Neverender
EN
IT
📖 STORY
Second day in Rimigliano (Tuscany).
Yesterday Martina finally joined the group. Between a football match, lunch at the beach bar, Marco trying to teach Atem Lontano Dal Tuo Sole on the guitar and an afternoon swim, the two of them kept catching each other's eyes. Atem notices Martina looking at him. Martina notices him doing exactly the same. Neither of them says anything about it.
Today feels a little different. Martina is on the phone with her brother Bernardo. Their father, Giuliano, has told him that she finally broke up with her boyfriend, but neither of them knew the relationship had become abusive, and that Martina had been hiding it from the family.
Bernardo is relieved that it's over, but he's also angry with his sister for staying in a situation like that for so long.
Martina knows she made mistakes. She's glad it's over, but everything is still fresh and the call leaves her a bit shaken.
Atem doesn't know any of this. He only knows that the cheerful girl he met the day before suddenly seems quieter than usual. Even from across the beach, while talking with Anzu, Giulia and Serena, he keeps finding himself looking at her, trying to understand what's wrong. And Martina notices.
🎧 NEVERENDER
While working on this illustration, I kept coming back to Neverender by Rampa, Justice & Tame Impala.
First of all, it was the atmosphere of the track that felt right for this scene, and for Martina herself. There's something calm and reflective about it, but also restless, as if the past and the present were quietly overlapping.
"I'll be going over what I could have done, had I known at the time…" "Because I remember… The hardest are the times I don't forget."
What struck me was the feeling behind those lines: looking back at a chapter of your life, wondering if things could have gone differently and realising that some experiences stay with you longer than you'd like.
To me, that became the emotional thread running through this illustration, which is why Neverender ended up becoming its soundtrack.
🌅🎵 IMNT-AKHET OST
I've also put together a Spotify playlist for Imnt-Akhet. Most of the tracks are connected to specific scenes, characters or moments in the story, and many of these illustrations are drawn with those songs playing in the background. Some close ups ;)
