A Future Illuminated will be a collaborative, illustrated children's book series that explores the various types of love that can be found throughout Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.
Each book in the series will follow one of the many love stories — from platonic to romantic and familial to enduring love for humanity — that can be found in Les Mis.
With period-accurate fashion, dialogue directly from the brick, and child-friendly language and descriptions, A Future Illuminated is sure to have something for everyone.
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A James has been writing for five years, including involvement with two film projects.
C Edwards has been creating art for five years, unveiled an art exhibition in 2020, and will soon be directing a stage production of Les Misérables.
Image descriptions under the cut.
Top image: Clear blue skies stretch over an illustration of a 19th century Parisian cityscape. In the center of the image in typecase font reads, "This is a love story."
Second image: Some linework sketches of a gangly, cocksure boy of twelve in raggedy, canon-era clothing. One image is in full-color of him proudly grabbing the lapels of his jacket with a cheeky grin. The sketch page is labelled, "Gavroche."
Third image: Some drawing studies of 19th century Parisian architecture. The first is a photo of a building at the divergence of a road (Hotel de Jaucourt) next to a brightly-colored interpretation. The next is photo of a long, tall, thin building with a spire on the end; the illustration beside it looks nearly identical in coloration. The third photo is a densely-packed alleyway in surreal colors (purple, yellow, and orange).
Fourth image: A clothing study. The top of the page is lined with four fabric swatch patterns, and along the left side are five women in the same pose with different skin and hair tones and styles wearing different 1810s Regency fashions. On the right side is one woman, larger than the other images. Her hair is blonde, her skin is dark, and she wears a light-colored empire-waist dress and sash with a matching bonnet and cap. The whole image is labelled, "1810s."
Fifth image: A lineless, blocky Parisian architecture study. The building is colorful but muted with some shrubbery growing from the window boxes. Behind the building, the sky is clear and blue.
