw you draw Happy Lucy today and that was really adorable, and I’ve seen Grumpy Lucy and Goofy Lucy and Tired Lucy, but you never seem to draw Sexy Lucy.”

Some of you may’ve already seen the essay I posted last week on Medium about setting boundaries in autobio comics, but I figured I’d post a link here too just in case you missed it. This is a question I’m always navigating in my own work, but it took a particular conversation to get me to articulate my feelings on the subject. How do we skew our lives in their presentation online? Can I craft an alternative reality in my work that alters who I am in the physical world? What right do my readers have to my innermost thoughts?

Give the whole thing a read and let me know what you think. I’d be really curious to hear from any of you (especially women) who handle questions of intimacy in your autobiographical work. Where do you draw the line and why?

News

Down to the Seas Again Debuting at SPX

After many long weeks of toil, I’m thrilled to announce that Down to the Seas Again, my travelogue comic from this summer’s trip aboard the Charles W. Morgan, is officially at the press and available for pre-order and PDF download! Pre-ordered print editions will begin shipping September 22nd. They’re 20 pages, full color, and (if I do say so myself) totally gorgeous. Colorhaus did a fantastic job on the printing and I can’t wait to start getting them into your hands.

If you’re attending the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD this weekend, you can catch the official print debut and pick one up in person at Table C14, or you can find me at Rose City Comic Con next week with additional copies!

You can also get more of a behind-the-scenes experience by pledging as little as $1 a month over on my Patreon page, where I’ve been posting a lot of process stuff and background info with each page.

Down to the Seas Again opening at Sequential — Photo by R.J. Mockford

Finally, thanks to all of you who came out to the Sequential Art Gallery show opening last week. I had a great time chatting with you all about boats and process and upcoming plans. The pages will be up all month if you missed the party and would like to go take a look! Here’s the gallery’s page with more details.

Hope to see many of you in the next few weeks at SPX and RCCC!

Comics, News

Down to the Seas Again at Sequential Art Gallery

Big big big news, everyone: I have my first-ever solo show opening a week from today at Portland’s Sequential Art Gallery! Down to the Seas Again will collect all my original art from this summer’s voyage aboard the Charles W. Morgan, the last wooden whaling ship in the world. I’ve been slaving away over this comic for the last month or so, and I really can’t wait to share it with you all in person. We’ll have all 20 watercolored pages up for your browsing pleasure, as well as nautical comics for sale and a lot of process-centric stuff for you to investigate.

The opening reception will take place during Portland’s First Thursday Art Walk on September 4th from 6pm-10pm at:

Sequential Art Gallery + Studio
328 NW Broadway #113
Portland, OR 97209

I’ll be on hand selling comics, showing off originals, and getting excited about boats. I would absolutely love to see you there.

If you’re the Facebookin’ type, you can keep an eye out for the official event on Sequential Art Gallery’s Facebook page. If you can’t make the opening but would still like to check out the show, you can do so all month during the gallery’s regular hours: Mondays from 2pm-6pm, Saturdays from 11am-5pm, and by appointment.

News

Audio Treats: KBOO and Chris Schweizer

A quick post today to let you all know I’ve got two new audio interviews up for your listening pleasure!

I had a great time guesting on KBOO’s Words and Pictures show a couple weeks ago, where I talked to host S. W. Conser about my recent projects, including my upcoming show at Portland’s Sequential Art Gallery (more on that tomorrow!). You can give that a listen right here.

I also had the immense pleasure of talking with fellow boat-savvy cartoonist Chris Schweizer as part of his new conversational podcast. We delve into all sorts of stuff including (but not limited to) boats, comics, theater, higher education, and French comics. Chris is not only a stellar cartoonist and history buff (have you read Crogan’s Vengeance? YOU SHOULD. IT HAS GOT BOATS IN), but also an eloquent, fascinating guy. This was a blast! You can expect more of these recordings from him in the future, so keep an eye out.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more details about next week’s show at the Sequential Art Gallery. Hooray!

Art

Sketchdump 8.23.14

Proud to say I’ve been back on the sketchbook horse this month after a lengthy fallow period, so I figured it was high time to show my work. Behold! Some nudes from a figure drawing session last week (five- and one-minute poses, respectively):

There’s also a bundle of progress shots from my work on the Charles W. Morgan travelogue, random sketchbook pages, and the odd outfit sketch or two.

Gosh you guys: drawing for fun is FUN. Did you know? I forget sometimes. I’ll try to do another of these before too long!

Comics, News

Boston Travelogue Now Available via Patreon

Greetings, friends! For those of you not currently involved in my Patreon page, I just wanted to put the official word out that I’m updating my Boston travelogue comic there with a new page every week for Patrons pledging $1 a month or more. There are several patronage levels that nab you a variety of perks, from PDFs of all my published work to a weekly behind-the-scenes post about what I’ve been working on, and enable me to focus more on telling these kinds of stories. Win-win!

The Boston travelogue comic serializes my recent trip aboard the Charles W. Morgan–an 1840s wooden whaling vessel–and blends the page-a-day travelogue style of Grand Adventure with the historical interests of Baggywrinkles. I’m really happy with how it’s been coming together, and I’d love to share it with you early via this new platform. (The finished comic will be full color watercolor, but these sneak peek pages on Patreon are digitally toned.)

I’ll also be having a solo show at Portland’s Sequential Art Gallery in September to display all the original art from the journey. The opening reception takes place Thursday, September 4th from 6pm-10pm and I’d love to see you there. The completed print edition of the comic will be making its debut in full color at SPX later that month, too. You can check out my list of upcoming appearances on the lefthand side of this page for all Fall show dates!

See you on Patreon,

Comics, News

GWS Guest Strips Up and Running

Big week, friends! While I’m still away doing Boat Stuff in Boston, my five-strip guest arc for Danielle Corsetto’s delightful series Girls with Slingshots begins running TODAY. Check back on the GWS site each day this week to follow Hazel and Jamie in their quest for reasonable underwear. I promise it will be a thrilling ride.

I’m also selling the original inked artwork from these five strips over in my store, so give ’em a look if you’ve been in the market for some Lucy Bellwood originals.

And if you want to come see myself, Danielle, and Erika Moen in the flesh, we’ll be doing an event at Bridge City Comics in Portland this Saturday from 6pm – 9pm. I’m honored to get to sign alongside these rockstar dames, and Bridge City is one of my favorite comic shops in town, so get’cherself over there and say hello! Here’s what we all look like in case you feel alarmed or confused.

Enjoy the guest arc and I hope to see some of you on Saturday when I’m back from the East Coast!

News

New Disruptors Interview

Hey gang! I’m away on the East Coast this week, but fortunately you can pretend I’m not on a boat by listening to my dulcet tones on The New Disruptors, a delightful podcast run by Mr. Glenn Fleishman, editor of The Magazine.

We sat down and had a fabulous talk about…well, all sorts of stuff. Careers and Kickstarter and Periscope and being a young kid in a professional life that feels like it’s moving a million miles a minute. It was a real pleasure talking with Glenn, and I highly recommend the rest of the people he’s nabbed for the podcast. Diverse, compelling discussions about new media, freelancing, and other topics near and dear to my heart.

And if you enjoy the show, why not support it on Patreon? I hear all the cool kids are doing it nowadays.