TRAILER MOCKUP (link in description) (Patreon)

TRAILER MOCKUP .mp4SURPRISE!!!!I bet none of you were expecting this!

Haha, I wish this were the final version I could show you, but I’m way too excited not to share this mockup with you first! It’s the first time I’ve ever shared something that feels this close to what this story feels like inside my head… and to the emotional mark I hope it leaves on you.

I’ve wanted to make a trailer for years now. Ever since I first heard No Matter What by Jamie Miller, actually. But I never really took the time to sit down and do it.

And then the day before yesterday, I just… started.I don’t even know what happened. Sudden burst of inspiration lol. I downloaded the After Effects trial and put everything together in half a day! It almost made itself haha.

So yeah, this is basically a rough draft of the upcoming trailer (aimed to be handed over to an animator)Which means now I still have to create all the new illustrations used here. I won’t handle the animation myself, some people are way more skilled than me at that. I’ll get something more polished and save time!

It’s not even just a random whim (even if I’m having a lot of fun with it!).It’s more that this series has grown so big, with so many pages over so many years, that I totally get how it might feel intimidating to jump into, or hard to follow.

So I wanted a trailer that introduces the world and the main characters in a simple, global way but moving way.

There were a million things I could’ve focused on. Romance, humor, violence, horror, action…But I really wanted to center everything on the relationship between Tera and the boy. The Boy’s Love side of it, you could say. After all, that’s the heart of everything. That’s where the whole story was born.

And honestly, it all started with the music. The vibe almost decided for me!You probably noticed, the lyrics sound like they were literally WRITTEN for my characters haha

I’m supposed to be at the gym right now and I’m still typing this lol!!!

Anyway, the lyrics:

Even on the dark days, even through the heartacheEven when you're too afraid to say you need someoneEven when it's hopeless, darling, you should know thisI'm not givin' up on you, I'm here no matter what

And I know it might get harder on the way to brighter daysBut no matter how bad it gets, I'm gonna love you anyway...

They fit their relationship perfectly, exactly the way I’ve always pictured it. The love and devotion they have for each other.

Here it’s mostly from the boy’s POV, which I honestly love, because with this trailer you really understand that he’s the one who’s going to face everything. The adversity. The fear. The hatred. And Black Death. All of it. To save Tera.

And you can really hear the drama it’s going to create too.The fallout. The collateral damage. Everything that’s going to spiral out of it.

To “structure” the trailer, I basically just followed the music!

The first part shows their relationship as a whole, the big picture.

Then when the music ramps up, that part took a bit more thinking, because I could’ve shown so many things. Fights with Black Death, future scenes that haven’t even happened in the comic yet, big confrontations… but it felt like too much. It would’ve overloaded the trailer and hurt the storytelling.

So I had this idea instead: using metaphor to show Black Death breaking apart.The image literally shatters behind Tera when he throws his mask.

And I LOVE that moment. Like, truly love it.In the viewer’s mind, it says everything without me actually having to show it directly!

I still think I’ll use the shattered pieces to sneak in flashes of important future moments though...!

And the fact that the song ends on “I’m gonna love you anyway”… oof.It gives me chills every single time.

I always knew I wanted to show them reunited at the end, in two beats.

Now I just have to actually produce all the missing panels… which are basically scenes from the future. No pressure haha.---

Comments are open!!!! I’m SO excited to hear what you think, oh my god!!!

I’d also love for you to suggest a line of text to put at the very beginning.What does all this make you feel? What do you think the reader should see first on screen? It can be any length, the video timing is flexible.

I really hope you like it.<3