Announcing our Kickstarter Collaboration with Portland-Based Cartoonist Lucy Bellwood!

(Cover Art by Lucy Bellwood)

I’ve been keeping this one under my hat for a little while now, friends, because I didn’t want to get super-excited (and, in turn, get you super-excited) until I knew for sure that it was a for-really-reals real thing.  Today, however, I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that I will be collaborating with Portland-based Cartoonist, Lucy Bellwood, on one of the rewards for her upcoming Kickstarter project (set to launch this coming Monday, July 20th) which will help fund the publication of her newest book: “Baggywrinkles: A Lubber’s Guide to Life at Sea”!

Lucy is an amazing artist and storyteller who I met through my involvement in the dance community, and have had much excitement about collaborating with for quite some time!  Her first Kickstarter-funded project, and first full-length comic, True Believer, which can now be downloaded and enjoyed digitally for free (woot!) touched a special part of my heart the first (and several subsequent times) that I read it, as it’s a very real story about what it means to be an artist today, and how it feels to muster the courage to do what you love.  Her comics, in general, are witty, poignant, and so incredibly real-to-life-stab-you-in-the-heart-and-soul-with-all-the-feels good (whew, that was a lot of hyphens, but seriously check out these recent ones: Salt Soap and Dance Yourself Clean).  Prior to publishing True Believer, though, Lucy has authored and illustrated a short, ongoing, comic-series, entitled Baggywrinkles.  From Lucy’s blog:

What is Baggywrinkles, you ask? Why, it’s my educational, autobiographical comic series about living aboard an 18th century tall ship! You can read the first five issues online for free, and check out new content from the series every week on Patreon. I’ve been working on these short stories intermittently since 2010, and I’m finally ready to bring the whole bundle together under one cover.

The Baggywrinkles book is going to be a 6″x9″, softcover collection featuring her already published issues 1-5, the never-before-seen-in-print Issue 6 (all about the history of scurvy), and a host of other exclusive goodies, one of which is the new limited-edition letterpress print she’s collaborating with us on! I couldn’t be more excited!  At one point, Lucy created a giant guide to sailors’ tattoos for the Vancouver Maritime Museum, which you can see her standing in front of in the photo below, and we’re going to help her turn it in to a limited-edition 2-color letterpress print!  It’s going to be so cool!!

(Photo by Erika Moen)

If you are interested in obtaining one of these fine prints for the comics, tattoo and/or sailor-lover in your life, the only way to do so is by going over and supporting Lucy’s Kickstarter campaign.  To find out more about the campaign, keep an eye on Lucy’s website, blog, or other social media of your choosing (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, or Instagram).  I’ll also try to keep you abreast of what’s going on with this project, ’cause if you couldn’t tell already, I’m a bit excited!  Thanks, Lucy!  Can’t wait!