Category: Art

Art, Main

Bros of the Crimean War

The massive post-poly/mono-comic site traffic explosion (more on that later) has tapered off somewhat, but I still feel bad that people seem to be checking back and I have yet to do anything new. So, here are some Crimean Bros to be going on with. Bask in all their muttonchoppy glory. A choppy sea of mutton. And so on. The comic that I’m working on around these studies will be up by Sunday, so check back thereabouts for fun new material that has nothing to do with my previous work (sorry, you fierce poly-mono debatin’ dudes). Might also have a quick bonus comic done in the next few days. Keep checkin’.

ON WITH THE MUTTON.

Art, Main

Wherefore: The Box

Finally got around to properly photographing the sculptural container I created for the preliminary Wherefore illustrations last term! Woo!

The premise of this project was the creation of an interactive structure that could contain the six illustrations I completed while integrating text from Hélène Cixous’ Coming to Writing — an extremely beautiful and provocative essay about cultural identity and the power of the multiplied voice. I highly recommend it.

There was a vague thought of making the final volume of comics small enough to fit in said box along with the folding art/text piece, but I realized the resultant work would have to be laughably small. Still, there’s the potential for a massive Turkish Delight box in my future if I want to create one that can contain a full-size book.

Anyway, on with the piccies!

Art

Annual Badgers

Hello all! I return from California (not particularly) bronzed and (moderately) well-rested. As I scan a few things and prepare to reprint the Baggies, I thought I’d post a few badgers to be going on with. For the past 3 or 4 years I’ve drawn my father a badger every year for most major holidays. It’s about as close a thing to a spirit animal as I think he’ll ever have, and it’s been his nickname forever and ever. Fitting. Anyway, some of these rely on strange Bellwood family in-jokes (or, in the case of the most recent, a familiarity with Eddie Izzard), but I thought they might be amusing for the general public as well. Here are three of the most recent to keep you occupied.

(Art-Stix is an artistic endeavor launched by my father last year. He designs awesome artistic bookmarks.)

Enough badgers for now.

 

 

Art, Main, News

Thanks, Infos, Travels

First off, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who came out to the Zine Symposium and braved the musty stench to chat, browse, buy comics, and generally make my weekend totally awesome. It was a great experience and has me really excited to get going on a number of new projects. Pictures will probably materialize in the next couple weeks.

On a connected note: the Symposium was such a success that I’ve actually sold out of Baggywrinkles No. 2! I am a) mad at myself for not printing more in the first place and b) completely thrilled in spite of a. This was a completely unexpected turn of events, but rest assured I’ll be getting it reprinted as soon as I can. Orders for the single issue and the Combo Pack will stay open on PayPal, but just be aware that there will be a 2 week delay on those shipments. My sincerest apologies for that, but I’ll be out of town for the coming week and won’t be able to tackle the printing until I get back. If you’re in Portland, there are several copies still available at Reading Frenzy downtown, so if you can’t wait I’d say that’s your best bet.

In featured Portland events, I’ll be dancing as a finalist in the Portland Blues and Jazz Dance Society’s Annual Strictly Blues competition tonight at 10:30! The venue is at SE 6th and Alder in Lenora’s Ballroom. Admission is free for first-timers, there’s a lesson for newbies at 8:30, and the dancing goes until 1am! Nothin’ to lose there. The lineup is going to be fantastic and I’m utterly thrilled to be dancing with such rockstars, so come out and see us strut our stuff!

Finally, I’ll be going home to Ojai for the next week or so to get some concentrated work done on Wherefore (that autobio graphic novel project about dual citizenship and cultural identity I was going on about all the time a few months back). I’m behind on my goals, so getting out of Portland will be a good impetus to power through a lot of a pages. As a result, I’ll be off the interwebs for a bit, but rest assured, updates will resume very soon indeed!

Thanks for checking in, and I’ll see y’all in a week!

Art, Main, News

HERE IT COMES!

Hey everyone. So, in honor of my birthday (which is today), I’m releasing all my exciting news in one fell swoop. We’ve got new comics, reprints, a fan page, and a convention appearance all up in here, so read on!

First, and most importantly, Baggywrinkles #2 is FINALLY HERE!

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It’s been too long in the works, but I’m very proud to see it out in the world at last. This volume, as those of you who have been following its glacial progress here on the blog probably know, is all about traditional sailors’ tattoos. Superstitious ones, useful ones, boastful ones, all in there. Eight pages, like the last one, but this time I’ve switched it up with a BLUE cover.

Oh yes. Bold strides.

Both issues will soon be available for physical purchase in the following fine Portland establishments: Guapo Comics and Coffee, Reading Frenzy, Floating World Comics, and (hopefully) Powell’s Books!

I’m also offering a deal through the site and at the Portland Zine Symposium in August: Both issues of the comic and a bonus nautical button for 5 bucks! Saves you a dollar. Everyone likes having an extra dollar. Check out the Emporium for more info!

SECONDLY:

Tales from the Fragment has been reprinted and is ready to ship!

If you remember way back last year when I first wrote about this project, it’s a sculptural foldy comic which incorporates its hand-cut wrapper into the storytelling process. Silly meta stuff, but I had so much fun with it that I wanted to make some more to share with folks. They’re going at 5 bucks a pop to cover all the arthritis surgery I’ll need one day from going around all those tricky stalagmites with my X-acto knife.

THIRDLY:

If you’re the kind of person who likes keeping up with news via Facebook, Baggywrinkles (and, by extension, my other artistic adventures) has its own fan page! My understanding is that if you “Like” it you get sweet updates on all my comics-related doings. Hot damn!

AAAAAND FINALLY:

I’ll see you all in person at the Portland Zine Symposium on August 6th and 7th! It’s free, and there will be a ton of awesome folks there, so you really have no excuse not to come.

Thanks for sticking with me, folks. I know this isn’t the most regular of update schedules, but I’m really excited to share all this stuff with you.

Art, News

Slew of Stuff

Well well well. It’s been a while. I know. Believe me. But things have been happening! Good things! Some of them are even comics related!

So let’s get on with that.

If any of you happen to pick up a shiny copy of the IPRC’s July + August catalog in the next couple weeks, you’ll be able to see my work on the cover! The illustration basically encompasses what I wanted to be doing back when Portland wasn’t cooperating with the whole “Summer weather” routine. Fortunately those days are over. Time for sidewalk chalk and lemonade! …and comics.

Here ’tis, reproduced on the web for your viewing pleasure.

I’ve also secured a table for the Portland Zine Symposium in August, where I’ll have Baggywrinkles 1 and 2, well as some copies of Tales from the Fragment (remember that?), and maybe some hand-bound blank journals. Woop woop!

However, I have to admit that these last couple weeks have involved very little drawing. As may not be completely apparent from this site, I spend a hell of a lot of time social dancing when I’m not making arts, and summer in Portland means huge dance events all the freaking time. I’ve driven to and from Colorado for Aspen Blues Recess, a week of dancing in marble quarries, aspen groves, pedestrian malls, and artisan hobbit holes, placed second in the local Jack and Jill competition with the ever-talented Kai Hayashi*, and danced over 8 hours a day (often until the sun rose over Mt. Hood) for four days during the Portland Blues Experience.

Needless to say, having limped home from the last of those events on Tuesday morning at 7 a.m., I’m a little shattered, but hopefully the next few weeks will bring recovery and lots of artwork into this magical internet of ours.

*For those of you who don’t know what blues dancing is, or are just interested in seeing the competition, here are a couple of videos from the finals!

Art

Stretching

Trying to keep my drawing muscles in shape while I work on the script (yes, SCRIPT. WITH WORDS. Crazy, I know.) for Wherefore. I’ve been so inspired by re-reading (and re-re-reading, and re-re-re-reading) Jen Wang’s Koko Be Good that I’m considering adding some watercolors to my linework for the final product, so tonight I started doing some small studies.

I’ve also been meaning to try drawing more animals, so there will probably be more of these in the future. Couldn’t be arsed to scan them, since my computer is reaching the point where merely thinking about opening Photoshop sends it into a panic attack, but rest assured they’re all transparent and watercolorey in real life.

(Reference photo credit for the extraordinary bird on the right goes to the phenomenal Andrew Zuckerman from his book…can you guess? Bird.)
Art

The Figure: Semester Recap (NSFWish)

Yes, yes, it’s another figure drawing post so, y’know, the occasional boob may have snuck in. Be warned.

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Since it’ll be a few days before I get around to properly photographing the Wherefore container, I thought I’d entertain you all with some coursework. Here’s a selection of gesture drawings, anatomical/foreshortening studies, and a series of longer poses exploring midtone paper from this semester’s Figure class.

And, as a bonus: CANDLE FINGERS! This was our final project, which centered around modification of the body. I built the double-ended finger candle from casts of my own digits, recast the whole thing in beeswax, then lit it on fire during critique while giving a reading of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “First Fig”. For whatever reason, horizontal candles burn much faster than vertical ones, so the final state of waxy carnage (pictured at right) probably only took about 15 minutes to fully achieve.

Stay tuned!