So after years in the making, its finally here!

Well, without further ado, Episode 2. Full view here.

A little behind the scenes of you may.

So it finally arrives! After a very very long hiatus, the next episode in this (thrilling, epic, awesome) series by the (awesome, handsome, dashing) fifthStitch (please don't shoot me, I'm just a parenthetical annotator).

Anyways, not much to say about this one, although I did have a hard time making it dramatic. I wanted to convey some degree of drama in this comic, as it's a revisit to Mato and Yomi's past (Yomi has been murdered supposedly by Yuki). You may wanna read the previous episodes though, to "jog your memory" as Yomi said in the first panel.

Oh, and left to right takes priority here over up to down. This is especially true in the first panel of the bottom row of panels.

I really apologize for the delay in releasing new comics. Between Final Fantasy, thesis and work, I barely have time to release new episodes. Still, expect the next one to be made within two weeks, or maybe even less. I'd try to be more consistent with the comics, but I of course do not want to compromise its quality (however much it has).

See you all in the next ride!

So we begin anew, a new Chapter that is! The first episode for Chapter 3, and the first episode of the year! How very exciting~ Anyways, full view here.

A little behind the scenes if you may.

If you're viewing this from my impeccable little blogger account I call My Psychosis (or the comparably impeccable but not quite as impeccable blog of Murakami Night), you would immediately notice how stuff have changed quite a bit, namely how you can now click on the image to bring you directly to the full view! Well, the full view link is still present if you're used to that, so yeah, it's not really much of a big deal I suppose. For the DA viewers out there, it's pretty much the same thing, so I guess this only directly affects a minute proportion of people who are actually interested about those sort of things...

Yeah...

Anyway, from now on, I'd be taking advantage of some of Blogger's new built in tools, primarily the Image Embed (Insert Image) tool and the Jump Break tool, which have become more and more user-friendly as of late. Gone are the days when I had to code these things manually, which strikes of another tedious list off of comic creation. Does that necessarily mean more comics? Not really. I'm still sticking to the one comic per week rule, seeing that now, more than ever, my time is on a very tight noose so to speak. Does this mean more regular comics? Hopefully so, since I won't be too lazy coding up the new blog post and I could focus completely on comic creation. I actually finished this comic late yesterday, but I was already so early in the morning that I wasn't able to post this up on time, seeing that I had to code stuff and make sure the Jump Break works and all that...

Anyways...

Yeahp! So enjoy the comic! Strictly speaking, this would be the first side-arc of my comic, but that doesn't mean the events are any less integral to the main plot. I'd rather think of it as a foil, an ominous little side-story that would speak volumes of the things to come. Hopefully we'd see more of Mato and Yomi's backstory, some more clues as to why the Riders are up and about, and why, if ever there is a reason, everything is. But for now, enjoy Ad Continuum's first face palm (frame 9). And if you feel like pointing something out, post a comment. I read and reply to all if not most of the comments, and it's nice to get feedback from people, especially those who are better at this than me!

I'd see you all in the next ride!

Warning! This is going to be a very very long and image heavy update. After all, it IS the time of year, and I'm not talking about the holidays! It's a triple comic update! Wheeee! So... full views here: C, D and E. Merry Christmas Murakami Night!

A little behind the scenes if you may.

This took a long time to come into fruition didn't it? Sorry for that, I was taking my customary chapter hiatus. This wouldn't mean though that I would be making the regular weekly updates, it IS the holidays after all, and I'm enjoying my super super short vacation. We shall see though, as the last time I went into hiatus, I created and released a couple of comedy comics to pass the time when I got bored. Don't expect it though, with Modern Warfare 2, Final Fantasy XIII and my thesis all just around the corner, waiting to pounce.

Anyways, so I decided to make a simple character dossier of all the characters that appeared or were mentioned thus far. It's going to be really really text-y so I hope you bear with it for now. The stats might get updated in the future too, and I don't only mean upgrades. Certain events may occur that could cause a downgrade or a decrease in the relative strengths of some if not all of the characters in the fiction (foreshadowing? maybe...). That said, I tried to keep the stats as "balanced" as possible, meaning if a character was introduced as strong, I give it its due stats. I may also improve on the five bar system; my brother said I could've included speed, but I thought that it might be skewed too much in Kabuto's favor. We shall see though.

As for the epilogue, it was a real pain to shoot, with all the activity in our house currently. I had to sneak the shoots when my folks leave or during the wee hours of the day, but I guess it turned out okay. What do you think?

I had been planning on making a side comic series project that is more involved production wise, but it never came to be. We shall see though, as I do have a script in mind already (but I haven't really gotten into typing it down, maybe sometime soon). It would include some never before seen FIGMAs from my collection, and some of the rather impressive array of in-scale or almost in-scale weapons I never thought I had lying around (due to my previous forays into GUNPLA). Anyways, I guess look forward to it sometime in the future.

And with that, I will see you all on the next ride! And this time on the next chapter for reals!

Episode 9 yay! Again, full view here.

A little behind the scenes if you may.

Or maybe not... Too sleepy and dizzy... Effects on this got me all worked up...

After three somewhat frustrating days of work on this comic, this is what I ended up with. I'm kinda satisfied with it, what do you think? Normally I'm not an effects kind of person (yeah right) but I use them when appropriate (like, almost everytime). Anyway, yeah, there.

This would be the last episode for Chapter 2. This weekends comics would be the chapter enders, then I'd try to upload Episode 1 of Chapter 3 by Tuesday of next week (Tuesday, um, Hong Kong time?). Also, I made a little mistake with the numbering of the previous 2 episodes. Those episodes were actually episode 5, this one is episode 6.

See you all on the next ride! And on the next chapter!

Episode 8! Again, full view here.

A little behind the scenes if you may.

W pedo in frame 4!

Got nothing much to say actually, except maybe I'm planning to close this chapter in an episode or two. So yeah, I can still remember when I made my sentimental comments on ending chapter 1,and I feel like I'm inclined to do so again very very soon. I dunno. I'm babbling.

Some new stuff here, I've been testing out a new way of rendering electricity, which you would notice in frame 2. I'm not really sure if it works, so please leave a comment if you think it did or didn't and why. Also, I'm slowly drifting back to the more relaxed four or so frames per episode. I've been doing action packed multi-framed comics recently, and I don't really want it to get old real fast. Worry not, I'd use it again when the need arises!

That should be it, see you all on the next ride!

Episode 7! Buhhh... Anyway, full view here, as usual.

A little behind the scenes if you may.

So here's to the 7th episode of Chapter 2 of Ad Continuum. Still steadily improving, still trying out new styles. It's been fruitful thus far I would think, but I still have a lot more bases to cover, both art-wise and story-wise.

Yes, that is a 1 after the chapter title. The astute (hey, I've been using that word a lot, hehe) would say that there would be a part 2, and truly there would be. After this multipart episode concludes, I intend to end Chapter 2.

Also, I've been experimenting with new planning styles; I used a storyboard style on this one. The dialogues were a bit impromptu, but I sort of already had an idea what the characters would say. If I feel like it, I might upload a scan of the storyboard some time, maybe on one of the chapter enders.

That should be it, see you all on the next ride!

The sixth episode of Chapter 2!. I've got my numbering scheme sorted out and I found out that yes, this is indeed the sixth comic, and last week was the fifth. Anyway, full view here, as usual.

A little behind the scenes if you may.

Nothing much to say here. I'm still experimenting on the battle scenes and so far, I've been mostly satisfied by the set-up you see above. I might adopt this for my other comics, but time will tell if I end up discovering something better.

I suppose you're interested (if ever you are) by the new SHF figure right about the fourth panel. Yeah, that's Kamen Rider W, as some of you may already know, and yes, he's quite rare. I got him for about 1800 PHP (about "I don't really know" in dollars) discounted; his original price is 2000 PHP, a testament to his "rareness" here. I suppose there are still some of this dude out there, but he is one of those toys which, either you get them now or suffer the consequences. I'd rather not.

I thought for sure W's joints and pose-ability would be better than Decade's (best SHF thus far). But to be honest, between his hard to swap hands and his freakishly scary scarf joint and rickety tight knee and hip joints, Decade's jointage is still miles ahead. I hope that opinion would change over time (maybe the joints would loosen up as I play with Double [and yes, I am playing with him now as I type this]), as Double is much better looking IMO than Decade. Anyway, I would see you all on the next ride!

The fifth (?) episode of Chapter 2!. Sorry, I myself am kinda lost at my own episode numbering scheme. Full view here.

A little behind the scenes if you may.

So yeah, Black Rock Shooter! I've also been waiting for her to arrive, as I have big plans for the little girl that could. As some of you might have known already, she comes with a boatload of accessories, each more exciting than the last. I am actually looking forward to utilizing some of those accessories, as they are as fun to pose as to play with.

Anyway, I tried something new with today's comic. I reduced the font size again but this time, I used oblong speech bubbles and I actually pen tooled (yay, new verb! wut?!?) the little hook. Strangely enough, I think it didn't take as much time as before for some reason, which is a good indicator that it's bound to stick (lazy old me). What do you think? Does it work?

Anyway, this has been a tiring comic to make. My left shift key is busted (I have to press hard, thus straining my pinky), I got on the wrong end of my folks' wrath again and it's about 1 AM here already. With that, I suppose I have nothing else to say but to see you on the next ride!

Episode 4!. Full view here.

A little behind the scenes if you may.

I have finally begun stabilizing the posting schedule of my comic. I'm still trying to get used to it, so expect some comics to be less at par (but hopefully not) with my previous works. I'm also experimenting with a different font size, and a different way of framing. Most of my old comics, I noticed, were framed up close. I'm trying to vary this framing, and it seemed to me that I had to adjust my font sizes as well.

Anyway, my girlfriend asked me recently how I plan for my comics. Well, today I give you a little tidbit. Basically I plan everything in notepad, describing the scenes within the frames with keywords that would make me recall the idea I had in mind for that frame. Then I follow it up with the dialogue I put in it, with comments in case I need to remember some other stuff. Call it a comic skeleton. Wouldn't you like to see one? Well, how's about I show you the comic plan for today's comic?

-------- FRAME 1 -------

Scene: Koizumi getting up, Nagato kneeling beside him.

Koizumi: I don't remember much... What happened? Why are you here?

Nagato: I found you unconscious. You were barely breathing. I brought you here.

------------------------

-------- FRAME 2A ------

Scene: Focus on Nagato about to sit down away from Koizumi

Koizumi: Ugh... My head hurts.

Nagato: It would be unwise to get up. Your level of injury was close to fatal.

------------------------

-------- FRAME 2B ------

Scene: Focus on Koizumi, looking down at his condition.

Nagato: I had to perform... Manipulations.

Koizumi: I see...

------------------------

-------- FRAME 3 -------

Scene: Koizumi talking with Nagato

Koizumi: You haven't answered my question. Why are you here?

Nagato: I do not have an answer to your inquiry.

Koizumi: I see...

Nagato: However

------------------------

-------- FRAME 4 -------

Scene: Koizumi, surprised.

Koizumi: However?

Nagato: There is only one plausible explanation.

Koizumi: And that is?

Nagato: She is probably here.

------------------------

Nice eh? Well, I must admit, its far less than how most other comic writers would, and this method of planning may evolve the more comics I create. Anyway, see you all on the next ride! And oh! I've created a comic reader for Ad Continuum, but it's in the alpha version, so don't expect much. Visit it here!

Third episode of Chapter 2!. Full view here.

A little behind the scenes if you may.

This marks the end of the dream mini-arc of Ad Continuum. Hopefully you've been able to follow the story somehow, especially since I started off Chapter 2 with the said mini-arc. If in case you find something confusing, shoot me a comment below. You may also want to try rereading the last 3 comics, hopefully they would provide some sort of answer. I'd try to address any non-plot specific questions, hopefully in good form, as I know that comics and other forms of visual storytelling are not supposed to be explained.

Anyway, in case you were wondering what's up with the early update, well, actually... Everything else were just late XD. From here on in, I'd try to update on weekends, worse comes to worst on a Monday morning (+8 GMT). This is to make way for my other tasks, and a new little mini project that I want to create.

And as promised, we have a new character debut. Say hello to Nagato, more on her on the next ride!

Second episode of Chapter 2!. Full view here.

A little behind the scenes if you may.

I think I'm getting more used to working in Photoshop effects in my comics, although not necessarily better. This one took a while still, but it took a relatively shorter amount of time I think in terms of the amount of effects I used and editing that I had to do. What took most of the time here is figuring out how I should lay-out the fight scenes in the middle panels. Not perfect yet by a long shot yet I think, I'd still try to figure out better ways of laying out fight scenes, but it's a start I guess. What do you think?

My updates are still off and skewed, but I'd really try to make it more regular. As for the new figure I promised, well, she didn't make it here, but she would very very soon, I hope...

Anyway, see you all on the next ride! And maybe, just maybe, someone new will see you!

PS: This BTW is obviously an homage to my favorite Kamen Rider Decade scene. Dimension punch FTW!

As promised, I have a double update today. This is the first episode of Ad Continuum Chapter 2. Full view here. To see the other half of this double update, click here.

A little behind the scenes if you may.

So at last the time has finally come for me to pick up where I left off. Last time we saw Koizumi getting pummeled to the ground by a mysterious rider. Now we see him face off against the legendary Decade, at least in a dream anyway.

The effects again took forever, and my Photoshop and laptop slowing down doesn't help solve that problem. Still, I think I did a pretty okay job, what do you think? This is actually an homage to the very iconic scene in Decade where Kuuga Ultimate faces off against Decade. It's one of the first scene's you'd see in the series, and for me is the ultimate Decade scene (pardon the pun, if you noticed it).

Anyways, the S.H.Figuarts Decade is a new acquisition, but it's not alone. It came with something else. You'd see it hopefully in the next comic, if I indeed decide to put her in. Murakami Night probably knows what I'm talking about, hehe. Speaking of next comic, I'd try to make the comic updates more regular, maybe one new comic every weekends, Mondays in case the effects or Photoshop become a pain in the rear end again.

Anyway, see you all on the next ride!

Exhibit B at last! Full view here.

A little behind the scenes if you may.

After a not so long (I think) hiatus, fifthStitch is back babeh! And this time with a double update! I'd be uploading a new comic very soon so watch out for it. I also edited Exhibit A of the Ad Continuum Files. Upon closer inspection, I made a bunch of typographical errors, so I corrected them and made a bunch of other changes for consistency's sake. You can view Exhibit A here.

Anyways, nothing much to say here, except for the fact that this ends the first chapter of Ad Continuum. For all my readers out there, I know there aren't very plenty of you, but it was a fun run. I had to learn how to photograph, edit and layout, and doing so was a blast! I'm really seeing myself now collecting more FIGMAs and SHFs and making comics out of them, in fact, I've been having crazy ideas for some new comics! I would have to put all those on hold though, as I'd really like to focus on Ad Continuum.

I'm not setting any expectations for Chapter 2, except that I would put all that I have learned thus far into making it. Would you believe I've gone from automatic settings photography to manual settings photography over the course of Chapter 1? I didn't even think I could make it this far! Anyway, yeahp, that should be it, lest I count the chicks before they hatch. I'd try to make Ad Continuum more involved story-wise so I guess that's something to look forward to. So for now...

I'd see you all on the next ride... to Chapter 2!

Episode 6? Full view here. Not!

A little behind the scenes if you may.

So after my one week hiatus, I only was able to whip up a filler comic. This comic has truly gone downhill... Not! In case you weren't tuned in to my personal blog, I am currently unable to move the plot forward until I get my hands on something I've been wanting to obtain for a long time now. So for now, and I guess for the next two weeks, I'd just be making a little comic dossier of sorts, beginning with the part 1 of the story thus far.

It's not all that bad though. I'm also working in new effects into old shots, like the new esper fireball effect seen here. I must admit, looking at the shots and panels I made before, I might have indeed improved, but I give credit to where it's due. I have to thank some good friends of mine who put up with my constant pestering, asking for help on rendering effects and such. Thanks Teters, Patrick and of course, my love, Kass!

So there. That should be it for today. See you again on the next ride!

Episode 5! Full view here.

A little behind the scenes if you may.

Just who the hell is Kabuto? Well, you'd have to wait and see. This concludes the Kabuto mini-arc, next comic we'll visit an old realm, where we'll see Itsuki get his ass handed to him. Or will we?

Again, all the effects took a lot of time, so I apologize for posting this late. I also had a hard time coming up with a good enough Rider Kick pose. Doing this and last week's comic was a big learning process for me, since it's the first time I posed my figures into action poses (and dynamic ones too).

So there. I've got nothing much to say, and I'm already incredibly tired so see you on the next ride!

Here goes part 2 as promised! Full view here.

A little behind the scenes if you may.

I apologize this came out a little later than expected. The Kabuto Rider Kick effect took FOREVER to research and make! It's not the best effect, I must admit (my favorite is still the RX henshin) but I think it gets the job done quite well. What do you think?

Here's a video for reference:

So there. I've got nothing much to say, and I'm already incredibly tired so see you on the next ride!

Move over, here comes episode 4! Full view here.

And as mentioned, this is just part 1!

A little behind the scenes if you may.

So this one's a little late right? Well, it's cuz I went to Toycon 2010, and let me tell you, was it a blast. Not as great as I was expecting, probably I hyped myself up too much, but it was still okay. I'd have to be honest though, I didn't come for the toys as much as I did for the cosplay. Ironically enough, there weren't much great cosplay anyway, though I did see all of my female Tekken Army (Lili, Asuka and Alisa) so I guess it's not really that bad.

Anyways, I did pay 100 pesos for the entrance fee, so I was hell bent on making the most out of it. How you may ask? Why, by making comics of course! They're all in vernacular though, so if I have any foreign readers, I hope you don't mind.

That's wolverine down there BTW

The busts were kinda creepy, but not as creepy as the dismembered flash head...

In a previous pic, his eyes were somehow still lit up

This sunflower was the cutest fig from Toycon 2010

Well, there you go! Part 2 comes out tomorrow. See you on the next ride!

Episode 3 at last! Full view here.

A little behind the scenes if you may.

The light effects on this was a PAIN! My laptop was lagging a lot, merely opening a picture took the best of forever! Each painful nudge, each tedious opacity adjustment, it takes a little out of yourself you know? Meh, but I guess I'm just over dramatizing here. I think it did the job well though, what do you think?

I have to give credit to where credit is due though, I asked helped from a friend who goes by the name of mutated*insert cute/weird animal name in all caps here* in plurk, otherwise known as Teters. The rainbow-like color of the light emanating from the kingstone? Yeahp, she was the one who came up with how to do that! All of the light effects in this strip were based from the RX henshin sequence from Kamen Rider Decade. I was amazed that by simply showing her the short and extremely pixelated video clip in youtube, she was able to come up with an idea on how to do that rainbow color effect. Thanks Tetets!

Anyways, so there, see you on the next ride! Which hopefully would be every Wednesdays and Fridays. Just me hoping.

Ah, the wonders of over-productivity, today you get not one but two comic pages!. Click here for the full view of the first one, and here for the full view of the second one.

A little behind the scenes if you may.

Fans of the komikos timeline, don't despair. I also have a comic outlined already for komikos (actually around 2 or 3) but I felt the need to advance the ad continuum plot for now, since the first episode left so many unanswered questions (like these two episodes won't [angry]). I hope these two comic pages help answer some of those!

The reason why I made two (apart from my laziness to actually do anything else) is because if I only showed the first page, the second might come out in maybe Wednesday of the following week. That would create a three to four day lag, which could make the plot confusing. Cliffhangers are good devices for keeping people interested, but there exists a fine line between interest and confusion. I do not want to cross that line. No sir.

The yellow hazy atmosphere of RX' realm is supposed to be a tribute to him being "the child of the sun". I hope it did it's job, and not leave everyone's eyes aching and complaining about how the background is too bright (and making jokes about now being able to see Black RX clearly, since, you know, he's black... and the background is... bright... whatever). What do you think?

Anyway, so there you have it! I'm trying to stabilize and regularize the publishing schedule of these comics, but that would have to wait at least for another week, when my other activity schedules begin stabilizing and regularizing as well.

See you all on the next ride!