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HERE'S SOME SAMPLES OF THE STORIES I'VE COMPLETED, AND SNEAK PEEKS ON FUTURE PROJECTS!
Ahem, *clears throat*
Heyooo, it’s ya friendly neighborhood Javi!
If this is your first time here, welcome to my ramblings -- 2026 edition, baybee! In this blog, you’ll find art updates, any upcoming events, and a little insight into things going on in my life! So, without a-further-a-do, let’s rap about it.
It’s a new year, I haven’t updated this blog since September, and much has changed since then. Normally, this is the part where we go through the monthly stats, but first! Look at this fresh new site revamp, y’all! Lemme know what you guys think, any and all feedback can go a long way! I will also go over any questions some might have about the updates! Now, here are the stats from October to now: I drew 9 pieces -- I whipped up a sketch cover for someone at Baltimore Comic-Con who asked me to draw them Deadpool, it was fucking sick, and the other 8 pages were towards a commission mentioned in my last post. To my surprise, this commissioned shorty story definitely took me longer than I expected, longer than it should’ve been, really. But we made it to the finish line, and all the art is officially wrapped up in this story! I’m extremely proud of how the story came out, and it’s genuinely been my favorite project I’ve worked on yet!
This is...
WHEN THE HANGRY MONSTER ATTACKED!
If you want to read a little more on it, feel free to check out the breakdown over on my comics page!
As mentioned earlier, a lot has changed since September: I moved to Kentucky, I did Baltimore Comic-Con, I’m slowly transitioning from podcasting to streaming, and I decided to leave Apollo to pursue my career on my own.
So, what the fuck, right?
In my moving, I have found a lot of peace where I feel more loved than I ever have before, I’m surrounded by 4 beautiful cats -- Chadius, Chadward, Chaddifer, and Pints -- all with my forever pup, Link, I finally have proper access to go hiking, camping, kayaking, and so much more whenever, I finally have my own space for the first time in 5 years, I get to play my guitar plugged into my amp again, I can take the time to sit down with a book or a comic, I can play video games late into the night and not feel guilty, I watch all my favorite shows and movies, I get to explore a whole new city and area that I’ve never been in before and it’s exciting and it’s new and it’s refreshing and I have time to breathe.
Baltimore was a super fulfilling way to end my year of events. I met so many great indie creators that were incredibly sweet and nice to me, almost everyone who came by to my portion of the booth showed excitement and support and let me take photos of their cosplay and photos of them holding my books, getting proper art feedback from Cliff Chiang -- who I adore -- and him seemingly being impressed by my work, and I also got to give out a few free copies of my book to big-time creators that I grew up reading and seeing at other conventions and signings -- Tom King and Donny Cates asked me to sign my book for them when I handed it to them and I think it’s insane to think that Tom -- yeah, we’re on a first-name basis now -- has my comic sitting somewhere in his home, and it’s signed!
Very recently, I decided to make the decision to step away and leave Apollo. Some might mock it up to being burnt out, others might see it as rash, or drastic, or what have you. Let’s just call it creative differences here. I never expected to be at Apollo forever, yet I’m thankful for the journey and the lessons and guidance and trust given my way for the time I was there.
Well, what now?
Now, I want it to be known that I’m not done making art, or making comics, or commissions, or doing events. I’m not stopping anytime soon. You’ll be able to find me streaming on Twitch where I’ll be working on any current pieces or projects -- soon, I’ll also start streaming gaming content on there, too! I will be self-publishing a reprint of my current solo comic and I’ll self-publish my future projects, as well! I’m also going to start being consistent in making art for myself. At a certain point, all the art I was producing wasn’t really for me. I want to get back to making fun pieces about my favorite characters, and I want to get back to making comics that weren’t pushed by a prompt. I won’t stop doing events, either, but I am going to slow down a considerable amount this year. Doing events can be pretty draining physically and financially, but more than anything they take time away from me that could be spent making more art -- quality over quantity, amirite?
But that’s it. That’s the recap.
I’m excited for what’s next, and I can’t wait for all of you to see what I’m working towards! For those who have stuck around this far and have shown support in any which way over the last year, I thank you for that. For those who I have said goodbye to over the last year, I thank you, too. For those hoping to see that I crash and burn into obscurity...
Check this shit out 😉
*water bucket clutch*
Until next time,
Heyooo, it’s ya friendly neighborhood Javi!
I figured since there wasn’t an update in February, it only seemed right to still catch ya guys up on my nefarious schemes now that March is over! Let’s consider this a...
DOUBLE FEATURE MONTH BLOG POST!!!
Without a further ado, let’s get into it!
Here are the stats from these last 2 months: I participated in my first event in the area since moving here and it was a great time overall! I drew a 2-page spread for a commission - which was fully digital, too! I began experimenting with some new Ohuhu markers and have been loving them as we practice drawing prompt/exercises with limited color palettes! I also finished sketching the draft idea of one of my next prints, which I’m super excited about 😀. I completed a screen print design that I plan on screen printing onto tote bags very soon! I finished the pencils for my next piece that I’m doing simply for fun. I took on a new commission, and will begin that soon! AND...
I MADE PAPER!!!
We recycled a bunch of paper and went through the process of repurposing it into our own paper!
I had a lot of fun learning the process behind making paper here at home and it’s funny to think how weirdly good I am at it?? But the goal to a more sustainable future is ever more present! I truly have a goal this year of wanting to become as sustainable as possible even in my art. Meaning, making prints on paper we make here at home, designing stickers we print with a cricut, clothing and accessories screen printed in the backyard, fuck, we’re even talking about making printed foldable paper toys - see the vision. Let me not get started on the journey that has begun here in learning how to make *looks left, looks right* H O M E M A D E P A I N T...
See the vision.
My first event here went super well, too! With the Avant-Garde Art and Crafts Show over in Loveland, Ohio! I met a lot of genuinely kind people there that day and I felt very welcomed into the space of vending here in this area. I’m excited to see how my next event goes on April 12th with Art on Vine at the Rhinegeist Brewery in Cincinnati! From what I’ve seen so far from the space alone, it should be a really nice time full of great people, good times, and yummy beer 😉.
Remember that piece I mentioned I was working on for fun? So I’m doing this sick Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time print with Young Link in action! It has felt so fucking good working on this piece so far. Just channeling that inner child who would play Ocarina so many times and being a big Zelda fan, it has just felt SO good. As mentioned, I finished the general pencils for it, but I will also be making this my first piece where I color my comic art page with said Ohuhu markers! It’s gonna be interesting tackling this piece with solely markers as I generally leave digital coloring for more detailed scenes... Which is what this piece is... But I got this! And if you wanna watch the progress along the way, feel free to hang out with me on Twitch where I’ve been streaming the progress of this piece so far!
Last thing I’ll say, remember to love one another. It’s hard nowadays, but I think we all need someone to say, “It’s okay.”
Until next time.
Heyooo, it’s ya friendly neighborhood Javi!
April has gone and left, but I don’t miss her… I don’t -- shut up! So I’ve been really indulging myself into my hobbies and letting the inspiration hit me whenever 🥲
I’m good, I promise…
*Catches breath*
This past month has been pretty fun with a lot of experimentation in my art and deciding upon a new approach on how I tackle my pieces moving forward, but more on that later! Here are the stats: I did an event for Art on Vine at the Rhinegeist Brewery right in the heart of Cincinnati! I completed a new sticker design with the Oahuhu markers we bought recently! I had my Hangry Monster comic commission officially be delivered! Laid down the pencils for a Zelda piece I’m working on -- but I’ll be redoing the pencils, more on that later. Finished the mockup and began the pencils on a new piece that I’ve been brewing on for a while now! And I finished laying out the pages for the reprint of my anthology series -- as well as the page layout for issue two! For the first issue, I’m currently missing one page that I will be filling in with a sort-of “logo ad” of my brand. For the second issue, I’ll be working on a three-page story soon to fill in the rest and I’ll still need a cover for it!
But! I completed the redesign of the cover for my first issue!
Not an insane change, I know, but you do get a couple of new stories within the first issue 👀
There will for sure be an announcement when the official issue reprint is out and ready to go! I’m super excited to not only reprint this issue, but I’m also proud of myself when I realized I basically have enough stories under my belt now to fill in a whole second issue! It’s a nice reminder of how far I’ve come, I like to think.
The Art on Vine event at Rhinegeist Brewery was a lot of fun with meeting some really cool people, making people laugh, and enjoying some good fucking beer, bro! In my downtime during the event I finished a new Peter Parker sticker design with the Oahuhu markers we picked up recently -- they blend so well and look so clean!!
As mentioned, I also officially had my Hangry Monster comic commission be officially delivered! It was definitely a long journey to get to where we are today, but we eventually got there with amazing results! That being said, I now have this comic live to download over on the store page, if you are so ever inclined!
With the Hangry Monster comic, I entirely changed my approach to how I draw. Normally, I do everything but the colors and effects digitally, but for this comic it was fully digital and that definitely introduced its own learning curves and hurdles for me. Yet, I came out learning way more than I ever expected. I started penciling a Zelda piece that I was doing for fun and I wanted to fully color it traditionally, too, but I ended up ruining the paper by drawing and erasing and drawing and erasing and drawing and erasing. In the past, I would have to edit in post to clean up these paper marks and ruined sections that just were not clear anymore because of how scratched the paper was by that point.
So what am I doing now?
Moving forward, I’ll continue to do my mock-ups on paper, but I am now layering my pieces with digital pencils first which I’ll then transfer over to my usual art board pages I use to then ink traditionally and back it’ll go onto the iPad to have colors and effects added! This new process is also gonna allow me to color more of my pieces traditionally with markers since the paper will be able to hold it much better now!
But yeah. I’m now working on three separate projects/pieces so stay tuned for all that goodness! Thank you for sticking around this long, if you have, or thank you for joining me for the first time! Have an awesome day, y’all!
Until next time.
Heyooo, it’s ya friendly neighborhood Javi!
I done did it again, folks… I missed another blog post…
I know - how could I? Again? I am as shocked as you all are. I feel the only appropriate reaction to this all is to commit sudoku… That’s what they do, right? They play sudoku…? Cause that game sucks?
Before I suffer a beginner level of sudoku, let me catch you up on what’s new, what’s old and now new, and what’s to come for more new stuff that isn’t old and new, but just new, y’know? As always, here are the stats: I completely redesigned my streaming layout for art live streams and for future gaming live streams; I repurposed my banner to work as a vertically infinite scrolling background, a nice little Instagram overlay, editing a DVD bouncing logo graphic with my font to signify “starting soon” and “stretch break,” a horizontal and vertical canvas have been designed to allow me to now stream to 2 different platforms now (Twitch and TikTok), I created a Ko-Fi page to receive donations and to act as an artist-centric page, I created a super fun looking resume for myself to seek out any freelance artist/graphic designer gigs, and I finished my “logo-ad” page for the reprint of From the Pen to Your Eyes Pt. 1!
Finishing that page for my reprint means *drum roll* the reprint is officially done! Head over to the store now to pick yourself up a digital copy!
The cool thing about this reprint is it acts a little like a remaster of the original while including some new material that helps timestamp it in the big TWO-SIX. A couple of stories were removed, while another story was moved over to what’ll be the second issue of this anthology series! Yup, a second issue is in the works with only 3-pages left to complete - but more on that when the time comes! A big highlight for me with the reprint of From the Pen to Your Eyes Pt. 1 is it now includes my first publication, updated branding, and it officially marks this as my FIRST-EVER FULLY SELF PUBLISHED SERIALIZED COMIC BOOK.
HELL. YEAH. BANANA BREAD.
I honestly wouldn’t blame you if you stopped reading this right now - in this moment - to buy a million digital copies all in the name of support. I would do it… Just sayin’…
As I mentioned, I will be focusing way more on streaming moving forward and I do have a loose template of what I think my streaming schedule will be, but until it's more solid I’ll be dropping notifications the day before I go live! How would you receive a notification, you might ask. Well, on the bottom of my home page now you can officially sign up to my newsletter now! This will get ya the quickest notifications from me on updates to the site, events, streams, what have you!
If you didn’t stop reading before to buy a million copies at that moment, then definitely take this moment to stop reading and sign up for the newsletter…
Got it? Cool.
Ko-Fi! Many of you might not be familiar with this platform, but it's very akin to Patreon. Feel free to throw me a donation, sign up for a monthly donation, see high-res photos of my art, read blog posts like this one here, and you can even request commissions or pick up my digital comics there…!
cough, cough. nudge, nudge.
NOW! BRING ME THE FUTURE!
For what’s to come is the continuation of a political piece that I have wanted to do for a while now and that is officially my next project I will see to the end. From there, I plan on picking back up my Zelda: Ocarina of Time print and kind of starting from scratch with that one - I’m just so excited for that remake so please buy a million copies of my comics so I can afford a Switch 2 - who said that? I also have a really dumb sticker idea that hit me, I don’t know if it’ll land but we won’t know until we know! And after those are done, I’ll be working on those 3 pages for issue 2, as mentioned!
Last thing I’ll mention. Life kinda sucks for me. I’m restarting myself back in NY right now and some days are definitely harder than others, I’ll admit. But I felt really happy on June 13th. Now, I’m not really a basketball fan, but my brother is. We watched the last game or two of the conference finals, and I watched all 5 games of the Knicks v Spurs. Everyone has made the joke now that if the Knicks can come back, so can I. But, I don’t know, I feel that. The Knicks fought like hell and they did it. The New York Knicks winning a chip hit me at the right moment in my life. Life kinda sucks for me… Right now, at least. I’ll come back. Just takes time.
MY MAYOR MUSLIM
MY BAGEL JEWISH
MY ART LIVE
KNICKS IN FIVE