It deals with a young boy struggling to come to terms with his feelings for a handsome peer, a topic never previously explored by animated film, and features an adorable jumping heart. In just 4 minutes, it captures the experience of not just LGBTQ youth, but also people who are shy or not forthcoming with displaying how they feel, and shows them that there’s nothing to be afraid of.

The Florida students managed to successfully crowdfund almost 5 times their original estimated costs to produce the film through Kickstarter, and their hard work is paying off. Since it was uploaded to YouTube, In a Heartbeat has racked up over 5 million views, and there are already calls for a sequel.

To me it’s so well done because it doesn’t even need words or dialogue to say what’s happening. To me it has taken the internet by storm purely because it’s not about the characters coming out, but down to the basic yet overwhelming feeling of your heart jumping out of your chest when something means so much to you. In fact it reminds me of an illustration I did earlier in the year…