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The Vast Gap Between Us pg 7 draft (script)

P1: Ares and Sylara are lying on the ground together, admiring one another.

ARES: Lara Lasher, your outfit is really cute today.

SYLARA: Yeah? Have I ever told you how sexy you look in that vest?

ARES: Frequently.

P2: Sylara looks around and notices that Talani and Haeun are gone.

SYLARA: Hey... where did Talani and Haeun go?

ZERINA: They stepped away a few minutes to go for a walk.

P3: Sylara leans in towards Ares.

SYLARA: Ooh, that sounds like...

Helluva Trio 2 pg 1 inks

Helluva Trio pg 11 inks (commentary)

Can't have a little story without a little friction.

Though, maybe this one is a little out-of-character? I feel like Loona always goes brain-dead when she sits at that desk, regardless of the situation.

Also, let's just assume that monitor is a touchscreen so I don't have to keep drawing a mouse and keyboard.

The Vast Gap Between Us pg 2 draft

The Vast Gap Between Us pg 6 (commentary)

Zerina is so fun and tragic. I think besides Sylara, her story gets me the most teary-eyed. But it'll be awhile before we learn what her deal is.

Kinda wonder what Xander's deal is.

Some small tweaks to Haeun, as I forgot to add her eyeshadow in the previous pages (which I've fixed.)

Helluva Trio pg 11 draft (script)

P1: Loona throws some painkillers into her mouth.

P2: We see her at her desk, a medicine bottle of ibuprofen next to her. She looks miserable.

LOONA (thoughts): Great. Not even one minute back to work and I've already pissed off both of them. At least  the medicine will help with the pain...

P3: Loona buries her head in her hands, tugging at her hair, frustrated.

LOONA (thoughts): Why do I always do this? I really don't want things to end like this... how am I sup...

Helluva Trio 2 pg 1 draft

The Vast Gap Between Us pg 5 (commentary)

Sylara is the super affectionate type, despite being kinda emo.

Originally, this whole scene was going to be a bonfire for a bunch of students interacting with each other. But that would've required a lot, a lot, a lot of character designing that I just wasn't ready for. I decided to keep it much simpler, and focus specifically on the characters that we would be following. We can see their school life when they're actually in school.

Helluva Trio pg 10 (commentary)

I like that little tremble that Loona's doing. Something about Millie can genuinely terrify Loona sometimes.

Helluva Trio 2 cover

The Vast Gap Between Us pg 1

The Vast Gap Between Us pg 4 (commentary)

I'm still learning how to draw these characters, but I really want to make a bunch of silly expressions for Sylara. She's so cute, I really want to make her goofy.

Here's the introduction to love interest, Ares. His name comes from the Greek god of war, which I picked purely out of irony, as Ares is very calm and collected.

Xander is not from this area, and his first language was French. He was very much inspired by Gambit of the X-Men, so a little bit of French slips into his dia...

Helluva Trio pg 10 inks (commentary)

Millie is kind and open-minded and caring, but she's not going to take your shit.

Loona, of course, has little self-control and is remembering the whole "actions have consequences" thing.

I just wanted to capture that moment in relationships when you realized that you just pissed off your partner and you have that sinking feeling in your stomach when you're not sure what to do. Loona, especially, has always been bad at communicating or expressing her thoughts into words, so this i...

Helluva Trio 2 cover inks

Helluva Trio pg 9 (commentary)

Maaaybe Moxxie got a little too comfortable and thought making physical contact with Loona would be okay after the night they spent together. It's a natural assumption to make, and would've been fine with most people.

But Loona is the type to snap at others before realizing that something may be her fault. But she'll get there, eventually.

Helluva Trio pg 10 draft (script)

P1: Millie is looking back at Loona, with a look of contempt. She clearly doesn't like how Loona snapped at Moxxie.

P2: Loona looks back at her, startled. She realizes she's fucked up.

LOONA (thoughts): Uh oh.

P3: Millie scoffs and saunters off while Loona watches on, looking like a puppy that's been scolded.

LOONA (thoughts): I just fucked up, didn't I?

Helluva Trio 2 cover draft

The Vast Gap Between Us pg 3 (commentary)

Talani is a fun character and I'm very excited to write more of her. She's the shortest of the three, and she was born with a stunted kuru, or queue, the ponytail that Na'vi have that allows them to connect with other creatures. Because of that, she can keep her hair short, while the other girls either have their queue hidden in their hair, or braided up.

I won't go into it in this chapter, but Talani is nonspeaking autistic, which explains her dialogue. She has earpieces that deliver a...

End of Helluva Trio #1

After 106 pages, we've finally finished the first part.

I started this Patreon specifically for this comic and the hopes that I can get an income that would allow me to do art full-time, and not have to rely on commissions that may or may not show up in my inbox.

It's been a successful run, but I hope to achieve further success and earn an income that isn't just me barely making enough for every month; I'd like to save up for the future and show my family that I can be independent...

Helluva Trio pg 9 inks (commentary)

I had to play around with Loona's expression in that second panel for awhile. I didn't want her to be outright angry, but more stressed out. I was trying to find this balance of showing that she didn't forget about everything that happened last night, but also, one night isn't going to completely change how she interacts with Moxxie and Millie. She is, after all, a girl with a short temper.

Helluva Trio pg 106

The Vast Gap Between Us pg 2 (commentary)

Here, I tried to naturally give exposition that a new character, Itan'na, that she's a native from Pandora will be arriving and attending school together with Sylara. This SHOULD be enough context clues to ascertain that she's an exchange student.

As for this page, in the background in the sky, you can see streaks flying. They're supposed to be satellites. Not just for processing information, like our current day satellites, but to also stream more direct solar energy and monitor space...

Helluva Trio pg 9 draft (script)

P1: Moxxie places a hand on Loona, by her hip, as he checks in on her.

MOXXIE: Are you doing okay--

P2: Loona suddenly snaps at him, startling him.

LOONA: Will you FUCK OFF already, fatty!

P3: Moxxie tightens his jacket as he walks off, annoyed.

MOXXIE: Fine. Sorry I asked.

P4: Loona is still in pain.

LOONA (thoughts): Dammit... my entire body tensed up when he touched me...

P5: Loona suddenly looks worried, as she looks past the camera.

Helluva Trio pg 106 inks

The Vast Gap Between Us pg 1

Finally, the first page is done.

This was a really complicated page for me to color, so I got help instead. Celestial Alpacaron did the coloring for the background (you can find her on Twitter, @SuperCellAlpaca). She's the one who suggested the fireflies, which I never would've come up with on my own.

Lore-wise, you can see the Tree of Voices in the center. In this story, Earth transplanted several sprouts centuries ago and planted them in different nations around the world. They...

The Vast Gap Between Us pg 6 ink

This is the first establishment of Zerina having a crush on Xander... although it looks like he doesn't reciprocate (yet?). Even Haeun seems a little off-put by Zerina's forwardness.

But this is still just the beginning.

The Vast Gap Between Us pg 1 ink

Helluva Trio pg 106 draft

Helluva Trio 2 pg 8 (commentary)

I used to draw Blitzo in a different style, but I got a lot of comments that my re-interpretation was really creepy looking. But since then, I've learned to embrace the source material a little more, so I'm going to draw him as accurately as I can.

Gee, I wonder what Blitzo has been up to this whole time. I wonder if we'll ever find out...

Helluva Trio pg 105