This week feels so very chaotic, and I’m not sure why. Wait, yes I do. Besides Office Depot fucking up my god damn order. Is there another printing service that can get my images done within a day, but in a correct manner? Please let me know, please let me know. Niggas fucking up when there are no planets in retrograde.
None, no such retrograde exists.
*Deep breathe
My ability to type and have stuff flow out is being damned up by some force that is rather bothersome at the moment. I think its the week, yeah we are blaming it on the week. Wait we are in Mercury Retrograde Shadow period, maybe that is what it is. FUCK IT!!
That is what we will blaming this blah on.
True to my word, I said I would be releasing issues at a faster rate. At least for now.
OMG Jano why?
Well I’m waiting for issues 6-13 to be proof read by one of my homegirls. And since she has real life grad school responsibilities and I am not a cunt, I have no plans to rush her. But lets hope by the time i release issue 5 the other issues will be done and i can have a consistent release schedule.
Lets hope. Hell lets hope I can color the last 295 pages of my JRPG anime level epic.
I really just want to be a regular boy without a million things to do.
NO REALLY!!! OMG, i just wanna chill yo. I did a web diagram of my life and projects.
NIGGAAAASS!!! It is so much shit, so much shit on my plate.
Enough of that though…for now. Its time for the release of Level 4 of my series.
*Prepares to read script.
Abyssal returns to the battlefield with a new source of power no one expected. An alliance forged from the desperate need for survival is formed among those who started off as enemies. The Empress and newly revealed masked ally race to the battlefield, but will they make it in time.
Spoiler Alert, Souls will be crushed…nothing compared to what happens in Level 5
And head on to the publications page to order your copy of Level 4…and the other levels if you haven’t already.
And just like that this is issue over. Now to work on my task list like getting ready to show my work at the high school of my homegirls daughter for Black history month.
Yep, that is a thing I never thought i would say. Any of you ever watch Insecure? When Issa was speaking at school then somehow her broken pussy rap was discovered by tech savvy children?
Yea that may be me by the end of the week.I don’t have a broken pussy video but my mouth is pretty rancid….HA. Legit hoping I piss off the PTA the same way Eminem pissed off parents in the early 2000s but that nigga flourished despite that. Lets hope Janolytes.
Well here we are in 2022. I won’t be foolish enough to say that this will be my year and neither should you. Let us just hope for the best and brace for the worse. As Spike Spiegel said
“Whatever happens, happens.”
But i’m hoping i don’t loose my shit like I did in the extra trying times of 2021.
Holy fucking fuck of fuckdom, and we lost Betty White. SHIT!!!
Kinda wanna watch Golden Girls now. I’ve seen a few episodes but not enough to say I was a fan. But it was enjoyable. At some point I’ll watch it, some point.
I just jumped down The Witcher 3 hole. I saw my homeboy play it back in 2016, that and Dragon Age Inquisition but i chose the Dragon Age Path. Whenever I finish my book, i’m going to play through all the Dragon Age games thus far. I’m somewhere in 1 right now. At this point I’m hoping I finish my series before Dragon Age 4 comes out.Legit looking forward to playing games with no guilt again. So many games….to beat…so many….
Anyway time for Adventure time C’mon tell a friend.
The chaotic spring of 2021, shortly after me having Covid and in the midst of my car randomly shutting off on me….yea.
My non profit boss, who helped me do the groundwork for my store, decided that she was going to create a new shop.
YEEET.
Crystals, Candles, and all those other witchy related things that make your soul go
YAAAAAAAAS….or maybe that just me. Is it just me? Can’t be. This is a safe witch zone.
Omg Jano are you a witch?
Spoiler Alert.
I’ve been interested since i was fledgling, but I didn’t have money for a witch life style until cotton field 10.
Blessed be. But also fuck that job.
Anyway I told her if she helped me buy a photo light wand, I would help her do her product photography. Surprisingly she bought me a wand and here we are 7 months later. When I held the wand I felt like i was holding a light saber.
Use the Force Jano.
MAN It was so cool, so fucking kool. I yeeted as my meat leaked. I ordered myself another light saber because balance is a thing. When my Covid quarantine was over her and I agreed on the nearest Saturday. I packed my car with my newly acquired light sabers, light studio set, and all my witchy things.
“Ma I’ve been Hussling rocks” as Cam’ron said.
Ya know crystals, incense, sage cauldron, charcoal, and herbs. The basices.I drove to her house and we stopped by Dollar Tree to get a few other things.
And food, niggas need food to properly function in all aspects in life.
I like how my art interest and witchy interest intersected here. In this moment my life was a Venn diagram.
She had a piece of fabric that I used as a backdrop which helped with the mystic mood. I placed the products and props on the table and the light sabers on the adjacent side of the table. I shifted the colors to match the corresponding of each candle.As smoke flowed through each image as the water flows down a stream.
ISSA VIBE!!!
Ain’t that what the kids say?
I used my newly acquired tripod since I didn’t want a repeat of the headshots from last issue. Literally the only thing that moved in these images were the smoke, that it. No such other movement existed.
It was a fun 1-2 hrs for me. Product photography is interesting, at least this was since I am interested in this subject matter.
And that was the end of that. My metaphysical image buzz ended unfortunately as my car shut off on me while on the way home.
UGH.
Side note, I like how my photo journey in my car problems are synonymous for the early part of last year. Not really tho.
Anyway to see the images from this mystic day click here. And if you want things to help you with your occult journey and want to support black owned business, yonder over here.
I’m going to do my hair now, because that is what you do when your love your curls.
I think I reached the point in my bizarre adventure where I am going to start calling ya’ll Jano’s Acolytes or JanoLytes for short.
Yea,I think i like the sound of that…I think.Give me until the next issue and I will know for sure.
This is it, this is the last issue of 202 fucking 1. This year has been arduous for no real reason at all. Just so abusive, almost as abusive as Big Mom on One piece. On kami, she still terrifies me. That bitch was killing her own children because she was hungry, countries wrecked because she had a sweet tooth…NIIGGAAAAAA!! But I finished the Big Mom Arc and just finished JuJutsu Kaisen less than an hour ago. Definitly late to the party on that, but i liked it.
Side Note, I legit don’t want to see anymore animes with the 3 man team format like Naruto. *side eye.
All anime tangents aside I blame all the retrogrades for the this year, I do. That is my ninja way…well ninja witch way.
Despite the turbulence I somehow got my book in a store, created my online boutique (I got earrings now bitches), and finally got to the final level of my comic series. YAAAAAAASSS Final arc time.
*Geek masturbation time.
Nice to know came out of the fire and flames with new Stands forged.
Oh Jano, was that a Jojo reference?
Why yes, yes it was.
Legit hoping next year I will make more progress in terms of completion of my book, and reaching those level 2 products i wan to make.
Jano,Wait what?
Huh? Time for Adventure time come on tell a friend.
This story started back in 2013 on Tate Street near UNCG.
Really? Like really fucking really? You have to start at the beginning, way back, back in time.
Yes, actually no. This story started back in 2008 when I was poking random girls on Facebook for no real reason. No there was a reason, i was socially awkward and had time between class. I poked someone and her and I became friends. At some point I met another dude through her and him and I became friends.
Actually this dude is how the Luke Cage saga occurred. Damn its wild what friendship were born because I poked someone on Facebook. Simple Times. Simple fucking times.
See Janolytes this is why history is important, especially for the sake how these shoots occured. Context Motha Fucka’s, Context.
Back to this saga.
So aforementioned homeboy had a Bday party and her and I met. Fast Foward to December 2020, yep last year. She asked me how much I charge for photo shoots and i told her. She told me about an idea she had for a birthday shoot she wanted to do and of course i’m down, esp if I’m getting paid.
Y’all getting paid for a skill you have is a great thing. You can do things like eat, buy stuff to make your heart happy, or use it to fix your car….something that happened allot this year….so fucking much.
*Deep sigh.
We both decided that we will do it in 2021 because 1.I had a super slave amazon holiday schedule and 2. her schedule and she wanted to drop the Covid Lockdown 15. Which i fully get. I think i gained more than 15 last year, but I’m pretty sure i sweated it out in Jeff Bezos Slave pit.
Spoiler Alert, this is a pretty non dramatic issue. It may seem like its a Game of Thrones Saga, but nope. Not at all.
Spring came along and we started to plan possible dates. We decided on the last weekend of April. I had scouted the area where i could shoot her downtown. Initially she had said Raleigh or Greensboro, but in the end we chose here in Charlotte. Which was probably for the best considering at this point my car was acting so erratic.
Terrifyingly Erratic.
I found a location, emailed her a picture collage of the area I was going to shoot her and she was excited about the potential. The weekend came and she let me know when she left Greensboro. I started to get ready and eventually headed to the location. The most dramatic part of this arc was the parking situation. Her Gps sent her to a different location. At some point her and I found each other and we walked to the location, which wasn’t far. This was our first time seeing each other since…..Summer 2015.
Man being an adult sucks, you go years without seeing your friends because of Sponsibilites. I feel your pain Angelica Pickles, I feel it.
Anyway, my home girl had a spectacular scarlet ensemble. YAAAAAAS. Spectators complimented her as we walked around.We covered a good amount of the area in an hour. When it was all said and done I walked her to her car, and she drove me back to my car. We talked about possibly doing other shoots, art journeys, college experiences and natural hair products.
And that’s all folks.
I told ya it was a pretty chill saga….well minus when I tried to upload the pictures to dropbox when i was done with the edits. Why was dropbox being a cunt? i don’t know.
Anyway to see the images from this literal Walk in a downtown park (or uptown park, whatever) click here.
With that being said this wraps up the issues for 2021 of Jano’s Bizarre Art Adventures. I still have a few more stories from this year, but they will have to wait until next year.
Because monthly tradition is important.
AYO, these essential oils are starting to take affect. I’ll see you Janolytes next year. Safe to say I have decided on dubbing you all Janolytes. I feel like i need to make a shirt of that now. I do.
Wait what was the last issue about? Wait…oh yea….Whale Sharks….right literally almost forgot. Sorry having Corona kinda fucked me up.
OMG JANO!!!???!!!
Yea, I had it. The past 2 weeks were an unnecessary adventure. Do you remember in YuYu Hakusho when Genkai gave Yusuke her spirit orb and he had to absorb it in his body. Some moments he was fine and the next his whole body was on fire, as he laid there cationic.
Yea it was a lot like that, for me. I wish I had a fucking spirit animal to fucking flap around bringing me water. But as if. What would really make up for it would be walking into my old cotton field and murdering the person who caused this fiasco. But ya know murder is problematic (esp if you are black) and my throat lumps up even with allergy meds and a mask.
Ugh, so much fucking As if.
At least I lived, thats important.
*deep sigh.
Anyway.
Hi everyone.
Man I don’t know why I am having an issue with words this month. It’s annoying.
Fuck the segue then.
Today on Jano’s Bizarre Art Adventure, it is cosplay time. Come on tell a friend. Meh, that was trash.
As if.
It is now fall of the trying times of 2020. I just restarted working at a cotton field I hoped to never to return to. But desperation creates strange bed fellows. Desperation is honestly an over simplification of things. I legit hate job searching, so much. So fucking much but considering how I never got unemployment from the last slave pit, it was 6 months of no income, and I know it doesn’t take much or long to get hired figured I might as well.
Anyway around November I was scrolling through one of my social people timelines and I asked myself.
Why haven’t I asked my homeboy to model for me as Luke Cage?
We didn’t really come up with an answer, so I hit up my friend and asked would he be down. He was in fact down and we chose a date to do this.
Spoiler Alert, this is actually a really simple issue…and so are the next few too actually. This is kinda odd, but welcome all things considered.
So we chose a date, that wasn’t that hard. It just had to be after I woke up from a slave based nap. Side note the first few months I was working 4am to 8am (830 am, 9am depending how much Masta wanted us to pick.Fun) The place I chose was Camp North End, I had been here a few times, but for him it was his first time. Our GPS’s decided to send us in two different directions, and since I semi know the place I went to the area he was at. Probably for the best because the park situation was not the best where I was.
Anyway.
We met up and I said the classic line of I haven’t seen you since before the plague. No really, I hadn’t. Literally the last time was his bday w.end In February when we all partied and got brunch the day after as usual not knowing a month later when everything would be shut down and fucked with a big corona laced penis that would kill oh so many like a Thanos snap.
Tell me I’m lying.
We chatted as he got his gear, and I looked around as to where I wanted to shoot him first. Side note, aside from the Netflix show I know nothing about Luke Cage, I don’t. I had googled some Pinterest images of additional ways for him to pose, but I was literally assuming since he had been the character he would know about him.
And he did.
We shot for at least 2 hrs. It would have been more BUT there was a literal sea of people between us and the other side of where wanted to go. Some of them weren’t wearing mask either, in a pandemic….nah its time to go. So we did. we picked another date and met up ironically enough the day of my 2nd art show.
WOOT WOOT, I did another art show. which I prob won’t be doing an issue about. *shrugs*. I had thought about it, but meh idk. I’ve done 3 at this point, side note.
Anyway.
The 2nd half went the same as the first, the only difference was now I knew the capabilities of my lenses. Something I honestly should have known for years, but I didn’t. Probably would have helped out in some scenarios, but whatever we are here now.
Spoiler Alert, I was trained in photography the same way Goku was trained in martial arts. That nigga just met people and they thought him shit. Literally thats how I learned. Imagine if I actually went to class, I’d be so much better a yeet gawd.
Curious about this 2 part issue, haha comic pun. Click here.
I’m gonna go enjoy my last night of not working and work on my book. Ugh I don’t wanna go back, I don’t. I have to take a survey before I go back, it’d be a shame if I chose answers that gave me another week off.
OMG Jano, are you still sick?
Nah, but do they know that? Do I talk to anyone at that cotton field on a level that they know about my nickname, or my website? Do motha fuckas even read fully?
First and fucking foremost, I Miss DMX. HOLY FUCK His death hurt. FUCK. Fuck Prince Phillip, that nigga did nothing for my life like DMX. Shit.
DAMN!!
So….ugh….lets continue.
Man here we are still in a pandemic. Here we are still trying to avoid a super virus. Here we are trying to avoid a super virus and racism.
Well, some of us.
*Deep exasperated sigh*
So fucking exhausting. Meanwhile I am trying to navigate through the aforementioned lanes, and multiple other avenues of life. MAN I wish knew getting my life together was going to be this complicated years ago…wait did I? I don’t know if I would have stuck around for it.
No really. I’m pretty fucked up. Spoiler Alert.
Meh, but I do like JRPG and that is what I am defining this art journey which I roughly started 5 years ago.
FUCK!! The concept of time is wild. Drive slow homie.
Thats right this is a JRPG. if you know what that stands for man I really fuck with you. If not well google it, I’ll still be here.
What started with a simple quest of me wanting to get better with posing people since I had only really done events, has morphed into…whatever the fuck this is. Am I even close to the final boss? Or am I on a string of side quest with no real end sight? Honestly I have no fucking idea.
I did have a realization that the last summer I had where I didn’t obsess over projects was Summer 2016. So the goal is, as surprising as this may sound considering how much I abhorred that year, is to be as free as I was that blasphemous year.
Whew Chile, that was a sentence that really came out of my mouth. Ok, we are here now.
But I legit just miss playing video games without having some sense of guilt and existential dread/ crisis/ ennui….all of the the existentialism I’ve felt it. Deep, DEEP In my chest.
*deep breath*
Hopefully I can consolidate lanes and reach a destination in Jano’s Bizarre Art Adventure.
Yo on Kami, sometimes my metaphors come out so smooth I get a lil moist and juicy.
Anyway, none of that has anything to do with this months issue. None, no such bearing on this issue exist.
This months issue is a peaceful, wholesome issue that occurred during the trying times of 2020. I said fucking wholesome nigga. Translation, nothing to do with my quest to get any of the infinite stones. Yea those things.
Spoiler Alert, It is going to be a while until that guantlet is complete.
Honestly, don’t hold your breath.
This issue is a rare moment where my personal life and my art journey intersect in this Venn diagram, henceforth here we are.
Do you remember the Portal issue? No? Ok go read that if ya didn’t. And if you did well congrats for keeping up with my life. Well her and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary at the tail end of last June.
Awww Jano thats sweet.
Yea tender moments and all that. Well to celebrate we went to Charleston, a place I was going to treat myself when I completed my gauntlet, but ya know that ain’t happened. Plus Charleston is expensive especially when you don’t make shit and you are saving to quit a cottonfield that makes your throat lump up.
Smh fuckin’ horrible bro.
But we went down there on a whim, it felt nice to go esp after I finished coloring Act 2 of my comic series, and it was a legit goal of mine. I went in 2014 as part of a staff retreat but I didn’t get to enjoy it. This time, yea I did.
During our visit we went to an aquarium. YAAAAS to marine life. YAAAAAAS. This lil nigga gets excited about fish, judge me if you want I don’t give a shit. At some point during our visit one of the guides told us that if we liked this one we would enjoy the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. So fast forward to early August we went to Atlanta for her bday.
On kami, that aquarium was huge.Thoughts I had as our hotel was right across from it. Part of the reason it had such girth was because it was the home of whale sharks. Which she made her goal to swim with.
Nigga what?
Yea.Swim with Whale Sharks.
Jano, did you do it too?
If I did, who would have taken the images that you are about to look at? Do you really think I will place someone else art work on MY website. Nigga bye.
Besides
1. I can’t swim
2. Anxiety and terror are a real thing.
3. I still was unemployed at this time, and it wouldn’t be fair to have her spend that large of an amount on something I wasn’t that excited to do. Tickets were at least in the 230-250 range. Sometimes I am decent person, sometimes.
She bought her ticket early on and literally had the entire day until that episode of adventure time aired. Until then we toured the rest of the aquarium. Ya’ll I saw dolphins, turtles, and octopi. Nigga I yeeted.
The time came and she armored up to dive with those behemoths. We were escorted to the top of a tank, meanwhile I chilled in an area designated for those who were accompanying the divers. The experience last for at least an hour. They were told they could no touch the sea spawn as a sign of respect. She told me swimming wasn’t necessary, the gear they was issued out kept you floating without any work on your part.
I still feel like I would have panicked and drowned. As I said anxiety and terror are a very real thing. Very real.
Very.
Fucking.
Real.
Anyway to see this Marine level excursion with whale sharks and manta rays go here.
Like I said , this is a pretty peaceful issue.
Join me next time when…..eh just come back in a month. I’m too tired to do a preview.
No really, I ran errands all day and its now 2:42 am, and I’m supposed to have a shoot tomorrow. Supposed to.
Well here we are March 2021, a whole year into a pandemic.
Fascinating.
Terrifying and sobering as well. I’m glad I gave up hope of going to concerts and anime cons again. At this point wondering when this pandemic is going to end is like how many episodes there are left until Namek explodes. Just long as shit for no valid reason.
Anyway.
Time for another care free issue with less drama than any previous issue, Rpg or anime I’ve watched in general.
Side Quest time.
It is weird typing issues like this. But also, Spoiler alert, I’m still in the search of the last 2 “infinity stones” that I began in 2017.
UGH. We can talk about that whenever the fuck I get there….hopefully soon. Watch me finish my comic series and my infinity gauntlet around the same time…prob next year. This is all I live for. Wait, is that why some of ya’ll are still tuning in each month? Am I your new favorite saga, Jano Bizarre’s Art Adventure.
AWWW SHIT NIGGA!!!
Need a reminder of said stones before I continue? Sure take a gander or reminder depending how often you have been to my website. I should name these stones while I’m at, right?
So here we are summer of the trying times of 2020, corona has crippled the world. Literally. Activities are limited, bodies are crippled and demolished by the fiend known as corona. Meanwhile protest for social justice spread like wild fire, since cops seem to literally get away with murder for killing black people.
STILL.
If this sounds like an intro to a dystopian nightmare it is because it was the trying times of 2020, spoiler alert.
I had finished coloring act 2 of my comic series, and decided that my break needed a break. After months of my back curling up like a snail shell design.I decided to focus on helping the nonprofit I am apart of, called Back to Black.
But Jano what is Back to Black?
WELL, essentially it is a non profit organization whose goal it is to help improve the black community. It was started by my friend who I met at UNC Greensboro. One day in Fall 2019 I was picking up an order from her hair and beauty store, because ya know I need to stay pretty and have my curls flowing.
YAAAAAAAAAS.
We decided to get dinner the next day catch up and talk about things, and she told me about her non profit dreams to help the black community. I told her you need to pursue the vision you were given, because if not there is no point in having them.
A month later when we met up for a college friends bday, I found out she added me to her staff. MAN I was not ready, at all. I have non profit experience from the past decade of cotton field experience, but still.
Moral of the Story, sometimes I can be inspiring when I am not talking shit.
Fast forward to last summer, so I guess we are now just…rewinding….wait how does this work?
Anyway. She had planned to do a photoshoot for the clothing line we were launching. The initial goal was to use our fellow staff members, but life was like nah.
Insert me, and having friends. There is a 90s after school lesson somewhere.
I hit up my friend who helped me get the 90s stone….I really need to think of better name for these stones. I asked her would she, her boyfriend and other friends be willing to model for us. The concept was simple, black people living their best life and be unapologetically black. They agreed luckily, because this literally was a last minute thing. We met up at Camp North End under the scorching summer sun. It was a pretty chill event actually….despite the sun emitting full oppression nigger heat.
Like I said this this isn’t a dramatic thing, no long expose’s, no existential dread.None, no such things exist…
In this issue.
We decided to do another one at another time, but in downtown Charlotte a few weeks later.
And that’s it. Fade to black. End scene.
Wait, not yet. But thats all for the events of this issue. To check out the byproducts from the day the sun enter the group chat go forth here. Also check out the music page and CBD hemp store of one of the models.
I feel like this is a new concept to me again since I didn’t do this for the bulk of the tragic year of 2020…..which has spilled over to 2021. Spoiler Alert, it looks like coronavirus is gonna be sticking around for a while. UGH.
So bothersome, all of it.
Almost as much as me fucking up my back AGAIN at Cotton field 6.5. So here I lay typing another issues of Jano’s Bizarre Art Adventure with a sharp pain in my side. I can’t Yeet to this shit, I can’t.
This issue is actually less problematic and dramatic than the bulk of the issues I’ve written. On Kami.
*Hits Rewind button.
It was the trying times of 20 fucking 20. Coronavirus was running rampant, much like racism. The only difference is Corona don’t give a fuck your skin complexion nor beliefs. All it wanted was to fuck your life up and stop you from living your best life.
Side note, I’m really trying to speak in past tense, but the shit is still happening. Ugh as if.
Corona is the true definition of cancel culture, because that is exactly what the fuck it did. Concerts, cons, gatherings, school, jobs, fun functions, etc.
Graduations are included in the etc, in case you didn’t realize.
If I was graduating last year I would have been upset more so by this. Imagine your senior year finally arrives and all the things you had been excited about for the past 3 years because halted for safety concerns. Even though I legit didn’t care about any of that 19 years ago, I can empathize for those whose adolescent hearts desires were ripped a sunder.
Tragic.
Thats it for the preface for anyone new to life or for anyone who reads this from a decade from now.
As I mentioned last issue, my ancestors told me not to go back to the cotton field when it was mandated that we return since the stay at home order was no longer in effect. However, my girlfriend stayed and at some point she told me that a coworker wanted to pay for a cap and gown graduation shoot.
Sure, I’ll do it.
Her and I made contact with each other and made arrangements to do the shoot. We chose Freedom Park on a Friday after. A hot, blazing, torch filled afternoon in June.
FUCK. *Witchers voice.
She arrived with her mother, who I haven’t seen since ummmmmm March. We chatted for a little bit and then her and her daughter started to traverse in the park. At first she seemed nervous but as time went on she got comfortable. She was hesitant to smile hard for some reason, I told her that she is allowed to smile as hard as she wants and not to think about how anyone would perceive her.
Translation, fuck what people think.
Side note, I literally was the only who was sweating like a slave in the fields. How she wasn’t in a cap and gown is beyond me.
Nigger heat is real bro. Real and fucking oppressive as fuck. SHIT.
We were out there for at least an hour, I think. We made our way back to the parking lot where her mother paid me and we said our goodbyes.
And thats it.
Told ya this wasn’t a dramatic issue, at all. Honestly the most dramatic part of the whole day was after the shoot. I was going to give photography lessons to a friend who helped me out with a shoot at the same park. While I was waiting for her to arrive I sat on a bench under a web of trees the song Strange Fruit By Billie Holiday was playing in my head.
But Jano why?
Because at some point last summer, random black bodies were found hanging from trees.
Yea. Class can you say Jano was Shook? Because I fucking was.
ON KAMI.
FUCK.
Chills went through my body as I think about it.
FUCK MAN.
Anyway to see the image from that blazeful, blistering, sweaty day click here.
Thats it for me. I dead ass have an urger to BattleToads and Double Dragon on Sega Genesis right now. Which I think I’m gonna do. I’m pretty sure I won’t get far, but whatever.
Side note, I have 3 episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation left and I’m kinda sad about it. Yea there is still the movies that relate to that saga but still, my childhood man.
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…….
The frigid season of winter is damn near, but it already feels like the bottom of a frozen ocean. FUCK MAN. So far the only good thing that has happened this month is that I got to see Incubus in concert.
YEET.
At various points before they started playing I thought how I wish Gym Class Heroes was still a thing like Incubus, Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco and everyone else. Can someone make this a thing.
Please.
Anyway, honestly this is gonna be a brief and easy issue. And by brief and easy I mean itisn’t dramatic as fuck as much as my other issues about my art journey. Thats right this issue will be inadvertently family friendly for the holidays.
One blazing as fuck summer day this summer, one of my friends texted me saying that she wanted to do pictures of her son. That sounds doable. We started discussing slave schedules and locations. She texted me a location that she saw on her mail route, but was open for other locations. Since data limits were a thing for me this year, I waited til I got home to google the area.
Not gonna lie, I wasn’t impressed…at all.
And I told her that. I suggested Freedom Park the same place where I shot (Insert issue link here) since 1.It actually has more visually as opposed to an open grass field with a raggedy ass swing that the original park had and 2. It would be more for her son to interact with.
She was down for it. We set a date for a Friday afternoon in August. I left the cotton field, grabbed a sandwich from Harris Teeter and headed to the park.
I told ya’ll this is a really simple story.
I waited for her to arrive. She called me at some point because she wasn’t sure of the area. Eventually she showed up and we walked into the park.
Remind me to never to do a photoshoot of a child after picking cotton all day.Lil dude was an energy dynamo, like Finn from Adventure Time. On god nigga, On god. I was struggling to keep up, but I took solace in the fact how much I was gonna pass out when I got home.We were there for 2 hours at best, and we dispersed to separate paths and life.
See like I said this a real simple issue. To see the jubilation of my friends child click here.
Anyway this is probably gonna be last issue of the year. I had hoped to release another one before the year was out, but the way my slavery schedule is looking and the physicallimits of this human vessel I inhabit that may not happen.
UGH
Hopefully I can, but spoiler alert don’t hold your breath.
Hopefully 2020 I will accomplish more of my goals on my journey. To be honest I am so disappointed with myself. I still have 2 stones left that have yet to acquire. If you have been paying attention to these issues and know about Thanos, I really appreciate ya’ll I do. If not well, go back and do some reading.
Need some guidance on stone journey? Well here ya go the stones I collected purple, pink, blue and green. Honestly the other issues I released this year were just, well for a lack of better words filler issues.
*shrugs*
As far as my comic saga Azure Ascendance, Man I’m so irked that I didn’t get as far as I wanted. Real shit this job exhaust the shit out of me, a nigga just wants to color like its 2016, that’s it. And ya know eventually get it animated on a streaming service,
Thats it.Ya know simple things.
Spoiler Alert, depending on how the next few months go will determine if I will be releasing issues monthly as I have the past few years. I’m literally all caught up in my photo journey after the next issue.
Yea…
Hail to the Guardians of WatchTower
Sun, Moon, star, north, south, east and west.
Osiris my king
Hekate my queen
Let 2020 be a more productive year for my photography. Let me acquire the last 2 stones, as well the other shoots that I want to do.Free me from this current cotton field and please let me be able to workon my comic series, Azure Ascendance and release issues on a more steady rate. While eventually working toward a way to get my series animated in the way I imagine.
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.
Dear Janolytes,
