Shit, I just woke up and the original intro I had for this issue is a blank to me now.
FUCK, I had a clear monologue prepared from picking cotton today and now its a blur.
Eh, oh well.
*Boyz II Men End of the Road plays in the background. No Literally its playing, Spoiler Alert.
Guys, this is it…Kinda.
Its finally happened, I’ve caught up with all the photoshoots I’ve done since I began this journey since July 2016. Kinda.
Jano, explain all these kindas.
When I started when this photography part of my art journey, the whole point was to gain experience working with models because for the bulk of my life has been me doing events, What ensued the summer of 2016 was a myriad of quests of trying to capture ideas with the lens of my camera. There are a few side quest I am still pursing, but for right now I am all caught up with all my adventures.
I do have images from doing a workshop for the nonprofit organization Back To Black, and from my New Years Florida vacation but those are just events to me. Not to say that I won’t do events any more but 1. they don’t feel essential to my art quest, and 2. at this point right now they feel like filler episodes. And personally I am not a fan of filler episodes, I will not be like Naruto.
No Ma’am.
I rather be like Attack on Titan, Seven Deadly Sins, Fairy Tail, and My Hero Academia and have off seasons and come back when I have something significant.
From this point on the monthly issue format you have gotten accustomed to will dissipate into the ether, and I will be updating this site on a more random sporadic basis. It’ll be ironic that even after I make this issue that I still have monthly issues.
In the meantime, I’ll be focusing on coloring my comic series. I had this bad habit in recent months of saying I would get my issue out at the beginning of the month so that I could get it out the way. But obviously there were times I wouldn’t and my foolish mindset was to focus only on that and nothing else would get done since that was the only thing I was focused on.
Smh at my damn self and my raggedy thought process.
Also with that being said I’m not accepting any commissions of any sorts, not that I had an influx of orders or anything.
I’ll still be updating my social media channels (see side navigation) with images every month from previous adventures, and if you don’t follow me on anything then subscribe via email (see side navigation) to be notified when the updates occur.
Stay woke.
In the meantime check out this issue, to help me fundraise for my comic quest.
For now guys that’s it, see ya’ll again hopefully…..maybe…….
First and fucking foremost, I am legit upset that I didn’t get superpowers from this spider bite on my leg. The only thing I got is 1. immense fragging pain 2. probably a huge bill for going to the Emergency Room for the first time in years, and 3. I didn’t get to wear my Vegeta costume that I ordered for Halloween last year, but didn’t arrive until after aforementioned Holiday because I was passed out in pain. NO NIGGA WE AIN’T YEETING HERE.
Maybe later in this issue but at this current point, nope this is a yeet free zone.
Anyway.
So for those who have not been paying attention on any of my social media channels and never clicked on my about me page. The picture above is of me, and I just did my first art show. I know right I am a pretty dude, and thank youuuuuu.
The lead up to this was legit unexpected but deeply appreciated it.
Side note, to avoid the excessive use of pronouns I will be referring to some people by their IG names.
So September day whilst I was picking cotton, well making sure the cotton was up to par before it got sent out to random cunts who I’ll probably never meet. One of the field slaves I shuck and jive with, PurpleKloudz, randomly started talking, ya know about anime, art, dreams to be chased and nigga shit. He was telling me how one of his goals was to be in an art show before the year is over, I was like yooooo go ahead and follow your dreams. As the convo went on,I found out it was an anime and art show that he was going to be in.
Hold up, I like anime and I’m an artist. The voices of my ancestors told me I needed to be part of this. Spoiler Alert, When the voices of your ancestors speak you listen, always.
I asked him for more details and how I could be a part of it, he said he would talk to our other slave we shuck and jive with for the scraps master give us, JohnnyLovely.
Look I get it, I am laying it on thick with the slave cotton field references, but I legit work in a plantation that contains majority cotton so I am allowed to say these things. Hella allowed, especially since this is my damn site.
Anyway.
So at some point after a day of picking cotton, me and both of the aforementioned fellow slaves had a nerd gathering in the parking lot. Thats where it went down. YEET YEET.
JohnnyLovely told me about how this is the second anime and art show that his friend was having. I asked could I show any of my pieces, and he was like ummmm idk. Fuck it, I’ll try anyway and I did. He gave me the information of the person who was orchestrating the event. I sent him the links to all of my galleries, ALL of my galleries. Need a reminder, no problem. Starting from oldest to the most recent we have Miasmic Emancipation, Velvet Sweaters,Numinously Noir, Emerald Evisceration and oh yeah my house party invites just for good measure.
And he said I was in. YEET YEET NIGGA. Actually Yeet didn’t really do justice for how excited I was, especially when you hear people saying you shouldn’t draw the things you draw. Well fuck you naysayers, especially those I am genetically linked to.
The next step was to choose which images I wanted to display. Eventually I chose the 3 below.
Yep that last one was def chosen. Not gonna lie the process was hard. When it was all said and done,I hit up one of my friends I use to pick cotton with at another field a few years ago. I asked him would he mind printing out my images for the show, and he said sure. It was going good but due to the amount of colors I use in my drawings, I kinda killed his blue printhead. Yea, I wasn’t expecting that. So for images 2 and 3, I had to go to Office Max to get those printed out. Pretty sure they were confused and concerned about what I had them make.
As if I give a fuck, Spoiler Alert I don’t.
I got my frames and bam, I was all set.Since I finally got my images printed and frame I could actually start posting ads for it on social media. The last thing I wanted to do was post I was going to be in an art show and not have my stuff ready. The day before I met with the organizer of the show, and briefly dropped off the above pieces along with some small ones I had made when I did the pop art show in 2017. I got home, did my hair because my hair was an arid dry mess, and passed the fuck out.
The day of the show came, and I wish I requested off. I was excited, legit excited as fuck. Me and my girl left the cotton field, grabbed food from Chick Fil A, and went back to my place. I changed first then she did. Joy is when you get to wear a shirt you ordered a month ago for the first time at a kool event that you are in.While she did I meditated, because sometimes you got to do that before something major in your life is about to happen. On the way there I legit was trying to find a song to amp me, this is the bad thing about primary listening to somber music. I did find some pleasure in Rapsody’s Nina and Cleo and J.Cole’s Middle Child. In hindsight I wish I remembered Awerooh’s- Its My turn now, that was my shit, 3 years ago when I was developing my website.
Eh, maybe next time.
We got to Camp North End, did a brief photoshoot before we headed to the event. Yo, real shit I am legit awkward in front of a camera, I am. Yea I take selfies but full body poses aren’t a thing I’m use to doing, even though I tell others what to do when I am behind the lens. The event didn’t start until 7, but I wanted to be there to see the set up process and place flyers for my site, and a copy of my book series for people to view.
The night flew by after that honestly. Lush Lofi flowed in the background,feeling as if I was in an episode of Samurai Champloo. Her and I walked around for a while at some point we saw our fellow slaves who were also having their art exhibited, the one’s told me about the show. As the night went on, I was both the subject and the usual detached observer while I took photos of the event. Its a weird feeling since I am never am the subject of an event.
I promise sometimes I feel like I am the unborn child of Samantha White and Lionel Higgins from Dear White People.
Our other slave friends showed up, and we were all like AWWW SHIT NIGGA. She helped get people to look at book, Yaaaaaaas honey Yaaaaaaas. In case anyone hasn’t noticed I’m shy as shit, so her amping me up defiantly helped my spirit. My friend who printed one of my images came with his wife and daughter, and at some point the 5 of us walked around. Eventually we doubled back to the event and they head out.
Another slave showed up, who I met in an odd way. Well not really odd considered the digital word we live in. We work at the same place, but our first interaction was when she liked a post I did of me starting a book on AfroFuturism by YTasha L. Womack.
I still need to finish that book.
At the time I didn’t know who she was, until one day at work I was stopped and she was like I think I liked your post. Oh shit, wasn’t ready. The convo couldn’t last long because if masta see’s us lil field niggas not picking his cotton we gets in bigs trouble, and we don’t wants no trouble.
But Jano, how is this relevant to the story?
I’m about to get to that, impatient ass.
She showed up with her daughter, and she was thoroughly impressed with the pieces that me and our fellow field slaves had to put up. From the perspective that we had worked hard to create something, and going to the extra effort of making our work being seen to the public something that some people hesitate to do. The fact that the artist space was primarily created by and for black artist thrilled her more. Thrilled her to the point that she felt inspired to do something similar and create an AfroFuturism con here in Charlotte.
Now you get the relevance.
Oh shit, that would be awesome. I’ve been hoping to do shows especially black themed sci fi art shows, it would be an added bonus if there was one here in Charlotte. Hopefully this will manifest into something flourishes, heavily.
The night trickled on, at some point there was a group photo taken of me and the other artist. Still awkward as hell for me to pose, so fucking awkward. After that me and some of the people I pick cotton with went on to go play Cards Against Humanity. I bounced back to the event to get my prints, at some point the dude who organized all this said there would be another one in March. Nigga I’m so down.
And thats it. I was talking with JohnnyLovely a few times before the day of the show. At some point he said a black art renaissance is heading towards Charlotte, and after this I can see it happening. Another conversation, I made reference to Dear White People, how after the Black Face Party there were a series of events that occurred after and it affected everyone differently. My ancestors say that both of our feelings are accurate. Was this event an adequate save point and it will propel me into another direction that will benefit me greatly or will I stagnate and float on in a void of despair?
Spoiler Alert, either result will be chronicled here as usual.
Hopefully this clearing will lead to an oasis that splinters many paths of abundance. In the meantime to see photos from the even go here.
Pretty sure this was a big save point in my art journey. Speaking of save points I’m gonna resume from the one in Final Fantasy 7 and hopefully beat it before the year is over. Also next issue we will go back to the regular flowing timeline. This was an omg I need to talk about it now so my spirit can go back to chill mode, and I have.
Damn its February already, fuck thats wild. But this polar vortex is even wilder, FUCK its so fucking cold when I leave my house to go pick cotton before the freaking sun is up. Its 2019 and I’ve never heard of a polar vortex ever in my life prior to this week. Is this the end of everything??? If it is I hope I get my X-Men Vs Street Fighter game first, it still hasn’t arrived since last issue. GRRRSSSH.
Anyway.
I type this as I breath in Lavender and Peppermint mist from my diffuser, hopefully it will calm me down as I type this.
But Jano Why?
Because 2018 was a fucking existential photographic nightmare. Thats right, as of this issue we are now in 2018 and will be for only 5 issues after this issue. I had so many photographic aspirations and goals last years that went unfulfilled. And here I was thinking that it would be simpler than the concepts I tried to pursue in 2017. Definitely found out there are deeper levels to feeling like trash. But we will get to that later.
As for right now we are gonna flashback to January 2018. My actress homegirl friend England Simpson, wanted to do another birthday photoshoot with her sister like we did in 2017. Her and her sister share the same birthday as Edgar Allen Poe, yes the Edgar Allen Poe. I don’t know why I felt the need to say the Edgar Allen Poe like there is more than one. Fuck its 2019 and I’m going for dramatic effect for no reason. Anyway after our initial convo I started thinking of places where we could shoot at. The first place I thought of was McGill Rose Garden, figured it would be a nice ambiance.
Well it would have been. The original day we were going to do it England was on her deathbed (not really) and since I don’t like the idea of shooting someone when they are not feeling good we postponed it. The new shoot day became that Monday on Martin Luther King Jr Day, but we found out that the rose garden was closed on Mondays.
FUUUUUCK.
Spoiler Alert, I wasn’t that upset.
I scrolled my brain for possible new places and I remembered Stone Jackson Military School. My spirit was hit with so much joy.
But Jano why?
Stone Jackson Military School is an abandoned school with a mass amount of empty buildings. And I legit have been wanting to do an abandoned shoot for the longest period in my life. Well more so since I got serious about my photography journey in 2016. I had scouted it back in the summer of 2017, I had only drove by it though. But the campus is huge, impressive as fuck, and filled with so much potential.
That Monday came, the girls met at my house on the frigid fucking morning and we headed toward the campus. In retrospect there may have been a polar vortex that day too, cuz NIGGA it was cold. Oppressively and disrespectfully cold. England had told me on the drive up there that she was excited because she had viewed it online and saw some of the photos others had shot there. We were all filled with high hopes and magical negro joy.
Right about that.
We got there and all the buildings were fenced up, not regular fences but Jurassic Park style fences. Nigga is there a T-Rex here?
Oh nigga I was upset, when I drove by this place a few months prior these fences weren’t in existence. Well they were in existence but not there. Since the vibe from this place was forbidden as fuck, I parked at a store strip mall down the street from the school and we walked to the school.
Did I say it was cold as fuck? No well it was cold as fuck.
It only took a few minutes to get to campus from where I parked. We had to make sure not to step and slip on freshly frozen patches, the last thing was 3 negroes seen busting their asses on forbidden property. We looked around trying to see if there was any place we could sneak in a building.
*sigh*
Everything was boarded up and if it wasn’t boarded it was enclosed by fences that might as well be electric. At some point an old black man drove by and gave us a warning about us being on the property. At first we thought he was gonna be an informant and the cops would pull up and arrest us shortly after. But in retrospect he probably was just looking out for us so we wouldn’t be a new statistic of cop racism.
Despite his warning we stayed on campus a little while longer trying to make the best out of a blarghed scenario. The whole gated ambiance legit killed my mood, worse than an anime death scene I’ve seen. Shit was worse than seeing Neji die. At some point we saw a gated building that had a hole in it, so England and I decided that we were gonna sneak in to get some shots while her sister decided to watch out. We literally just got in the gate and she told us that she heard a car, we bolted out of the enclosure ASAP. England escaped with no problems, me not so much. My coat got snagged as did my jeans, HARD. Cotton oozed from my goat and my thigh to my shin was exposed.
NIGGA!!!
That frigid weather is way worse when your body is exposed. I felt the wind fill my pants and tickle my balls. My whole ball sack and butt hole was frozen.
Spoiler Alert it is not a pleasant feeling, no such feelings existed for me that day. GOD DAMN IT my balls were cold.
We stayed a little bit longer to get some more shots of what we could so this trip wouldn’t be a total waste, but at some point our collective negro spider senses said we should leave to avoid police confrontation. The last thing I wanted was to have icicles growing out my asshole while dealing with a problematic racist cop while pursing my dreams.
We left, arrived back at my house, and as they chose their photos I changed pants and reclaimed the heat that I had been deprived of for the past 2 hours. The shoot was ok, minus that and everything being fucking gated as fuck. Maybe one day I’ll get to shoot an abandoned building without fear of prosecution. Martin Luther King Jr died for the right to purse my art dreams.
Anyway to view some of the photos from the day my nuts became surrounded by ice click here.
Anyway as Bugs Bunny says Thats All Folks, for this issue at least. Hopefully by the next issue I will have gotten my damn X-Men Vs Street Fighter game, beaten Final Fantasy 7, went to Anderson Paaks Concert, and somehow managed to finish coloring as issue of my comic series. Yo real shit I miss being unemployed like I was in 2016 – early 2017, I could stay up all night and work on my art all night. I just wanna color damn it.
Hail to the Guardian of the Watch Tower. Sun, Moon, Star, North, South, East and West. Help me find time and give me the strength to color the rest of my comic series Azure Ascendance. Help me get it to where it is on Netflix and never have work these jobs I care nothing for ever again. And that I do the photoshoots that I didn’t get to last year.
I legit debated if I wanted to try this given the results of last time.
Jano, what happened last time? Why are you being vague as fuck? Why do you ask yourself questions in 3rd person?
Back in 2016 when I started this Art Journey and was unemployed as fuck, I decided to make an Indiegogo page to raise funds to get some camera equipment.
Spoiler Alert: No one donated anything. None, no such donations existed.
I legit saw the most random of causes from help me get a new pet to I need a new video game system because my ex girl friend destroyed it when she saw I cheated on her. Legit was being funded by people, meanwhile I got nothing.
My faith in humanity dropped more so, as my inadequacy and trash complex grew more than the Grinches heart when he heard the Whos down in Whoville sang after he stole EVERYTHING.
What did Charles Hamilton say in that song off his mixtape Pink LavaLamp, oh yea
“I once was the loser, now I’m older still the same loser.”
I promise I think that may be one of my theme songs in life.Nihilism at its finest.
Anyway.
I was on wikipedia a few weeks ago looking up Dear White People after I finished watching Season 2. I found out that the movie was funded through an Indiegogo page. And that is how we got here.
Legit thought maybe, just maybe, my comic series Azure Ascendance could gain the money for copyrights through a fundraiser.
But Jano don’t you have a college degree and that hasn’t that got you good high paying jobs?
HA, Nigga you funny. The only thing I have gotten is bullshit low paying retail jobs, or seasonal based projects that believe lay offs are life. I am about to be on my 10th cotton field since graduation. None of which allow me to fully support myself.
Stay In School kids…..could you taste the sarcasm, salt and shade? You could? YAAAASSS, deep throat it, no teeth.
Anyway. My hope is that this will help me get the copyright funds for the rest of my series which I have dedicated my soul to. The same way Thanos wants to balance the universe is my dedication to this project, yea its that deep.
Minus the genocide of the universe part….maybe.
To check out my fundraiser, go forth and click here.
Oh yea here too. Because why not try my luck on two different fund raising sites.
Nevermind the fact that luck was non existent 2 years ago. SMH
I’m actually going to pass out with dreams of my comic series being on Netflix one day. I would say Toonami, but I don’t want my material censored ;).
Have you ever played Sonic Cd? I feel the bulk of you just went no, well 1. Why? 2. It is ok because I will explain. In Sonic CD, Sonic the Hedgehog would be in the past, present and future at various points in the game. Why is this relevant because I realized that is how this website will seem sometimes. The theme song is now playing in my head.
Anyway.
So there are some perks to being unemployed, kinda. I get to spend my time story boarding Act 2 of comic series Azure Ascendance and try to get some photo projects well when life lets me. Let me explain. As I said I’ve been storyboarding the fuck out of Act 2, which you would think would be easy since I literally wrote the story a while ago. But I have to make sure the story still makes sense, characters are anatomically correct, and I don’t do the same boring character stances every single fucking panel. Once I actually finish gesturing out Act 2(currently on issue 10), then I will go back and confirm the line work, ink, scan and then spend the next several months coloring. Yes, you read that write several months.
But Jano isn’t each Act going to be 5 issues?
Yes, and ideally I should get 1 issue done a month. BUT that is ideally and as we all know sometimes idealism is not a reality. Hence why I am saying several months instead of 5. As far as Issue 2 is concerned that will be released soon.I don’t plan on releasing an Issue until I can purchase the copyright. Let me remind ya’ll, if someone steals my work I will stab the fuck out of their life and sign their dead body with my cum. Spoiler alert: I have a foul mouth and make no apologies for it. My parents would be so proud….not really.
As far as my photo projects that I’ve been trying to bring life to since April. YO, Unprofessional people are the absolute worse, they can get stabbed in their cunt hole souls. I had wanted to try to do a few more fantasy concept shoots but after the arduous, annoying, and aggrevating ordeal of securing models the past few months for the 4 ideas I had, I legit will wait to next spring before to pursue those artistic visions I desired. Spoiler Alert: when I am done with these few remains shoots, there is a high chance I will be retiring my camera for the next few months. The only way I am going to do a shoot is if I am getting paid, unless we have a prior arrangement. And if we do have a prior arrangement (example when you say you will model for me), after a courtesy check I will not continue to chase you down if you expressed an interest.The only way I may do it is if 1. You actually matter to me as a person or 2. wait, there is no 2. I am totally ok with dropping worthless souls from my life 😉
That’s essentially where I stand with my projects.I did one of my concept shoots on Sunday and I will be working on those photos this week. I legit want to spend a lot of my time playing video games but I know if I pick up the controller I may go down the rabbit hole and won’t work on my book. Yay for moderation and a tiny bit of laziness. In other news there is only 1 episode left of Game of Thrones this season(UGH),Remember Dragon Lives Matter. The Defenders still made me wanna burn The Iron Fist.Rick is the koolest pickle I’ve ever seen in my life, he could be a Defender.Eclipses are magical, and remember when you see a Nazi stab them and make it look sexy.
Yea I think I am keeping that as an intro, makes me feel all creamy on the inside. Creamy is good.
Ordinarily I wouldn’t repeat the news of a previous issue but since
I just recently made this page live, and I know there is a slim chance of people actually going back to read an old issue of mine. It’s ok to admit that you are lazy, I understand.
What I am going to talk about this CURRENT issue relates to another the aforementioned issue I was talking about.
Ok now that is out of the way time for the brief recap. *DEEP BREATH* So at some point during the past year when I was unemployed AS FUCK, I decided to start my own my comic series. Ironically enough it was just going to be another random set of drawing, but ya know one thing led to another and BAM Jano Ryusaru presents Azure Ascendance.
But Jano what is it about?The story takes place in the country of Azure under the rule of the benevolent Empress Watatsumi. In Issue 1 we meet her as her and her daughter Princess Yosei are on a royal reprieve at the beach, along with their Royal Guards and Mage. What is supposed to be a holiday turns into a battle royal by a band of random individuals. Leaving questions of who are they and the purpose behind this attack. For a preview of issue click here to go to my Behance page.
Yo I literally copy and pasted that from a previous issue. Anyway as I said an issue or 2 ago that I recently finished all 5 issues of Act 1, and officially have started on Act 2 which is another 5 issues. Plus I just got the copyright for issue 1.Y’all need to understand this in the event that material gets stolen I will kill someone, rape the corpse, and set it on fire to get rid of the evidence.
Huh, sorry I went to a dark hypothetical place, which I probably barely touched the surface off. Spoiler alert.
With all that being said I am very excited to be working on this project and after some time passes I will release issue 2. But for now go order your copy of Azure Ascendance Level one here. Then do that sharing thing with your friends online, and nice domino effect will occur. If you can share mass amounts of meme’s and other things, you can share a creation by your favorite sarcastic asshole 🙂
Dear Friends of Jano,