Lucy Bellwood

TCAF This Weekend! New Issue of Baggywrinkles! EXCLAMATORY STATEMENTS!

Hey gang! Have I got news for you. Not only am I flying to TORONTO tomorrow to table at TCAF, but I’ve also just completed the fourth installment of BAGGYWRINKLES! I AM REALLY EXCITED ABOUT ALL OF THIS.

So. Here are the deets:

Baggywrinkles #4: The Plank (prototype edition).

This sucker is making its debut this weekend at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. After I get back from the show, I’ll be putting it up for free right here on the site so you can get all your plank-learnin’ in one place. I’ll also be re-stocking back issues of Baggywrinkles, so the store will once more be fully operational! Thanks for your patience during the last couple months. Things have been nuts.

Speaking of TCAF, here’s what’s up: I’ll be at table #148 with my buddy Jen Vaughn in the Toronto Public Library Saturday and Sunday this weekend. The show is totally free and full of incredible cartoonists from all over the globe. I am so. thrilled. to be participating this year. Come say hi, squeak the walrus, check out some nautical comics goodness. You know the drill.

SEE YOU IN CANADA!

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Stumptown Comics Fest This Weekend!

It’s that time of year again, folks! The Stumptown Comics Fest arrives this weekend and I’ll be boating it up at table D02 with fellow nautical cartoonist Molly Hayden for all your Baggywrinkle-related needs. The show runs Saturday (10am to 6pm) and Sunday (12pm-6pm) at the Oregon Convention Center, and costs $10 per day or $15 for the whole weekend — a steal! Kory Bing was kind enough to make this goofy map, where you can see all the fabulous folks who’ll be tabling around me!

Basically, it’s gonna be a party.

Speaking of parties, I’ll also be participating in the annual Stumptown Art Battle during the official Saturday night after party at the Jupiter Hotel! Come see me duke it out with fellow cartoonists Ming Doyle, Dash Shaw, Jeff Parker, Mike Russell, and Cat Farris as we vie for your drunken approval.

ADDITIONALLY: Those of you who missed my Freelance Badassery talk in January can catch it in an all-new incarnation on Saturday from 12-12:45 in Room B113. The Righteous Creative will be a snappy 45-minute pep talk to help you navigate the pitfalls of dealing with inner critics and figuring out how to do the work you love. We’ll discuss strategies for conquering the blank page, building and maintaining momentum, and staying on target. Bring your best creative productivity tips, as there will be a skill-share portion of the discussion.

Apart from that, I’ll just be hanging out at the table for the rest of the weekend, so come say hello! Table wares include Baggywrinkles 1, 2, and 3*, True Believer, Tales from the Fragment, button packs, prints, ladies’ t-shirts, original watercolors (I only have a few of the super-popular talking birds left!), and the one, the only, SQUEAKY WALRUS.

*A note about Baggywrinkles #4: Although I had originally planned to have the issue out by Stumptown, my unexpected trip home to help my dad recover from hip surgery threw a spanner in the works and set me back a few weeks. Rest assured, I’m busting my buns to get it finished in time for TCAF, so if you’re dying for a copy it should be here by mid-May. Thanks for understanding, guys! I’ll bring some of the in-progress pages so you can all get a sneak peek.

See you on the floor!

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Nope

Some days, man.

This was largely a practice piece to try drawing a comic start to finish in Photoshop. I definitely prefer Manga Studio for inking, but until I upgrade to the new release I’m still more comfortable doing color stuff in PS — though lordy do I still have a lot to learn. This is all because I’ve started a rad secret project with two amazing digital artists (Bridget and Carolyn!) and need to get myself up to speed with their lightning-fast abilities. Anyway, baby steps.

Leave a holler in the comments if you have any favorite digital coloring resources or inspirations!

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Avatar Commission

After doing a series of lewd comics for the Portland Opera last year, resident opera historian Bob Kingston approached me with an intriguing avatar project. I’ve had a lot of fun incorporating all his hobbies and professional hats into this illustration over the past couple weeks. Can you guess what they all are?

Also: since I keep promising (and failing) to do some kind of in-depth process post, I thought I’d compromise by stringing together the various stages of this project into a single image. You can see the alterations throughout the design process below, from thumbnails to inks to washes to color! We toyed with the idea of including text, but eventually decided that the image worked better on its own.

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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!

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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!

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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!

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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!

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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!

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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!