My apologies, again, for last week. I was feeling very ill and having trouble keeping up with work and school. I’m better now and back on track. Last week’s page for Chadhiyana: In the Company of Shadows is coloured and the new page went up yesterday. And, for you Chadhiyana fans, I have some other good news: if you like to read your comics digitally, Chadhiyana (the first comic) is now available for digital download on IndyPlanet.com (for only $0.99)! Read more… ›

My apologies for a lack of blog post this week. Since last Tuesday, I’ve been feeling very ill and have had difficulty concentrating on much of anything for long periods of time (which contributed largely to the inked, but not coloured page this week on chadhiyana.com). I finally got checked out today. All’s well, and I’m on my way to a full recovery. I’ll be back next week with a proper blog post and finished Chadhiyana: In the Company of Shadows page. Until then. I hope you are all doing well!

It’s difficult to decide what to write about first. Not because there’s any apprehension whatsoever concerning what I’m about to write. Rather, of the three events (if you will) which occurred since Monday, it’s difficult to decide which is the most important. To put one before the others would immediately place it above the rest in the reader’s mind–something I wish to avoid entirely. So, in an effort to not so much as allude to being more proud of one over the others, I’ll merely write about them in the order in which it came to my attention. Read more… ›

It feels like forever since I’ve drawn Chadhiyana. I know the name of the graphic novel I’m working on is named Chadhiyana: In the Company of Shadows, and it is a Chadhiyana graphic novel; however, for a number of reasons, I decided not to have the title character appear definitively until a little into Chapter I (you can read some of those reasons in yesterday’s blog post on chadhiyana.com). So it’s been months since I’ve drawn Chadhiyana at all. I’ll admit, it was nice to draw some other characters for a while, but in truth I’ve missed drawing Chadhiyana, and I’m excited to be rendering those familiar features again.  Read more… ›

I know most everything has been Chadhiyana, Chadhiyana, Chadhiyana lately (and with good reason, as I’m loving working on a graphic novel for the character). So, perhaps we all need a break for this week. (Maybe not? But let’s take for granted we do.) I was recently given permission by a few clients to share with you the work I’ve been doing for them, including that oft written about, yet-unrevealed book cover illustration I completed a few months back. So this week’s blog post is about the other work I’ve been doing behind the scenes between working on Chadhiyana and to show you that Chadhiyana is not all I’m doing (though, let’s face it, it’s a lot of what I’m doing, and I’m hoping to work on her more and more for many years to come). Read more… ›

I was going to blog about something else today, but on such short notice (this entry is going up a bit late in the day for me–I usually post at 7 am EST) it’s easiest to write about the foremost thing on my mind. Yesterday, being off from my teaching job for Spring Break, I played hooky from working on my writing and art and took a trip into New York with my lovely girlfriend and her little daughter to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Read more… ›

If you’ve visited this site (jmdesantis.com) or chadhiyana.com in the past week, you may have noticed they’ve been down twice due to server errors. The first time was late Wednesday into Thursday last week. Then just yesterday the sites went down again in the morning. It seems to be a recent issue with the software I’ve been using on jmdesantis.com this past year and on chadhiyana.com since its launch. Why this is happening after a year of things running smoothly with said software, I haven’t the faintest idea.  Read more… ›

I’ve been working overkill this week not only getting caught up on Chadhiyana: In the Company of Shadows, but getting ahead. I wrote about it in detail yesterday on chadhiyana.com, so I won’t go into it at length here. What I will say is that I finished the art for (the previously uncoloured) pages 29 and 30. I also put in the time to complete not only this week’s page 31 but next week’s page as well. So, I’m a little tired, but I’m happy to have finally gotten ahead of schedule (such as I had always wished to do since I first decided to take the graphic novel to the web). My hope now is this gain will be built upon, rather than it be a fluke. Read more… ›

I originally planned to post something about my comic art process today; however, things have been running behind on Chadhiyana: In the Company of Shadows (chadhiyana.com) the past two weeks despite my best intentions, and I didn’t have complete examples to show. I’m doing my best to catch up, and hopefully that will happen relatively soon. Though speaking of art and my process, I received in the mail yesterday a new device for my computer I’ve wanted to try for some time: a colour calibrator.  Read more… ›

In Memoriam
William “Bill” M. Baker
November 12, 1958 – February 20, 2014

I didn’t know Bill Baker a long time. We were first introduced at the 2010 New York Comic Con by a mutual friend and colleague, Mr. Mark Mazz (who holds the distinction of “discovering” me at the 2007 Big Apple Con). It was my first year exhibiting at that show, and I only spoke with Bill briefly then. Mark introduced him as a writer and journalist–but this was not just any run-of-the-mill wordsmith. Mark acted as though Bill was something of a legend and with good reason.

In that brief meeting, Bill spoke to me about his (then) upcoming book, ICONS: The DC Comics & Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee, and an acclaimed interview with Alan Moore. However, what struck me most about Bill was not his accomplishments but rather how humble and personable he was even in the presence of an unknown creator. I find very often those who have “made it” have little time for those who haven’t, but that wasn’t Bill’s way. I’m not the comic historian Bill was, so at the time I had no idea who Mark had introduced me to. However, over time, I learned just how legendary Bill was and not just as a writer, but as a person as well. Read more… ›