Lucy Bellwood

Lucy Bellwood (born 1989)^[1] is an American cartoonist and illustrator known for her comics about tall ships and impostor syndrome, as well as her transparency about the economics of being a freelance artist.

Career

Her long-form work includes 100 Demon Dialogues, Baggywrinkles, the illustrations for How to Invent Everything by Ryan North, and the forthcoming Seacritters! (with writer Kate Milford).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Other illustrations and shorter comics have been published by Google AI and in Buzzfeed and The Nib.^[7][8][9]

100 Demon Dialogues began in 2017 as Bellwood's project for a 100-day creative challenge. She posted entries online throughout the process, gaining a following that appreciated the universal nature of her inner critic, which she rendered in the comics as a small demon.^[10][11] Following the project's online success, Bellwood compiled the 100 comics into a book, published in 2018.

Bellwood is also known for her transparency in discussing the financial realities of freelancing. She has published specifics of her income and expenses, spoken publicly about being on food stamps while being perceived as a successful artist,^[12] written about the effects of artwork going viral online,^[13] and discussed precarity and the central role of social media in a freelance artist's life.^[14][15]

Personal life

Bellwood is from Ojai, California.^[16] She attended Reed College^[17] and is a member of the Portland, Oregon studio Helioscope.^[18]

Bibliography

Books as cartoonist

• Baggywrinkles: A Lubber's Guide to Life at Sea (2016)
• 100 Demon Dialogues (2018)
• Seacritters! (2023), with writer Kate Milford

Books as illustrator

• How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler (2018) by Ryan North
• Tell the Turning (2021) by Tara K. Shepersky

Select comics and illustrations

• "Secret Life of Gitmo's Women" (2014),^[19] co-written with Sarah Mirk
• "Flip the Switch" (2014),^[20] on floating in a sensory deprivation tank
• "Down to the Seas Again" (2014)^[21]
• "Definitely-Not-Filthy Sailing Terminology" (2015)^[22]
• "Dance Yourself Clean" (2015),^[23] on social dance
• "The Ornithology of the American Lesbian" (2015)^[8]
• "A Week Aboard the SSV Oliver Hazard Perry" (2016)^[24]
• "Mappin' the Floor: A Scientific High-Seas Adventure" (2017)^[25]
• "What Does Wonder Woman Actually Represent?" (2017)^[26]
• "Federated Learning" (2019)^[7][27][28] for Google AI, co-written with Scott McCloud, on the machine learning technique
• "Who's Being Left Out?" (2021),^[29] on voter disenfranchisement in Oregon

References

1. Deresiewicz, William (28 July 2020). The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech. New York: Henry Holt and Co. p. 77. ISBN 9781250125521.
2. "100 Demon Dialogues". Publishers Weekly. 23 April 2018.
3. "Baggywrinkles: A Lubber's Guide to Life at Sea". Publishers Weekly. 4 July 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
4. "HOW TO INVENT EVERYTHING". Kirkus Reviews. 27 June 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
5. Streckert, Joe (9 Oct 2018). "Ryan North's Long View Perspective in How to Invent Everything Curves Towards Hope For Humanity". Portland Mercury. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
6. "Rights Report: Week of October 19, 2020". Publishers Weekly. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2023. Susan Van Metre at Walker Books US has acquired, at auction, in a three-book deal, world rights to author Kate Milford (l.) and cartoonist Lucy Bellwood's Seacritters, pitched as Pirates of the Caribbean meets Redwall, about a young badger who joins the crew of a notorious pirate ship as they set out on a new semi-legal career path as privateers. Publication for the first book is slated for 2023; Tina Dubois at ICM Partners represented the author, and Barry Goldblatt at Barry Goldblatt Literary represented the artist.
7. Lucy Bellwood; Scott McCloud (May 2019). "Federated Learning". Google AI. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
8. Karlan, Sarah; Probus, Jessica (30 April 2015). "The Ornithology of the American Lesbian". Buzzfeed. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
9. "Lucy Bellwood". The Nib. 28 May 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
10. Blazenhoff, Rusty (14 May 2018). "Cartoonist Lucy Bellwood captures the ways inner demons sabotage in her latest comic book". Boing Boing. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
11. McMillan, Graeme (17 July 2018). "'100 Demon Dialogues' Creator on Creativity, Imposter Syndrome and the Need For Empathy". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
12. Dieker, Nicole (2 May 2017). "Talking to Adventure Cartoonist Lucy Bellwood About Income Tracking". The Billfold. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
13. Bellwood, Lucy (22 November 2017). "The Financial Realities of Going Viral". Lucy Bellwood on Patreon. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
14. Deresiewicz, William (23 December 2020). "Art has been brutalized by tech's giants. How can it survive?". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
15. Deresiewicz, William (28 July 2020). The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech. New York: Henry Holt and Co. pp. 18–19, 53, 75, 77, 81–83, 114, 119, 200–201, 248, 255, 319. ISBN 9781250125521.
16. Wilson, Chris T. (26 April 2012). "Bellwood Readies Book For Publication". Ojai Valley News. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
17. "Twelve for '12". Reed Magazine. September 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
18. "Lucy Bellwood". Helioscope. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
19. Mirk, Sarah; Bellwood, Lucy (12 February 2014). "Secret Life of Gitmo's Women". Narratively. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
20. Bellwood, Lucy (16 April 2014). "Flip the Switch". The Nib. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
21. Bellwood, Lucy (4 November 2014). "Down to the Seas Again". The Nib. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
22. Bellwood, Lucy (28 February 2015). "Definitely-Not-Filthy Sailing Terminology". The Nib. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
23. Bellwood, Lucy (8 March 2015). "Dance Yourself Clean". The Nib. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
24. Bellwood, Lucy (2 December 2016). "A Week at Sea with OHP". Lucy Bellwood | Medium. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
25. Bellwood, Lucy (25 January 2017). "Mappin' the Floor". Lucy Bellwood | Medium. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
26. Bellwood, Lucy (28 May 2017). "What Does Wonder Woman Actually Represent?". The Nib. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
27. Terror, Jude (7 May 2019). "Google Teams With Lucy Bellwood and Scott McCloud for Comic Explaining Federated Learning". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
28. Bellwood, Lucy (8 May 2019). "New Comic: Federated Learning for Google". Lucy Bellwood. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
29. Bellwood, Lucy (27 April 2021). "Who's Being Left Out?". Oregon Humanities.