I hate a congested week. I do. Right now I feel like i have a litany of art tasks to do before I start a new project which I HOPE FINALLY comes to fruition.
Spoiler Alert, Its one of the Stones I was looking for starting in 2017. *
*see literally any issue that discuss shoots started in Fall 2017 and Spring 2018.
*deep sigh
I need to dive into a video game coma, I do. Or just exist without any task to do.
Anyway time for the debut of Azure Ascendance Issue 8.
Heavy Yeet.
There isn’t much back story to this actually but we can flash back. It was 2020, the world was on lockdown…mostly. Niggas were mad they couldn’t get haircuts…..smh.I stayed home from cotton field 10 and eventually quit that cotton laced trenched field.
Literally, it made shirts and hoodies. YES NIGGA I WAS IN THE COTTON FIELD.
During the day it was Anime and Spider man on PS4. At night it was me in a coloring coma, averaging at least 2 images a night.
YESSS LAWWWWD *Anderson Paak voice.
It was giving the joy of 2016 and 2017 before I headed back to the slave pits. I think this issue only took me a few weeks in April of 2020 while just discovering Awich. While also rediscovering my love of J Pop and learning new K pop artist. I made a playlist that became a monster in hours.
And that is it. See what happens when there isn’t any fuckery, it is a clear concise story not a game of thrones level drama. Actually lets say an Expanse level drama, I just finished that this week along with Fire Force season 3.
ANYWAY
Level 8 of Azure Ascendance goes as follows
Ikari is on the move. Knowing who is responsible for the death of her mother Hannya,she makes her way to the Posei Kingdom. Boumei, Coco, and Sapphire also head towards to Posei to warn the Empress about the oncoming threat. Will they succeed in warning the Posei Kingdom, or will Ikari manage a successful ambush and assassination?
As usual to check out the issue preview click here. And if you like what you see go purchase here.
Damn this is a short issue….I’m not a fan but I am since it was simple.
Hmmm.
UMMMM.
1 of my pieces were accepted into a exhibition. I went to the opening a few days ago. It was a chill time. There was food, music, and a genuine wholesome time. Kinda a lot with interaction of people….or maybe I’m just exhausted.
The curators told me that even though they were in a church setting they like art of all types even if it disagreed with those go to that church. THATS WHATS UP!!!
My name is Jano Ryusaru and I approve this message. We nee more people like that.
Can I pass out in my bed and chill for like a month. Can I?
I thought i would be seeing Kiya Lacey, but her show got canceled Whack and deep sigh…but at least I got to see Doechiii.
Anyway that all folks I’m about to watch The Nightmare before Christmas. I can full attest that Oogie Boogie is a full nigga, and Jack Skeleton is a selfish colonizer asshole.
Here I sit finishing up this issue before I head to the trenches of Cottonfield 12.
FUCK 12. I want my freedom so god damn bad. My toxic trait is that I want to sit at a desk and be surrounded by office supplies in a climate controlled environment, listening to my headphones, and dressed like a person instead of in the field dying for my sins as Big Brown Cardboard blow my back out. So over BBC trauma.
Anyway.
Its new project time, come on tell a friend.
YAAAAY.
It all started in the pinnacle year of the trying times of 2020. COVID-19 was ravaging the world, niggas were dying, people were getting laid off, and then there was me.
Cottonfield 10 had told us they were no longer enforcing attendance, so I left. My throat was swelling everyday and I had to wear a mask to mitigate the effects of whatever was making turn into Lumpy Throat Princess.
I was wearing a mask before it was cool. So iconic.
Not really it was pretty painful.
Plus I legit hated that job and wanted out. Sometime life does you favors in horrible ways. I stayed at home for 6 months, working on my book, reading various books that I had bought from the Border book store years, I semi got into yoga and said when I got a job I would start buying plants.
One book I read was an anthology of stories that had very powerful imagery which were inspiring. So when the sun was out that summer I started sketching random images that were inspired from it. I told myself that this project was going to be a slow burn and I would focus on it when I finish my book. For the next few years in between slave days at Cottonfield 6.5, car problems, starting my store, Cottonfield 11, doing art shows, vendoring my products, photo shoots life happening in various ways, etc, etc. I drew random images here and there and thought in what ways I would use stock images to make images that would make my meat YEET.
I took inspiration from things that prob wasn’t on my bingo card. The Tv tower from Johnny Mnemonic, Inu Yasha, the Shibuya arc in JuJutsu Kaisen,the suicide forest in Japan, Dan Da Dan, doing pottery for a friends day, Black Dandyism, Shibari, Shogun on FX, Kpop Dancers, and other things that originated from stray thoughts….like a frog and fae orgy.
Side note if you have never been to my website before and need a crash course in random shit I’ve drawn that makes no sense what so ever please see the cliff notes below.
Are you caught up now? I’m so proud of you if you are.
Eventually I realized I had ALOT of random sketches and didn’t want to turn each into drawing of their own. I had to decided which one’s were going to mesh well with the others. And some drawings I had done I redrew since I felt like they lacked depth.
February 2024, the day came and I finally finished coloring my book. I clapped. I scrampted, my dragon was so concerned as I made more noise than I usually do. The project I had started Septemeber 2016 I crossed the biggest hurdle of coloring damn near 1000 pages. I had climbed and reached the pinnacle of elation. Now I can do everything else……..
……or so i thought.
Funny thing about finishing a big project for a while you don’t want to do shit. Nothing, no such motivation exists. I vegged out for a few months, watch TV. and play video games. A few days after I finished the coloring portion of my book I had the 2nd part to the Alice and wonderland shoot* with a 1 of my home girls and that didn’t get done for a while.
A lazy coma I was in for maybe 2 months.
I was preparing to throw my 1st art show in June and plus making two pieces for said show. Beside that I barely did anything except exist. The show occurred in June.* From that a new romantic arc began. Bliss was short lived since the head fuckers of cottonfield 12 decided to cut to 3 days of week.
Bitch Nuggets.
It’s hard to focus on your artistic endeavors when you are worried about how the FUCK you are gonna pay your bills. I legit try not to go MiA but when you have to scour the internet for a new job because of dusty ass white people who suck at being in charge then its kinda hard.
FUCK 12.
So sick of this Cotton field. If i could have escaped last year I would have. 3 months later the fuckery was resolved but the bad taste in my mouth remained. And I’ve disassociated everyday since then.
Side note I never liked this job. I haven’t. It literally was the only 1 that hired me after Cottonfield 11 shut down. This place could shut down and I would shed a fucking tear.
I think in the midst of all this I think I colored 2 images from this project.
Wait, I almost forgot I colored 2 pieces I created in 2022 for the next Azuma Kara show which happened be in this time frame. I was in another friends show, but i used 2 old pieces for it. I legit forgot about it until now. I promise slave Trauma will fuck you up bro.
The way I did the last 2 images in this gallery are how the images in this project were intended to look. Side Note. Draxus is in one of them. RIP BRO.
Wait what?
Yep my pet dragon died and super slave season came and blew my back out. All i had time to do when I got home was sleep, maybe watch TV. That’s all folks. Its hard to color when your back hurts.
Spoiler Alert.
I did a vampire shoot with my new girl*, but besides that nope exhaustion.
2025 came and I was able to do my work. The goal was to do an image every other week. I wanted balance between my art and personal life. When I was working on my book over the years I felt COMPELLED to do as much as I can, except for the last issue. Maybe because most of it was done and i was at the last 75 out of 1000 pages. The goal was to take my time and contemplate how I wanted to create these backgrounds. So one week I would try to smell the roses see my homies when my friends and my parents when I’m not exhausted, because the one thing that I learned from 2022 is that time won’t stop and the concept of mortality is horrible.
I just wanna do hood rat shit with my friends and enjoy life, when I’m not exhausted….which is more times than preferred.
I would play Spider-Man Miles Morales on Ps4. That game was so fucking short compared to the original.
But it was still fun.
I made my Team Jano shirt finally. As in finally coloring the design I drew at the end of 2021, constructing the background, then making the fucking shirt. But that’s another story….which prob won’t get typed so it doesn’t matter.
But anyway.
The every other week pattern lasted for a while until maybe late June, early July. I started coloring every morning because of the stress of hoping I won’t make it to my 3 years….and I failed because I’m still at this bitch.
As if.
I finally finished the project I started in 2020. My toxic trait is that I have a litany of images that sit in my google drive waiting to be colored. At this point it is maybe 10 which will prob be worked on slowly as I do other projects.
*Deep sigh.
You have 2 choices you can click this link and go gander at what I’ve created, or you can follow my ig page and watch me release an image a month. It’s up to you.
Moral of the story. Slavery will cause delays. Pray for my freedom from Cotton field 12 that doesn’t involve BBC trauma.
I said what I said.
Oh yea. If you saw an * that means those issues are yet to come and you haven’t missed anything. I just didn’t feel like waiting to talk about this.
Look at me giving you something to look forward to.
Shout to sleep because niggas be tired as fuck until they actual get quality sleep for more than 2 hours. I’m ready to escape the trenches of cotton field 12.
I am, absolutely.
Last night I woke up refreshed watched Expanse and Sailor moon. Worked on another project (details coming soon). Had an existential flashback about the last decade.Played Batman Arkham Knight.
Yes, the game that released a decade ago. Am I late? Absolutely. My toxic trait is that when I was working on my comic book I barely enjoyed anything else thinking I should have been working on my book.
No, I’m serious. I have a whole back log to beat before I even think about purchasing a PS5…and a Nintendo Switch. That has been a debatable purchase as well.
Anyway.
Its time for the debut of Level 7 of Azure Ascendance. New to y’all, def not to me.
I started the coloring process in um July 2019 while still in the trenches of cotton field 10. That time frame was alot between concerts, super slave period and me having to drive back and forth to rock hill.
UGH.
Then came March 2020 and Covid. The disease that had us all fucked up.
ABSOLUTELY.
To the point where places shut down, niggas were shook if they heard someone cough, and the fatalities rose on a daily basis. Cotton field 10 told us that they weren’t going to hold it against us if we didn’t show up……
….so i stopped. As a nigga who was already allergic to the job (literally i wore a mask before it was in fashion. Which barely negated the effects), wasn’t getting paid enough for the daily fuckery, and did not want to work 12 hour shifts you god damn right I left.
Fuck all that other shit.
Peace had knocked on my door and I answered, as well as chance to work on my art like it was 2016. I colored all night, watched TV during the day (JoJo’s Bizarre adventure, Samurai Champloo, Fire Force, Community, High Fidelity, The Mandalorian and a few other things that I can not remember at the moment), Played Spider Man and hacked PSP.
AWICH WAS IN ROTATION!!!! BLESS HER!!!
Shout out to COVID for helping me escape the desolate land. Sucks that raggedy cotton field 10 wouldn’t let me have NONE of those unemployment checks.
Raggedy Bitches.
But I was free and def took advantage of the 6 months of me not working.
The 1st week of this 6 month rest period is when I finished Issue 7, which was literally the last 5 pages.
SMH at how long it took me to work on this issue.
Anyway synopsis time because that is important.
The tension between Sapphire and the other Faunroids become beyond palpable as they act on their machinations to use Ikari as a bargaining chip to take to the Kera Clan. Meanwhile CoCo has to come to peace with horrible truth regarding her parents relationship with her brother. As Boumei watches that family won’t stop betrayal. Azure’s short lived peace is coming to an end as new waves of conflict slowly begin to swallow everyone again.
Yep a new battle is arsing slowly. I continued the trend of choosing violence for act 2.
As usual there is a preview page, and of course here is where you can find the issue for purchase.
Come on and gather around the the campfire as the sage Buuuuuuurns as I type this. It’s adventure time come on and tell a friend. The JRPG adventure of Jano Ryusaru resumes again after 3 years.
Fun times.
It was either I start typing this issue, re watch the movie Dope, play video games or try to get my printer working after 3 years of inactivity. The last one seems like too much right now, I may fall asleep while watching the movie, video games and this tied. But I had been thinking about this while i was picking cotton today.
So here we are, Yay.
Tonight we are going to rewind to spring 2022, which honesty was the beginning of the an existential year. Idk how else to explain it.
Realistically I’m not, i gave some inkling of it in my last issue. but that is all ya’ll will get from me.
This sage is really billowing bro.
Anyway this shoot occurred in April 2022, but it really originated in summer 2018.
Yep, one of those.
This idea wasn’t even complicated honestly, but the enemy doesn’t want me to succeed. That or I’m just supposed to be patient as fuck. I can’t tell.
Anyway flashback time.
It was the unemployed summer of 2k18. I spent it working on Act 3 and 4 of my comic series, playing Final Fantasy 7, watching streaming services, and just trying to kick it with my niggas. Simple times.
At some point i was doom scrolling and saw a girl with an afro, fashioned the fuck up, in a city scape.
MESSAGE.
At some point I thought i wanna do something similar. I hit up my home girl I met from Cottonfield 5.
Jano, is that the 1 that shut down and spoiled you with the joy of working on art things freely which enjoying life away from a slave pit?
Absolutely.
She was absolutely down with the idea. Ideally i wanted to do it before fall arrived. At some point during the last few years I realized that there is a hue shift between seasons. I can’t explain it no better than that. What follows next was me trying to do this between spring and fall for the next few years. 2k19 was a mix of various factors, but mostly Cottofield 10 working me like a slave. 2020, well there was a super virus killing people along social injustice for existing while black. 2021 was the rancid year when my car was not working properly for 6 months, in addition her father passed away, and a complicated schedule.
At some point I told myself I will move on from asking her and did. I sat with the idea and wondered who be the person to make my faro dreams come true.
Side note, the sage I had mentioned earlier. Well I had to pause writing this because at some point my smoke detector went off and had to put the sage outside. The whole stick was enveloped in smoke and smoked me out. A nigga had demons.
Or had a peak of fuckery that needed expulsion from my domain.
Prob the latter.
Anyway back to the flashback.
One day in February 2022 my now ex invited me to go out with her and the other slaves who were still bound by what I called Cottonfield 10. Sure whatever. I sat there listening to them tell me of the current events of that wastelands fuckery.
Can’t relate bro.
At some point an idea to ask 1 of my old slave mates would they want to help me with this project. Back in the early days of Cottonfield 10 when masta had me printing, she would come in on 2nd shift and was assigned the pod I was working at. Our interactions were real brief but she was koolio. I asked and she said yea.
Heavy Yeet bro.
I told her I would email her with the details and the time frame that I wanted to do this. I scouted my saved images from IG from 2k18,re found the email I initially sent my friend I mentioned earlier, made some changes and told her the time frame I aimed to do this which was April. She was down and there was no problems.
See this is actually a really fucking simple story it just took 4 years because of life.
The day before I re scouted the area since it had been a while. Some buildings were closed off or had transformed to a different store. We confirmed everything about the next day and Bam the day of……
…..I overslept. Yep. First time ever the day of me shooting someone. I wasn’t late per say, I had just woke up later than planned and had to rush to get ready.
My toxic trait is I like to be on time for something especially if I planned it. Idk, that is just me. Alot of people have crackhead energy and are disrespectful of people’s time. We got there in a reasonable window but it was still bothersome for me. My home girl had brought her sister, and my ex wanted to come. Despite me being late I didn’t forget how i wanted to this to go.
My toxic trait is that I image train for shoots so that I’m prepared how i want it to go.
The only thing I wasn’t really prepared for was the amount of white people and flip flops I fucking heard on that Spring Saturday Afternoon.
NIGGA!!!
A full horde of unseasoned Caucasians just flopping about. Do what y’all do but stay out of my way and don’t’ be racist.
MESSAGE!!
The only thing that happened that I wasn’t expecting was this NPC flew off his scooter and BUSTED his ass. I thought that shit was hilarious, but I’m fucked up inside.Besides that it. I paid for her parking and we split ways. I met up with my home girl later on and we caught up.
Annnnnnd that’s all folks. As I said this was actually a really simple idea but life wouldn’t let it happen in the time frame I wanted. Shout out to Cottonfield 10, you had some useful elements after all because that place was fuckery.
Anyway my home girl has a hair oil product page. I can fully ATTEST that using it will make your curls POP and FLOW like pussy juice when sendai finally notices you.
I”ve seen it in the mirror.
Anyway to see how this went in visual format, click this link thingy.
At any rate I need to head to Cotton field 12. FUUUUUUUUUUCK.
I’m over this place, waking up at 3ish am and the fuckery I’m driving to. I need to do a prosperity spell for better fields to work in and for my art to flourish. Simple things.
Spoiler Alert, detoxing is a major goal right now.
But Jano why?
Because I just came back from NYC and man I deviated so much my diet.
SO…FUCKING…MUCH.
Dudes I’m drinking Green Tea and Hibiscus as I speak. I need to shit all of these delicious NYC toxins out of my system. Aside from that it was a fun trip, side note it was the first time I was ever on a plane.
Man….MAAAAN.
But Jano you have never flown before?
Nope, everywhere I have traveled has been via wheels on the Earth. Terror and finances are a thing.
Heavily a thing.
It was fun tho. It was nice to be not on my phone so much also. If I had a fear of public transportation prior to last week, it def has been dispelled over the course of the last few days. Subways, planes and ferries oh my.
Side note, subway heat and bum piss are a horrible combination, just saying.
Also rats and STUFF junkies. Holy fuck that was terrifying at 4 am on the way to the airport to return home.
But I was inspired artistically which is important, and definitely want to do some shoots up there. NYC is nice to visit but I don’t think I would want to live up there. Maybe just to do art related business but that is it.
Personal Life Tangent over.
Now back to my art journey and me talking shit, because that’s what we are here for right? Exactly.
We are about to step into the first shoot I did of 2021. The sequel to 2020 because covid fuckery is still abound and I’ve had a plethora of problems with my car.
Here is hoping I get it back this week and there are no more issues for the rest of this year.
UGGGGHH!!!!!
Before we press play lets rewind to fall 2018 when I arrived at cotton field 10. The place I thought I would be able to stay at, get actual raises, and work on my book.
HA, I was foolish indeed.
So fuckin’ foolish.
As if.
When I started as usual I didn’t talk to anyone, however I would observe and make note of people. There was a girl who I would see in another department and at some point she didn’t work there anymore. Not a big deal to me since your life has nothing to do with stranger person.
Until life goes, hey do you remember them? They need a photographer.
Ummm sure. …ok.
At some point in January, my girlfriend told me that she was friends with aforementioned girl. She showed me a picture of her and I was like oh I remember her. Some how some way I was tasked with being the photographer for her baby shower in March. I say some how some way because I don’t remember who contacted who, just her and I were communicating about needing a photographer for her baby shower.
We chatted over Facebook and she let me know the date, time and I let her know my rates.
Spoiler Alert, this is another non conflictual issue. It is. Honestly the next few are going to be lacking of me talking shit about the subjects involved in the shoots.
Legit just realized it is the shoots that I try to do that mostly have the conflictual issues.
Well thats disappointing in the grand scheme of things.
Anyway March came and so did the Saturday of the event. The event was actually at a church across the street from an elementary school I use to go to from 1993-1995….Holy Fuck the concept of time….FUCK.
When we arrived the family of the parents to be were decorating, and I got the usual shots of decorations.
At some point the mother to be arrived and the festivities begun….which I don’t really remember. Clearly I took images of the event but I really disassociate from event when I shoot them.
Spoiler Alert.
I don’t attach myself to what is going on. I primarily shoot the subject of interest and whatever is going on at the time, but I don’t get involved with what is happening. Kinda like The Watcher from Marvel, or Kami.
Niggas just be looking with observing fucking eyes.
I sound callous but events have no value to me after doing so many. My only concern is getting the moments shot right especially I am getting paid.
Anyway.
The Baby Shower lasted at least 2 hrs. When it was all said and done she Cash App’d me the amount, we talked briefly, and her and my girlfriend talked then we left.
Told ya this is a real simple issue, and here are the images for said issue.
Anyway folks thats all. Time to go back to doing a litany of task to achieve my art dreams while balancing cottonfields and the exhaustion they cause.
Life has been a bit wonky lately. Part of me wants to blame it on Mercury Retrograde….ya know what fuck it. I totally blame it on Mercury Retrograde. More so since I found out there has been 2 this year so far and a third is still to come.
What type of fuckery is this?
All I wanna do is do hood rat shit with my friends, play video games, be a witch, work on my comic series, and save up enough money from the bullshit cotton field I work at and from art products I want to make and sell so that I can quit and work on my book again until its completed.
Spoiler Alert, I Just want to color all night like I did in 2016.
Thats all. I’m a simple man.
But no, lately its been trying to figure why the fuck my car keeps on stalling. Dude its so annoying and traumatic all things considered, on Kami. Hopefully this will be resolved soon.
Hopefully.
Anyway today I felt nostalgic as fuck as I realized the position of the calendar day of this month. 5 years ago in the trying times of 2016….actually in retrospect 2016 was kinda fun, minus being unemployed….I was trying to figure out how to build this fucking website on a Saturday after watching Dope for the first time.
FUCK, its been 5 years since i really got serious in this art journey.
The concept of time is so scary….also are all these fire works that are being shot off right now as I type this.As a nigga in the hood I know the difference between firecrackers and gunshots. Although right now it sounds like canons are being shot off.
Swing your dicks bro, I guess.
I’ve been bathing in a sea of existential ennui today as i wonder have I even achieved that much in my journey. I have learned ways to improve over the years. I’m not so awkward at shooting models, 5 years ago tho nigga i was trash.
So much trash.
But for the most part all I did was events which weren’t much of a challenge. None, no such challenge exist. The bond with my camera has gotten closer in terms of technical skills. I’m not the best but i def know more than i did 5 years ago. MAN the shoots i’ve done and the journeys to complete them have felt like quest in JRPGs. Some I would redo just for the sake of a new skill level.
Spoiler Alert, I still am on the search of the last 2 infinity stones that I started search for at the tail end of 2017. UGH. Unfortunately, i don’t think i will get them this year…its a another jrpg side quest it seems.
Might as well segue off JPRG and link it to my comic that i started in the fall of 2016.
Man. MAAAAN. MAAAAAAAAAN.
That has been the bulk of the past 5 years, legitly. The irony is when 2016 started was hoping to have a stable job and not bounce from cotton field to cotton field. But here I am thanking life for all the times I was not working, because without it I wouldn’t have gotten as much as done.
Literally.
Here I am hoping for another employment break so I can finish the last 8 issues. Thats right 8 issues are left for me to color. Being quarantined because of Covid at the end of April, Early May def helped. If i can get at least 1 page done a day I should reach my goal of finishing before the end of 2022.
Ideally.
If life stops distracting me with these ordeals I can go back to focusing on what is important to me.
When it is over, honestly I just want to be a real boy. Of chilling, playing video games, and no big major projects. I miss that portion of my life. That may not ever truly return but at least I won’t have a major project looming over my head anymore.
There will be projects surely, but not a project that is at least 1000 pages.
FUCK! *Tyler the Creator voice.
Despite what you just read, I still love my story with all my heart.
I do.
Will I ever do another comic series? Honestly I don’t know. I want to say no because of how arduous this one has been, but random storyboard thoughts and character design flow through my head. If I did do it, It would be way shorter than my current saga or I would be paid for it.
But what I do have planned art wise are the following.
A store with art products I’ve designed. Literally the only thing I have to do is make said products and the store.
Yes, amid all the craziness of this spring I got my book in one of the local book stores here. Nigga when I got the email I screamed like Will Smith did in various episodes of Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
YEET TO THE GAWDZ!!!!
Right now I’m playing email tag with the owner. Hopefully things will go smoother since Retrograde is over.
Hopefully.
Also more art shows. At this point i’ve done 4 and I dare say I’m getting use to them, Kinda. The next time I hope I have aforementioned merchandise ready.
Moral of the story; Jano is on the way to becoming an Icon that will make you yeet so hard cum will leak from your organs. I def need to get some photoshoots of me done for the sake of my narcissism and my website.
May this lead to me getting my Jrpg comic saga animated and so much more.
With that being said thats it for now. Next month I’ll pick back up on my photo journey with the shoots I’ve done this year so far. They are not chaotic in the slightest in the terms of what I have gone through for the shoots of summer 2017.
If you were helpful to me on this journey in the last 5 years Thank you. If not and you pissed me off…fuck you and everything you stand for.
Also big shout to Spotify for being there as I work on all my projects, and slowly learning my music habits. I appreciate you and your creepy ways.
Hail to the Guardians of the watch tower, Sun, Moon, star, North, south, east and west. Please help me achieve all my art dreams, those spoken and not spoken of. Let my life being balanced of art, joy, relaxation and no stress.
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.
MAN alot has happened since the last time I wrote to y’all.
A whole fucking lot.
2020 was the unmitigated shit show that no one wanted. But here we are, most of us…..
For those who didn’t catch the …, I was alluding to all those who have died due to the Coronavirus…and racism, fucking racism.
Concerts got cancelled. FUCK. I was supposed to see Jhene Aiko, Halsey, Snoh, Aalegra, and R.LUM.R. Probably more but ya know humanity proved unequivocally that they won’t do anything to survive.
LIES FUCKING LIES.
But despite all the chaos of 2020, I found a way to clear a path for my art journey. Priorities folks, priorities.
A week after my bday in March, thats when shit hit the fan at my previous cotton field. And when that shit splattered I took my chance to hide under a tent of what was left of the toilet paper.
Side note, can someone please explain to me why the fuck all the toilet paper was being hoarded. Why the FUCK was that a thing?
Anyway.
Cottonfield 10 decided to comply with my cities lockdown orders, thus not counting attendance against us for the next month. So guess who did not go to the cottonfield, not I said the hybrid, not I. Well I did but only to drop off my girlfriend off since she has more of a reason to go. Me, I’m just a lowly field nigga.
But me, me nigga I rested. It felt great not to have to go to a place where my throat swelled up despite allergy medicine and masks efforts. I watched so many shows, on Kami. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is the legit most beautiful ridiculous anime I have seen. Ill be glad when the next part gets on Hulu. Baby Yoda is so fucking cute, Community was Hilarious. Alot of shows were watched, movies seen for the first time over the next few months. I won’t go through them all but if you are that interested then you can go through my tags for this post.
But most importantly I worked on my comic series, yea the thing that has took a deep stake in my heart since 4 years ago. For those who weren’t paying attention I reached an impasse because of CottonField 10. Simply put I was so fucking tired, SO FUCKING TIRED. 2019 to early 2020 I probably only did at least 1 and a half issues, which was the rest of Issue 6 and most of Issue 7. Frustration doesn’t even describe how I felt.
Shout out to Corona for giving me the chance to color all night like I did in 2016.
But of course all good things come to an end. Masta sent out a message to us slaves early May saying attendance was about to be mandatory again. Had the pandemic ended? Spoiler Alert, it didn’t. Actually it is still very much thriving, like the plague of yesteryears.
But shirts take a priority over peoples health I guess, yay capitalism.
Despite that new mandate via electronic pigeons, I dreaded going back. My spirit said nah Nigga. You need to understand, I loathed CottonField 10 as much as Cottonfield 4. Maybe it was the swelling of my throat, maybe it was because no one in my position was ever going to get a raise, maybe it was the new 3 day 12 hr shifts that exhausted me more so on top of the only way to get my 40 hrs was to work a 4th day at the full 12 hour capacity. But I hated that place, contemplating what the fuck am I doing with my life, loathing that I couldn’t work on my book the way I wanted, the existential ennui I felt standing in front of a dryer wondering WTF am I doing with my life.
Fun Right.
Instinctually my spirit said don’t go back. If I went back I would be condemning my spirit and my throat. Pay checks be damned, especially when they are mediocre and stable to a point.
A snake popped in my vision. Relax not a real one but a spirit snake for lack of better words.
Some of you don’t speak witch and it shows.
I know I’ve lost some people, but if you made it to this point you may as well keep reading. That Friday I decided to take a walk at the park where I shot my mermaid adventures. Ironically the date of that Friday was the same date and day as me graduating from college, May 15. I walked around and again I saw that snake, but the skin shed to white as I contemplated my life. I googled white snake symbolism and what I got was transformation and rebirth.
My mind was made up. I quit that blasted slave pit.
I quit on good terms, gave some amalgamated mesh of why I can’t stay. Along the lines of why I left, that I didn’t want to catch it and pass it on to my elder family members. Blah Blah Blah. And just like that I was out.
NIGGA I YEETED. I would have yeeted more if they gave me my unemployment, but fuck them. I hope to never see them again. Side note, my girlfriend told me there was so many cases of Corona every week. As soon Lockdown wave 1 ended they went back to their bullshit slave practices of forcing everyone to be in the same area.
But me personally, I was good. I colored to my hearts content, more so when my girlfriend got me a new chair. MAAAAAN listen my cheeks were so relieved they yeeted. So fucking relieved. I had some revisions to do, 2017 should be slapped for just hastily throwing stuff on paper. Slapped so hard. but I finally finished Act 2.
OMFG, I’m literally at the half way point. 10 issues down. 10 issues to go.
I should have kept going, but back pain was a thing. When July hit I took a hiatus to ya know live. Play video games, finally hacked my PSP that I got 11 years ago when I graduated college.
That was um a process to say the least. bricked it a few times. But I got it, at some point. Joy is playing Phantasy Star 4, and beating it. Especially when you were stuck at one part as a child.
RPG JOY BITCHES!!!
Beat Spiderman, Discovered AWICH, (YEET TO HER LIFE), did non profit work, went to Charleston finally, back to Atlanta because of the aquarium we saw in Charleston, Kayaked, climbed a mountain, taught photography to someone who helped me get one of the Infinity Stones, tried new recipes, read some books, got inspired by things for my next set of random ass drawings.Ya know all the simple things that ya don’t get to do when you are exhausted from a cotton field.
On Kami. On the Kami of all YEETS. If could just be unemployed and work on my art I would. Literally looking forward to my next unemployment stint.
I’m working at a place I never really wanted to work at again, but money is needed and I needed to loose weight from the past few months. I really became a chunky fuck. EWWWWW.
So October I restarted being a slave again, at a horrible fucking hour. The next place I shuck and jive at I hope I can wake up after the fucking sun. Thats all I ask bro. My comic work took a back seat to financial catch up, car registration and getting money for presents.
Ugh Life be like.
But my slave schedule changes soon, eventually I’ll be back to staying up all night while coloring as Spotify blares in the background. Nice to have to something to look forward to ya know.
Do I have any real hopes for 2021. nah bruh. I just wanna return status to zero by finishing all my art projects, enjoy concerts again, go to AfroPunk FINALLY, go to anime and comic cons, see my friends, not have anxiety attacks when I go out in public, survive a mutant super virus that has been ravishing the world for the past year, ya know the simple things.
I wish I could say I have alot of content for ya’ll, but I don’t. The typical Jano luck of photoshoots happening despite being talked about still ran true in 2020 as previous years. Actually I had planned on posting this issue when I did the photo and try to be con current with my life but obviously that didn’t happen.
Moral of the Story; If you hate the cotton field you shuck and jive and you get a chance to leave, leave that bitch if you can. ON KAMI. They don’t give a fuck about you or your life, and if you leave they will replace you like you never existed. Follow your dreams and take care of yourself.
It is the way.
This will probably be the most positive thing I say on this platform.
Maybe. Depends on how life goes.
At any rate thats all for now. I just woke up. Here’s hoping 2021 has way less fuckery than 2020, for the culture.
Dear Janolytes,
The only thing that happened that I wasn’t expecting was this NPC flew off his scooter and BUSTED his ass. I thought that shit was hilarious, but I’m fucked up inside.Besides that it. I paid for her parking and we split ways. I met up with my home girl later on and we caught up.
