HELLFIRE [ OC Animatic ]

IMMOLATION | SPOILER WARNING! 🔥🤚
The first novel in this story's series releases OCTOBER 18, 2024 - and this animatic contains spoilers!

Information on signed copies & physical copies coming soon. 👀

Want to get your hands on a free digital copy of the book & be among the first to read?
Applications are open until August 15, 2024.

Original Description Below:
This began as a Vampire vs. Vampire Hunters AU with some friends, but I have an inability to do things by halves, so it spiraled into this. Baby's first animatic, be gentle.

⟡ CHARACTERS ⟡
All characters are my own.
Cyril Stacy; the good Father.
Mara Sevi; Cyril's mother.
Brontë; fledgling vampire.

⟡ SOCIALS ⟡

⟡ PROGRAMS & TOOLS ⟡
Paint Tool SAI
Clip Studio Paint
DaVinci Resolve
DesignDoll
Wacom Intuous Pen & Touch Small

⟡ TIME ⟡
This took me approximately four months to make. (August 2021 - November 2021)
Though, I confess - I am very lazy & a horrible procrastinator. I hardly touched this project for most of September, save for opening my canvas & staring blankly at it, imagining what I'd do. The vast majority of the actual work was done over one weekend early in August & sporadically - chaotically - throughout October & November, right up until mere hours before premiering. I am sure it shows, don't @ me.

⟡ CREDITS & ASSETS ⟡
Heaven's Light/Hellfire (From "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame"/Soundtrack) by Tony Jay, Tom Hulce, Chorus

⟡ ABOUT ⟡
I'm just a hobbyist & I did this for fun because I fell head over heels for this AU and figured, "Oh, what the hell?" and went too far. I have absolutely no animation or digital illustration education at all, I am entirely self-taught & I am making it up as I go. Much like the rushed timeline, I am sure this shows - be gentle, it's my first time, aye?

I know I am but one of many artists who have commandeered this rendition to tell a story. (Please support Jonathan Young's work) It was a challenge for a lot of reasons, but despite the glaring failures, I am pretty happy with the final work. If you happened to stumble onto this video & took the time to watch it, thank you very much.

[freddy]

Vampire hunting Priest hunting down a vampire nun but the priest has an infatuation with the vampiric nun I dig it

[despacitojones]

Baby's first animatic???? studios wish for what you have! The composition, the symbolism, the character design... All of the visual story telling is on point!!!

[LadyHarlequinReaper]

'Baby's first animatic'? 'Self-taught'!? THIS. IS. GOLD!!! The entire thing, the concept, the artwork, the music placement, the animation work, it's GORGEOUS! Just *gives lots of chef's kisses*

[grimm]

at first i was like "hmm pretty chill vibe" but the moment i heard jonathan young i started screaming and then the vibe went from chill to "who wants to throw hands with vampires with me?" fr though i love the imagery of the halo and contrast between what he feels and what he has to do. it's just *chef's kiss* angsty and i love it

[sonnenlemur]

Bearded, one-eyed, fanatic vampire hunter with sidecut. I think I got a type.
No, seriously. Amazing artwork and animatic in general. Baby's first?! Hopefully not the last one. This was amazing.

[AmyoftheFlowerField]

Holy SHIT, I never realized I had a thing for buff holy men until now. And THE FIRST ANIMATIC? This is beyond quality, it is PERFECTION. Beautiful work, please keep it up!

[NEVERescapingLOVE]

This gives me strong bloodborne/dark souls vibes and im here for it

[AnaAmerica]

Um, hello??? HELLO??!?!?!?!? FIRST ANIMATIC?!?!??!?!? Like I kid you NOT, you took my breath

[Diastrefo]

Thank you so much for 10k+ views, I am absolutely thrilled! (Seriously, 10k+?! I'm in awe.) I adore and am incredibly grateful for each and every one of your lovely comments, they have me giddy with delight - thank you very, very much for the incredible support! ♥

[nicolelouise]

Ok, after watching this on repeat, I guess my brain decided to just analyze this animatic and write on a google doc before transferring it over here. So here I am, spending my time writing an essay analysis, bc why not! Don’t mind the grammar issues I missed.

I’m getting some Adam and Eve vibes with the apples; Eve sinning first before dragging Adam with her. The apples are important in more ways than one I feel, idk if it’s just important in this scene or the story as a whole (idk maybe she gives him apples everyday). Anyway, the apples not only show us their relationship or how Cyril perceives it now, but it should also give us a rough idea about the timeline. Assuming Bronte doesn’t give apples to Cyril everyday, this basket of apples at 0:58 should be the same basket of apples at 1:20 and 2:53.

You made it a note to call Bronte a fledgling vampire. Idk the extent of how much you based your vampires to the stereotypical vampires, either way it doesn’t help me at all bc my knowledge on vampires is very limited, so I’ll take a shot in the dark. It could mean Bronte is a young vampire compared to more older vampires who somehow got into a church where I assume hunters live in and became a nun or Bronte was already situated in the church prior to being turned; meaning she was recently bitten/turned and didn’t tell in fear of dying, and so, at that moment she couldn’t control the urge and feasted on Cyril’s mother and when she came to she realized what she did (as you can see I’m biased and I already love her). In 2:53, we see Cyril shadows casted over the two, and there’s a lot of streams of tears on her face, obviously in a state of shock. Instead of attacking, running away or even mock him, she starts begging. I lean more with recently turned vampire bc it’s also kinda dumb to drink the blood of a hunter’s wheelchair bound mother, so it makes sense she couldn’t control it. It's an especially odd move if she was a vampire from the start and somehow infiltrated and gain a position that would need smart planning, and idk eating the hunter's mom isn't a smart move.

Cyril, having known none of this, immediately brands her as enemy number one. I assume there’s some history here with the brief flash of a kiss and blush at 0:52 (I’m assuming that’s real and not a fantasy). I’m pretty sure that ain’t allowed in church but go off you two. So that relationship adds a layer to his perspective, he might have already seen her as a temptress or the event with his mother completely warped his entire perspective on their relationship. Assumes betrayal and being used, y’know that angsty stuff. It’s pretty clear he’s infatuated with her, and that infatuation is warped with his sense of duty to whatever high powered organization he’s in and what she did to his mother. So like distorted love with vengefulness and hatred.

At 1:59 he pulls out a handkerchief with, I presume, her blood and inhales it (I noticed the detail of his shoulders moving which is neato!), which means he wiped that broken window he whipped her– anyway! Instead of his pockets, he hides near his chest where his heart is. Another example is at 2:47 - 2:53 where he wants her near him, his touches began with gentle carrasses around her face before full on strangling her. Another thing, he kept the apples! He picked them up and put them back in the basket and put them in his office. We arrived full circle on those apples

In the final scenes, it shows him getting dressed in armor and getting his weapons, so he’s about to hunt a vampire that he has feelings for but doesn’t mind hurting, sounds like my cup of tea. I saw you’re planning an ao3, so I’m hyped for that. A lot of people are talking about Cyril, who’s cool and handsome, but I also really wanna know about Bronte, where is she now? And, of course, their relationship. I could’ve gushed more about your art, it’s really pretty but I haven’t seen anyone bring up the apples or form any theories, best of luck on your future endeavors! I’m already far too invested right now, so I'm looking forward to future stuff!

[stargazer]

Love the gothic/fantasy horror vibes! You’re amazing!

[mikelshort]

Amazing story here. You've got that high gothic astetic, the priest with superpowers, The vampiric nun. I like how you added a tricorn hat.
Is the priest using some kind of holy magic system, with the flames and chain wips. So cool. Please continue

[jaaaayco]

just seeing this now but the art here is amazing!! i really like animatics that use that sort of black and white with one colour thing, it really makes the details stand out. (and the shot of the main guy throwing his cigarette into the fireplace was really cool)

[puffythemastermind]

WHY HAVEN'T PEOPLE SEEN THIS MASTERPIECE (seriously good job this must've taken ages.)

[_thepleathersfine_]

Oh my gosh-✨ great animatic lmao I saw the ✨tight✨ fit and immediately yelled “THATS NOT KOSHER-“💀

[Angel...............]

Be gentle with babys first animatic? Be gentle with me more like it cause that was amazing! You really decided to make an entrance by kicking in the door with this one lol. This is so incredibly good! The art is so well drawn and rendered and its also clear so its easy to see what's going on even when its a faster pacing. That also helped with getting the context of everything which was amazing, first showing him having feelings for the nun while also being unable to look away from her teeth's makes the nuns sad reaction and his choice more impactful, like im so invested now lol. I also like this interpretation of this song where the priest actually have morals and a different kind of choice like this.
Also he looks really cool, like i never really make oc´s like that myself but im kind of inspired to try new approaches and genera's from now on.

[MaluuniRosa]

I'M SORRY, THE DARKS! THE SHADES! THE GOLDS! THE REDS! WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS WAS A 'BABY'S FIRST ANIMATIC'! LOOK AT THE VISUAL FEAST YOU HAVE LAID BEFORE US AND TREAT YOURSELF TO YOUR OWN BANQUET!

[DulzorDraws]

Everything about this is freaking gorgeous and OML 3:23 gave me chills that was a freaking awesome shot!! 👏 👏

[LocalBodegaCat]

OMG I came back to rewatch (as always) and saw THE NOVEL IS COMING SOON! I. WILL. BE. THERE.

[pantone]

3:23 - 3:44 - I’m literally obsessed with these shots