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Lucy Bellwood

@lubellwoo

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Adventure Cartoonist and professional goof. SEACRITTERS! THE HUNT FOR THE JIGAMAREE with Kate Milford coming March ‘27 from Candlewick Press.
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IT’S FINALLY TIME TO GO PUBLIC. Seacritters! The Hunt for the Jigamaree is setting sail from @candlewickpress in March 2027, so we’re starting to show off all the hard work that went into this heart-filled, swashbuckling animal adventure story. Written by @katemilfordnagspeake and illustrated by me (@lubellwoo) with gorgeous colors from @nyaatalie & @charmgardens, this one’s been a true labor of love. Many thanks to the @santabarbarazoo and Poppy the capybara for going along with this stunt. Pre-orders are starting to open up across the web, so be sure to check your favorite bookshop to request it for next spring. #graphicnovel #middlegradebooks #anthroart #capybara taken in Santa Barbara Zoo by @lubellwoo
93
3 months ago
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The cover reveal is behind us, which means Seacritters! The Hunt for the Jigamaree finally gets a place on the grid! The graphic novel I’ve been drawing for the past five years (first in a trilogy) is finally coming to print March 2027! It features delightful writing by @katemilfordnagspeake, amazing interior colors by @nyaatalie and @charmgardens, lettering assistance by @dc_hopkins and @dmeconis, and editorial acumen from @skeetervm at @candlewickpress. Our story follows idealistic young badger Monty Mellivore as he tries to find his place at sea among a motley crew of capybaras, a pyromaniac echidna, and two hapless stoats (to name just a few), while hunting for a mythical sea monster. Pre-orders are opening up around the web, or you can request the book from your local comic shop, bookstore, or library with the ISBN: 9781536220681 If you use StoryGraph or Goodreads, you can also add it to your To Be Read shelf! AAAAAA IT’S HAPPENING. #seacritters #middlegradebooks #graphicnovel #badger #capybara The cover of Seacritters! The Hunt for the Jigamaree by Kate Milford and Lucy Bellwood. The bright blue and gold illustration shows Monty Mellivore, a hopeful-looking young badger, runs across the top of the cover toting a sailor’s ditty bag. Below the flashy gold title, Lettice the capybara swings into view holding her rig knife. Their ship, the Rodentia, a topsail schooner, sails through a nest of flailing tentacles in the background. by @lubellwoo
10
2 months ago
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Our next online artist talk is with @lubellwoo! The adventure cartoonist who previously penned short comics aboard wooden ships and river rafts shares strategies for staying focused while working on long-term, land-locked graphic novels. 🔗 link to RSVP in our bio #comicsclasses #graphicnovel A poster for Staying Sane on long comics projects with Lucy Bellwood, featuring spreadsheets, strategies, rituals, and routines! Sunday, October 11th 12pm-1pm Pacific Time / 3-4pm Eastern Time, Sliding Scale Cost: $0-$10, presented by Crucial Comix. Image is bright yellow and purple with two photos of Lucy brandishing finished pages of comics. by @lubellwoo
4
14 days ago
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A large watercolor piece of Delaware’s own @kalmar.nyckel! She’s a fully operational 131-foot replica launched in 1997, still welcoming over 30,000 visitors each year. The original Kalmar Nyckel was built c. 1625 as a Dutch pinnace and made four documented round trip Atlantic crossings in her lifetime—more than any other vessel of her era! I’m perpetually delighted by her sprit tops’l (that’s the sail rigged to that mini-mast at the very tip of the headrig). The modern-day volunteer crew do amazing work keeping her painted and cared for throughout the year. This piece was done on cold press watercolor paper with felt tip brush pens for the line work. (For the purists in the crowd: I did swap her usual baby blue paint job for a more vibrant red.) Prints are available in my shop at @buyoly! by @lubellwoo
11
19 days ago
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On Tuesday, September 29th @ojaiplayhouse will be hosting a free 7pm screening of HIGHLANDER in memory of my dad, Peter Bellwood. (The film turned 40 this year and got this gorgeous new cover art from @sophieblanddesign!) I’d love to pack the place with friends to celebrate his part in bringing this story to life as one of the original writers alongside Larry Ferguson and Gregory Widen. Thanks to @reesespieces_678 and @umuima for helping to make this screening happen. Reserve seats at ojaiplayhouse.com. by @lubellwoo
10
24 days ago
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Heads up that @barnesandnoble are currently running a BIG preorder sale through Friday 9/11, which includes my upcoming graphic novel with @katemilfordnagspeake, SEACRITTERS! THE HUNT FOR THE JIGAMAREE! Become a Barnes and Noble rewards member (it’s free to do so) and use PREORDER25 at checkout to get 25% off our swashbuckling, kid-friendly, capybara-filled adventure book. It’s Pirates of the Caribbean, Muppet Treasure Island, and Redwall all rolled into 252 pages of gorgeous, full-color comics. If you’re not familiar with the traditional publishing grind: preorders are our lifeblood. They let booksellers, reviewers, and our publisher (what’s up, @candlewickpress!) know that people are excited for this release, which means they’ll put more energy into helping us get it into the world. So let’s do ittttt. HUGE thanks to everyone who’s gotten a copy already. I think you’re all gems. #bnpreorder #seacritters #middlegradebooks #graphicnovelsforkids Seacritters! The Hunt for the Jigamaree preorder sale via Barnes and Noble! Take 25% off with code PREORDER25 through 9/11. by @lubellwoo
5
a month ago
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Day 15: I started replacing my annual resolutions with a single word for each year in 2014. “Ask” was the first, followed by “Tell.” These two still circle each other in my life, hence this card. I needed to ask for what I wanted in my 20s, rather than expecting people to guess. But the second year I changed tack because “Ask” felt like giving someone else control over my needs. “Tell” rested on my own experience. I can share what it is like for me. That’s really all I can do. I’m no longer asking “Is this real? Am I valid? Am I okay?” — except I am. We are. So many of us so much of the time are asking this, especially when we share our personal selves online. So maybe Ask rests within Tell, two sides of the same coin. “Tell” cuts the Gordian Knot. When I’ve talked about food stamps and imposter syndrome and publishing, it’s helped release the pressure of trying to be legible. It’s brought me into community with people who get it. It’s been a form of asking-without-asking, which then gets away from me, so I have to come back around to learning to ask again. These days I do a lot of asking, but it’s more internal. “How did five years of caregiving change me?” “What is the mark left by a dead parent?” “Who am I now that this vast graphic novel is done, and the next one is so close to starting?” “How do I live now?” The telling gets darker and weirder, more concerned with mortality and care and how we sustain our creative selves in trying times. It rests on fewer, deeper connections. It doesn’t play out so neatly in public. I last posted an installment from What She Knows, this very secret deck I drew for myself during the quarantine of 2020, at the tail end of 2024. It’s strange to share a project under these conditions—not relentlessly, day by day, but when it feels correct to do. I keep the next card in my mind and hold it up to the events of the week, asking “Is it now? Is it this?” Waiting for the perfect moment whirls between wisdom and a kind of avoidant perfectionism. Around and around we go. Tell, and keep going. Ask, and keep going. #whatsheknows #oraclecards #100dayproject An illustrated card nestled in a lush peace lily showing two faces in profile, mouths open and emitting a pair of entwined word balloons. The top one reads ask, the bottom one reads tell. Below is the word repeat. by @lubellwoo
5
a month ago
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Digital painting of the Ojai Meadows Preserve (beautifully stewarded by @ojaivalleylandconservancy) in the aftermath of a storm from 2021. I’m thinking a lot about this year’s El Niño, especially having been in the ocean last week and felt the unsettlingly warm temperatures on my own skin. We’ve had a remarkably wet string of winters, but this one looks likely to knock them all out of the running for wettest and wildest. Time to get those native seeds in the ground, check your pantry supplies, and connect with your neighbors. We’ve got a few months before things kick off in earnest and it’s far better to prep little by little in advance. by @lubellwoo
9
2 months ago
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IT'S HAPPENING TOMORROW! Who will win the battle for THE MOST COPIES OF SEACRITTERS? Will it be the RODENTIA, or our heroes' arch enemy, the NEMESIS? And possibly even more importantly, is that even a thing in the book, or it is it just in Tess's head? All I can promise you now is that if you follow @lubellwoo, TOMORROW you'll see the official cover reveal for our forthcoming graphic novel, SEACRITTERS! by @lubellwoo
0
3 months ago
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Meet Lucy Bellwood, an Adventure Cartoonist! You may be wondering how a role like this is connected to the blue economy. Well, do we have a story for you :) Lucy grew up in a little town called Ojai, California about 20 minutes from the ocean. She spent her childhood exploring Ventura County’s beaches, but it wasn’t until middle school that she developed a fascination with sailing and pirates. Then, she left home to crew aboard the Lady Washington, an 18th-century replica tall ship. When she became a cartoonist after college, those experiences formed the backbone of her first graphic novel: Baggywrinkles: a Lubber’s Guide to Life at Sea. THEN! Lucy got the chance to spend three weeks at sea as Artist-in-Residence aboard the R/V Falkor, a research vessel with the Schmidt Ocean Institute. She sketched her way through a Pacific mapping expedition and distilled the experience into the comic called Mappin’ the Floor, a project she made free to share with classrooms to spark engagement with marine science. Since then, she has hosted webinars about illustration in science communication, created posters about the fascinating world of kelp and kelp farming, and tackled many more projects along the way. She’s currently working on Seacritters!, a graphic novel trilogy with writer Kate Milford. Science can be complex, but understanding doesn’t have to be. Engaging illustration can bridge that gap. A well-drawn illustration or diagram can explain what pages of text can struggle to convey. This makes science more accessible, more human, and a lot more likely to stick. We need artists like Lucy to help bridge that gap between technical knowledge and community understanding (and to make it fun, while we’re at it). There are all kinds of jobs in the Blue Economy, and we want to show you what’s out there! We know the path isn’t always linear, so getting a little peek at the winding road is sometimes helpful. Stay tuned for more featurettes. @lubellwoo 👋 #illustration #blueeconomy #artist #scienceommunication by @lubellwoo
23
3 months ago
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Watercolor sketch of a lovely Bigberry Manzanita (Arctostaphylos glauca) done during a solo overnight in Los Padres National Forest. I’ve always been fascinated by these shrubs (now the official State Shrub of California, as of October 2025!) and their fluid-looking bark. by @lubellwoo
7
3 months ago
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Lettice the studio capybara got pretty faded in the sun, so it’s time to give her a fresh coat of ink. You can find her (and Monty the badger) in the pages of SEACRITTERS!, out next spring from @candlewickpress, written by @katemilfordnagspeake and colored spectacularly by @charmgardens & @nyaatalie. #Seacritters by @lubellwoo
20
3 months ago
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