This winter, Peter Jackson released the final part of his Hobbit film trilogy. So far as I can tell, the films have been well received, though I have not felt the same level of hype around this Middle Earth film trilogy as was associated with The Lord of the Rings films. Of course, this could be a personal bias, as frankly, I was disappointed with the entire Hobbit journey, there and back again. Read more… ›

Sure, the official day to wish everyone a Happy New Year is on New Year’s Day (January 1st–for those who follow the Roman calendar), but alas the day for new blog posts on jmdesantis.com has been Wednesdays for so long, I didn’t want anyone to call foul on me for not posting today. So, Happy New Year to all! As I said last year, let’s make it a great one, and hit the ground running with those New Year’s resolutions. My resolutions this year are to take better care of myself, be even more productive creatively, and to make more quality time for the people in my life. It’ll be a tall, but necessary, order, but I’m up to the task. What’s your New Year’s resolution? (Share in the comments section below.)

It’s Christmas Eve (for those who celebrate the holiday), and so, as is typical of me the week of Christmas (which I myself celebrate) I wanted to take the time to wish you all a very Happy Holiday (whichever you celebrate)! I hope you all enjoy this time of celebration and reflection, and find (or have found) some joy this holiday season. Again, I will return to blogging in the New Year, and hopefully (as stated in last week’s post), I’ll have some big news!

Happy Holidays!

 J. M. DeSantis

With the holidays coming up, I’ll be taking things a little slow for the next two weeks. For those following my Handlebar Moustache Guide, I’ll be back with the next installment in the New Year. At least I got as far as posting how to curl your moustache, but there are a few other subjects to be covered yet before the guide is complete. In the meanwhile, I’ll be enjoying the holidays and preparing for next year, as there are (I hope and all but expect) some big things coming in 2015. But before we get to that, here’s a look back at 2014.  Read more… ›

For those of you who have been reading my Handlebar Moustache Guide, don’t worry. Next week I will post part three (which will finally get into specifics on maintaining and styling your moustache). This week, however, I wanted to take the time to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. If you don’t celebrate the holiday, I do apologise. By way of consolation, I will add that there are a number of things I’m working on behind the scenes which I am hoping will pan out for next year. Read more… ›

Much to my surprise, my handlebar mustache has proven very popular. Of course, I won’t make the claim that each and every person I come across loves the thing, but generally speaking, there seems to be an uncanny amount of people who come up to me asking for a picture with me and my mustache or simply to say what a great mustache it is. Even Chadhiyana (my most popular creation to date) doesn’t quite seem to rival the attention my mustache gets–well, that may not be true, but it certainly does seem that way. That said, one may wonder why I planned to shave the thing off following Halloween this past weekend. Read more… ›

Halloween is only two days away! Being my favourite of all the holidays and what with my birthday only two days following that, I usually take it easy the week of Halloween (the month of October, even). I watch horror movies, read horror fiction, work on a horror story of my own and create some new horror art–typically Nosferatu being the subject matter. Unfortunately, life and Chadhiyana are keeping me a little busy for that this year, but I am managing on some level to enjoy the month of October as I’d like. That said I’m (still) working on a horror comic story for Atlas Unleashed. And speaking of comics, one of the interviews I did at New York Comic Con was finally uploaded on YouTube. Read more… ›

As much as I love exhibiting at conventions and meeting new and old fans and industry professionals, conventions are exhausting. Loading everything in and out of the show, the hustle of promoting and selling, giving one Chadhiyana pitch after another so that I feel like a broken record, even though the person in front of me is hearing it for the first time. It takes its toll after a few days have passed, and I always feel ready to sleep for days at the close of the show. (Again, don’t mistake me, I love doing conventions.) However, this past weekend I got to experience something a little different than the typical mix of stress and exhilaration of a large comic convention: the Crazy 8 Cartoon Festival. Read more… ›

I had a much different sort of blog piece planned for this week (and half-written already too); however, I have to admit that the present distractions are just too great to write about anything else but the distractions. I’ve been working hard the past couple of weeks to make corrections to the style change and in-progress pages for Chadhiyana: In the Company of Shadows (I’m almost there–really). Though, having lately come off of the Baltimore Comic-Con and being only fifteen days into my second year as a full-time art teacher, I’m not quite settled into my new schedule just yet. Read more… ›

First and foremost, I want to give a huge thanks to everyone who stopped by my Artist Alley table at the Baltimore Comic-Con this weekend past. It was quite a show this year–exhausting even. With the new Chadhiyana t-shirts, a new display set-up and my lovely booth girl (my girlfriend, Nadia), this was the best year yet. Yet it was equally exhausting–so much so, I fell further behind than ever on the most recent Chadhiyana: In the Company of Shadows page. Still, thank you to everyone who helped make this year’s show a success. I’ve enjoyed doing the Baltimore Comic-Con for the past three years, and hope to continue doing so in the future. However, I do have some unfortunate news concerning next year’s show. Read more… ›