News – Page 16 – Lucy Bellwood

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!

Main, News

PDX Zine Symposium Tomorrow!

Hey sailors (and non-sailors)! Just a reminder that I’ll be at the Portland Zine Symposium tomorrow with a bundle of awesome stuff to sell. “What kind of stuff would this be?” you might ask. I WILL TELL YOU.

There will be Baggywrinkles 1 & 2, Tales from the Fragment, nautical button packs(!!!), squeaks of the coveted squeaky walrus (only 5 cents!), and (new for this event) genuine Monkey’s Fist necklaces! Check out this knot-tacular action:

A little bit of background, for those of you not familiar: The Monkey’s Fist is a knot generally tied around a spherical, heavy object (like a lead ball or, in this case, a marble) to create a long-flying projectile. The proper term for such a thing is a heaving line, which was often attached to heavier mooring lines when the distance required to get them to dock was too far for a sailor to throw the line itself. With the heaving line attached to the mooring line, it was possible for a sailor to launch the former a long distance (due to its weighted end) and then let those ashore haul the mooring line across.

While flinging heaving lines is damn good fun, it can become a bad habit for docking, so remember kids: they’re a privilege, not a right. And throwing a mooring line on its own inherently makes you more of a badass. So don’t get lazy.

EH-HEM. ANYWAY.

SOME BUTTONS!

I don’t know why having buttons makes me freak out in an “OhmygawdI’marealcartoonist!” kind of way (possibly because everyone seems to have them and they’re “cool”), but I’m really excited to have them. I’ll be selling them in packs of three, but if you ask nicely I’d probably sell you one on its own for 50 cents or something. There are a few nerdy sailor ones, several that say “Stay Baggy,” a rare few that say “The entire ocean is broken,” and some general nautical varieties. If I have leftovers from the Symposium this weekend I’ll get them up on the site.

That’s all for now! I really encourage you all to come out this weekend, since the event is free (FREE!!!) and there will be something like 140 awesome people tabling. Unfortunately we don’t get table assignments until the morning check-in, but if you really have to know where I am before you come, I’ll be posting my location on Twitter once I’m set up.

Hope to see you guys tomorrow!

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!

***

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!

News

The Shift

The past couple weeks have brought many things! Allow me to fill you in on them:

1. An unexpected family medical situation, which had me down at the UCLA Medical Center for four days, put a chaotic end to my summer. Fortunately, everything was resolved satisfactorily — aside from the fact that our family road trip to Portland had to be canceled. So I suddenly found myself trying to pack a carload of stuff into a very meager quantity of checked and carry-on luggage. Fortunately, via a series of compassionate airline workers and cunning bribes, I managed to stow away on a 747 bound for the Pacific Northwest with bags that very definitely did not fit the size/weight restrictions.

2. On that note: I have returned to Portland! Moving into a new house always involves a lot of “How did I amass all this useless SHIT?!” but it’s enjoyable nonetheless. Books are on shelves, which is always a good sign, and I’m going to pick up a new drawing table this afternoon! This will greatly assist in the process of producing MOAR COMICS.

3. I finished my latest binding project, a handmade cookbook for a dear friend, which can now be seen on the arty-type books page. Take a peek!

4. In the midst of all this chaos, Baggywrinkles Vol. 1 is being readied for its first proper print run. I’ve been hard at work designing and inking the covers and will hopefully be producing the first 100 copies very soon. Sneak peek at the progress: It’s going to be beauuuutiful.

I’m slowly wending my way through the halls of PayPal, too, so I’ll be able to sell copies directly through the Emporium when the time comes — watch this space!