News – Page 9 – Lucy Bellwood

Summer Travels: The 38th Voyage

Big news, friends! I’ve been selected to participate in a fellowship program through the Mystic Seaport Maritime Museum this summer, sailing aboard the last wooden whaling ship in the world — the Charles W. Morgan. This is a huge thrill, and promises to be the catalyst for a new installment of adventurous nautical comics. Just look at this beauty:

Originally launched in the 1840s, the Morgan has been fully restored and will be sailing around the Eastern Seaboard for three months this summer, taking on 80 fellowship participants who will each capture an aspect of the voyage according to their own disciplines. Needless to say I’ll be drawing some comics and sharing them all with you when I return! Here’s the itinerary:

While the stint aboard is brief (a mere 24 hours), I hope to use my time in the area to visit a few other vessels as well as Mystic Seaport itself to gather more info for the comic. I’ll very likely be based in Boston during the trip, and am looking into the possibility of doing a reading while I’m there, so stay tuned for more details as July draws near!

You can learn more about the various voyagers and their many specialties here. I’ll be sailing on the second day sail from Provincetown on or around July 10th. For more information about the voyage, the ship’s restoration, and local events you can attend, visit Mystic Seaport’s homepage for the 38th Voyage.

Do you live in Boston and have a recommendation for a good reading venue? Let me know! Otherwise keep your eyes peeled for reading details, further updates and sketches from the road once I set out.

News

TCAF TCAF TCAF

Great news, Canada! You can find me slinging comics this weekend at the ever-so-fabulous Toronto Comic Arts Festival. It remains far and away my favorite show of 2013 and I’m sure this year will be even more excellent than the last. For starters I have so many more comics to share with you than I did last year! LOOK AT ALL THESE COMICS: GOLLY. Then there’s the stellar guest list, the super cool panels, and the FREE ADMISSION. Do I have your attention yet? GOOD, ‘CAUSE IT’S GONNA BE A PARTY AND I WANT YOU TO BE THERE. You can find me on the ground floor at Table 145 in the Toronto Reference Library from 9am – 5pm on Saturday May 10th and 11am – 5pm on Sunday May 11th so no excuses come say hello.

WOO!

Art, News

New Nautical Postcards

I’ve added not one, but TWO new postcards to my nautical line-up as of this morning. You can now own prints of HMS Rose (otherwise known as HMS Surprise in Master and Commander) and the Peking (last of the prestigious Flying-P line) via my online emporium. These cards feature the same matte, silky goodness previously seen on the barn swallow prints, plus 1/4″ rounded corners for maximum charm factor. Buy a pack of 5 or treat yourself to a variety bundle. The 16pt card stock is extra hefty so as to withstand the rigors of the postal system should you choose to mail any of these via the postcard format supplied on the back:

I’ll also have these designs available at TCAF in a couple weeks — stay tuned for more details!

News

Emerald City Comicon This Weekend!

Yes! It’s here! Convention season! Madness! Excitement! Comics! Emerald City Comicon, the Pacific Northwest’s biggest comics event, is THIS WEEKEND and I want YOU to come out and say hello. The show runs all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Washington State Convention Center. Hours are 10-7 Friday and Saturday, and 10-5 Sunday. Also: event tickets are sold out! So I guess this is really a post for those of you who are already planning to be there. You can find me tabling with a slew of folks from Periscope Studio at Table Island 1214 (see the ginormo map at left) with my shiny new swallow postcards, a brand new issue of Cartozia Tales (#3! At last!), print editions of Grand Adventure, the full suite of Baggywrinkles comics, and many other goodies. I’ll also be on two (yes, TWO!) panels: On Saturday: It’s NOT Too Dangerous To Go Alone: Finding the courage to do it yourself “How long have you been thinking about starting that comic, game, or band? Feel scared? Join the club! Just don’t let it stop you. Learn how navigate through self-doubt, motivational issues & lack of know-how on your way to victory!” With Erika Moen, Dylan Meconis, Angela Webber, and Kenna Conklin Room: HALL C (610) Time: 11:20AM – 12:10PM And on Sunday: Freelance Like a Rock Star “Do you fantasize about being self-employed but you just don’t even know where to start? Shh, shh, little friend, no more tears – this group of seasoned pros is here to share their hard-won knowledge with you so you can freelance like a rock star, too.” With Matt Bors, Erika Moen, Steve Lieber, and Dylan Meconis Room: 2B Time: 4:00PM – 4:50PM See you in Seattle, friends!

Art, News

“Setting Realistic Goals” Talk @ Making Comics MOOC

So this is something of a new game for me: in a few weeks I’ll be speaking on a panel of creators as part of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) run by MakingComics.com. The CEO, Patrick Yurick, was actually at CCS the same summer I went through my Comics Conversion and started doing this stuff for living, so it’s pretty neat to see where the two of us have ended up after four years.

The course is free and open to the public, with a pretty minimal time commitment and a rockstar line-up of creators ready to talk about four key topics as each week of the course goes by. It’s like a panel discussion where you can log in and ask questions in real time. The course is perfect for those of you looking to launch a comic or learn more about the process of going from idea to finished product.

Here’s the flier for the week I’ll be participating:

Look at all those cool dudes! We’re gonna get technical up in this business — motivational techniques, time management, maintaining momentum oooooh yeahhhhh. However! To attend the talk you’ll need to register for the course (again: FREE) before this Saturday. If you’d like to learn more before you register, or take a gander at the other weeks’ guests, click here — there’s a great FAQ about how the MOOC is structured and run.

Hope to see you online April 9th! And be sure to register this weekend to participate.

News

“The Secret Life of Gitmo’s Women” Featured on Narratively

In-depth, human-interest news platform Narratively featured a comic of mine this week. “The Secret Life of Gitmo’s Women” collects the two interviews I illustrated for Symbolia Magazine in collaboration with writer Sarah Mirk early last year. These two stories haven’t been free to read online before now, so head over and take a look. (Note: these comics deal with issues of harassment and sexual assault. Please read with awareness.)

The comic has also been accepted to this year’s Open Engagement conference in New York, where Laura Sandow (one of the veterans we worked with) will be presenting it in May. Unfortunately it sounds like I won’t be able to make the conference due to conflicting convention arrangements, but I do hope those of you in the New York area can go check it out. More on the Open Engagement homepage.

Conventions, News

Wizard World Portland This Weekend

Stumptown Comics Festival 2013 — Photo by Kai Hayashi

It’s that time of year again, friends: Con Season is upon us! So come say hello at my first convention appearance of 2014, Wizard World Portland. I’ll be in Artists’ Alley at Table C57 slinging comics, watercolor birds, buttons, shirts, and other goodies. In addition to Baggywrinkles, Cartozia Tales, Waterlogged, and Grand Adventure, I’ll also have limited copies of Rock Ink Roll, the anthology containing Mr. Tambourine Man!

The show runs 3pm-8pm Friday, 10am-7pm Saturday, and 10am-5pm Sunday at the Oregon Convention Center. Tickets are ten bucks cheaper on the Wizard World website, so be sure to check out their ticket portal before you go.

See you there!

News

Holiday Extravaganza Sale!

Festive greetings, friends! In keeping with the season I’ve decided to run a promotion in my store for the next two weeks: 15% off your entire order with the code BIRDBOATS. This includes single issues and bundles of Baggywrinkles, freshly-printed copies of Grand Adventure, nautical button packs, shirts, custom watercolor bird commissions, and the very handsome Waterlogged anthology from Cloudscape Comics. Simply enter the code during checkout to apply your discount. Have at it!

News

Grand Adventure Reviewed on Comics Bulletin

Woke up to a lovely review of Grand Adventure from Mr. Jason Sacks in Comics Bulletin’s small press review column this morning. Here’s an excerpt:

Because she’s so honest with her emotions as the three weeks go by, we don’t just get a set of images about Upper Elves’ Canyon and Tequila Beach in this comic; instead, readers feel part of Lucy’s reactions to the events and see ourselves in her excitement and worry and absolute joy. It’s similar to hearing a smart friend telling a series great stories over lunch about her fantastic times spent immersed in the Grand Canyon’s splendor.

Thanks, Jason! You can read the whole review over here on Comics Bulletin (scroll to the bottom for the review). If you’d like to purchase a copy of Grand Adventure to see what all the fuss is about, you can order a physical one here or a digital one here!

Main, News

Talking Kickstarter with ConSequential

If you’re looking for some good audio material for your Thursday afternoon, I recently did an interview with Mr. Dave Convery of the ConSequential podcast all about everyone’s favorite topic: Kickstarter! We discuss the merits and pitfalls of crowdfunding for comics, as well as some other nonsense. In their own words, the episode boasts:

More comics! More jokes! More interviews! More inexplicable digressions about cauliflower. These people got mad brassica love, yo.

So go on, you mustard-mad heathens. Give it a listen.