Category: News

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!

sailor ink FINAL

 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.

857760_524998757545647_450193291_o

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?).

Skinny

Until next time, friends!

Conventions

Emerald City Comicon THIS WEEKEND!

logo

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.

737065548Yeah, 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!

Art, Main, News

Free Workshops Next Week! Creative Motivation and Kick-Ass Kickstarters

Come learn things from me! I am a PROFESSIONAL.

As promised, here are the details for the two free workshops I’ll be teaching next week at Reed College. These puppies are open to the public and will involve SNACKS. Do I have your attention yet? Good!

First up is Freelance Badassery 101: Maintaining Enthusiasm in the Face of the Unknown (Monday, January 21st, 5pm-7pm). This is a long and fancy-sounding name for a very simple class. The goal is to help you figure out what you love doing, then empower you to do it more and do it better. It’s a class for anyone wishing to light a creative fire under their ass. It’s gonna have some nitty-gritty info about contracts and taxes and invoices and other business things that might be useful to a freelancer, but what comes first is the Work. And that’s what we’re going to tackle head-on. BYO creative self-doubt demons. They’ll be begging for mercy by the time we’re done. Facebook event with directions and other info is here!

The second workshop is Kickstarter Bootcamp: Harnessing the Herd to Make Your Creative Dreams Come True (Wednesday, January 23rd, 5pm-7pm). This will be a hands-on, practical info workshop for those wishing to fund their creative endeavors. The first hour will cover Kickstarter basics, then we’ll critique specific projects. If you have something brewing that you’d like feedback or advice on, bring it in! I’ll be spilling all the dark secrets I learned while riding out the True Believer Kickstarter (730% funded?! How is that even POSSIBLE?!) and incorporating lessons from other successful projects in the Portland area. Facebook event with directions and other info is here!

Both workshops will take place in the Gray Campus Center at Reed College (3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.). The GCC sits in the central Quad and also houses the College’s dining hall. Parking is available in the North Lot (enter on SE Steele and SE 33rd) or the East Lot (enter on SE Woodstock and SE 36th). The workshop will be held in the Campus Center conference rooms, GCC B, GCC C, and GCC D. Most anyone should be able to steer you towards them, if campus maps prove unhelpful.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to email me at lucypcbellwood(at)gmail(dot)com!

Hope to see some of you there.

 

Art, Main, News

New Year, New Hats, New News!

Hello everyone! It’s 2013! Isn’t that crazy? I think so.

This year was my first as a Real Live Cartoonist, and it’s been a hell of a ride. I was about to start writing a list of all the stuff that happened, but I got exhausted just thinking about it. Let’s just say A Lot of Stuff went down. Comics, dance, work, travel, freelance, moving, breakups, unbreakups, practice, growth, change — and 2013 just keeps looking better. I have another two months at Periscope (which, for the record, is the most inspiring and wonderful work environment ever), two of my comics will be published by people who are not me before July, there’s a new issue of Baggywrinkles in the works, and it’s looking like I’ll be traveling to at least FIVE conventions this year. I’m excited, inspired, and ready to make more art. What more could a girl ask for?

I also got a very kind mention in Tony Cliff’s 12 from 2012 list for Paste Magazine. Tony is the mastermind behind the adventures of Delilah Dirk — one the most beautifully-executed and delightful webcomics out there today. I’m immensely chuffed to see Baggywrinkles alongside such an impressive gaggle of names, and I highly recommend that you go check out the rest of the group. There’s just too much awesome stuff happening in comics right now.

Speaking of awesome stuff, here’s some exciting news! The story I’m illustrating for Symbolia Magazine is now officially underway. Here are all my thumbnails laid out and ready to go:

A_o7l3oCQAEUhGK

The issue with our story won’t be out until June, but expect several sneak peeks as I work through pencils and inks over the next couple months. Sarah Mirk has put together some really powerful stories, and I can’t wait to start working on them in earnest.

Weekly drawing challenges continue unabated. Here are the 50 Hats I promised last week:

HatsDone

And I’m making noises about doing an alphabet series involving figures from Classical Greece — gods, goddesses, heroes, legends, etc — as a tactic for improving my inking technique. Here’s a photo of the Athena sketch that got me started on the idea.

athena

If you have any favorite Greek figures, perhaps you’d care to leave their names in the comments? I’ll probably be taking suggestions as I go…

Apart from that, work continues unabated. I’m in California until next week, and then it’s back to the grey northwest for more drawing, more food carts, and more…nope, those are basically the only two things I’ll be paying attention to for a while. OH! I’m also going to be teaching some workshops later this month: Freelance Badassery and Kickstarter Bootcamp. Keep an eye out for dates and times as soon as I have them.

OKAY. PHEW.

We’re really done now.

Main, News

Convention Time! San Francisco! Baggywrinkles 3 Debut!

Hey gang,

I write to you from not-very-sunny-at-all San Francisco, where I’m settling in for a weekend of crazy awesome goodness at APE! For those in the area, APE will be taking place at the Concourse Exhibition Center this Saturday and Sunday from 11-7 and 11-6 respectively. Passes are $10 for one day or $15 for the whole weekend and it’s gonna be OFF. THE. WALL. Here’s a map of the whole exhibit floor:

And here’s the weeny little corner where Baggywrinkles Headquarters (that’s myself and the incredible Mr. Sam Alden of Gingerland Comics) will be rockin’ out at Table 718:

Speaking of which, Baggywrinkles #3 is OFFICIALLY COMPLETED!

It was a crazy couple weeks in there, especially considering that I waded through a 100 degree fever and a debilitating neck injury while trying to ink the last 10 pages of the comic, but as my mother always said “You can’t keep a good nautically-inclined cartoonist lady down.”

So here it is! 20 pages of hand-sewn, lip-smackin’ nautical comics goodness. I only printed a limited number for the show this weekend, so if you want one, be sure to stop by early. If I don’t sell out, I’ll be putting the remainder online in the store when I get back and start the full print run.

That’s all for now, Baggies and Wrinklers. I can’t wait to see some of you out this weekend!

Hugs and kisses,

Lucy

Main, News

The New Storefront is LIVE!

Hey everyone!

I’ve got a lot of art lined up to start posting here this week, but before we get to that I wanted to let you all know that my new storefront is officially online! This means True Believer is now available to the general public, t-shirts are up for pre-order (probably ready within the next two weeks), and all my other comics are back in stock. Ready to start loading up on goodies? Then point your browsers to

And since I can’t leave you with no art at all in this post, here’s a quick comic from yesterday about my fraught artistic process.

Stay tuned for more!

Art, Main, News

General Kickstarter Update & A Local Appearance!

Heads up, Portland friends! I’ll be tabling at the Portland Zine Symposium’s AmaZine Fest THIS SATURDAY (June 23rd) at the IPRC (1001 SE Division). The general idea for the event is a Farmer’s Market for zinesters, so come on down pick up a fine selection of fresh-pressed comics and zines. I’ll have Baggywrinkles 1 & 2 on hand.

What else is new in Lucyland? Well, after selling out of all my backstock at VanCAF, I’ve been facing a reprint avalanche of older titles on top of the new True Believer run. In the last three weeks I’ve printed, hand-punched, and sewn 500 copies of Baggywrinkles, cleaned up, laid out, and printed the first edition of Wherefore, and spent hours figuring out how best to prepare True Believer for the offset printing process.

I’m also gearing up to do a new run of Tales from the Fragment, which is the most labor-intensive comic I’ve made to date. Each copy needs to be scored in 13 places, cut out by hand, and folded into its final form. What was I thinking when I made this thing?!

More progress by the numbers…

I’ve painted a boat a day for over a week (here’s a sampler)…

Sketched in 45 special edition comics (more samples)…

Pinned 150 buttons to bits of card stock…

Printed and packaged 9 oversized prints and three original pages…

AND cooked one backer dinner.

 Remember, kids: real cartoonists eat vegetables for breakfast.

To wrap up, I’m currently in conversation with Portland’s own Modified Printing about the run of FIGHT FOR YOUR ART t-shirts, which is getting exciting, and I’m finally moving ahead with quotes from various offset printers for True Believer.

PHEW.

Of course, to top it off I got mega sick this week, so bear with me while I try to stop looking like this:

And on that cheery note, I’ll see you all next week! Stay heathy, comics lovers.