A les miserables blog by a mad history fanatic, Rachel. Lover of brick, musical and film. Jehan is a dear, and must be protected at all costs - I care not that Hugo appears to disagree. My second blog for random crap can be found here: https://thefrankensteinplace.tumblr.com/. My AO3 account for fics and poetry can be found here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingRevolutionary/pseuds/WritingRevolutionary/
Grantaire had risen. The immense gleam of the whole combat which he had missed, and in which he had had no part, appeared in the brilliant glance of the transfigured drunken man.
He repeated: "Long live the Republic!" crossed the room with a firm stride and placed himself in front of the guns beside Enjolras.
"Finish both of us at one blow," said he.
And turning gently to Enjolras, he said to him;
"Do you permit it?"
Enjolras pressed his hand with a smile.
This smile was not ended when the report resounded.
Enjolras, pierced by eight bullets, remained leaning against the wall, as though the balls had nailed him there. Only, his head was bowed.
Grantaire fell at his feet, as though struck by a thunderbolt.”
- ‘Les Miserables’ (Victor Hugo) : Volume 5, Book 1, Chapter 23 [‘Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk’]
This animatic was created as part of my honours year at university studying Animation! I specialised in Storyboarding, and wanted to board this scene as practice. Creative liberties were taken for the sake of dramatisation, such as there being more bodies in the actual cafe than there probably was then. Either way I hope people enjoy this
Did you read Les Misérables or listen to the musical first? Have you only experienced one?
Musical ONLY, never read the book
Book ONLY, never listened to the musical
Musical first, book second
Book first, musical second
Remaining time: 1 day 15 hours
And as a bonus question, do you like one more than the other, and if so, why? Would prefer no spoiler answers, if you can keep explanations without too specific of details. I'm only just starting into the book and I've never listened to the musical through (though I plan to when I finish the book).
[My Asks box is open for Questions and Art Requests! Please go fill it up, I’ve just finished Uni so need some ideas for doodles. Anon is on too, if you’re shy!]
A breakdown on designs!:
Every character has a primary and secondary colour out of a list of 10 (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Navy, Pink, White, Black, Brown) [no purple, since purple was a very exclusive pigment in this era]. Each Primary colour represents a character strength (based on the positive connotation of the colour), and the secondary represents a potential weakness (based on negative connotations).
Enjolras is inspired, as per, by greek marble statues, especially statues of Apollo. Primary colour Black, secondary colour Red.
Combeferre I wanted to appear neat and smart, kind of sharp, but still approachable. Primary colour Navy, secondary colour Orange.
Courfeyrac was funny bc I referenced George Blagden’s hair in 2012 Les Mis despite him being Grantaire in that lol. I gave him more soft/unruly curls than Enjolras to give him a more human vibe while Enj is more unnaturally perfect. Primary colour Yellow, secondary colour Pink
Bahorel I based on fire. A lot. He’s bold and he’s passionate so I wanted him to look really striking. He has a lazy eye as well! I hc him to have met Grantaire through boxing, he has permanent injury from this that caused this lazy eye. Its not as obvious in this drawing bc of the angle, but it’s there. Primary colour Red, secondary colour Navy.
Feuilly I wanted to appear friendly and approachable but still independent and not AS cheerful as Courf for example. I gave him a sash in red and white which represents poland and matches his blue colour scheme well enough to also represent France! Primary colour Blue, secondary colour White.
Grantaire I’ve already had nailed down for a while in my head. He’s rough around the edges, visibly ragged to contrast with Enjolras’ smooth perfection while next to eachother. He has messed up teeth and a few scars from boxing. I personally hc Grantaire as half-Romani. Primary colour Brown, secondary colour Green
Jehan I wanted to branch out of the very common lighter hair designs I see, not bc I dislike them just bc I wanted to see if I could achieve the soft and kind look without resorting to a light hair colour. I hc them as genderqueer personally, so I refer to them with They/He, more commonly They, and I imagine my Amis would do the same and wouldn’t think twice about it (since I hc them as such a queer friendgroup. Primary colour Green, secondary colour Blue
Joly and Bossuet were designed in tandem to match. I wanted them to have contrasting shape language and they’ll also contrast in body build, with Bahorel more round and Joly more sharp. They have flowers in eachother’s primary colours. Joly’s Primary colour Orange, secondary colour Yellow. Bossuet’s Primary colour Pink, secondary colour Brown.
Marius ISN’T technically an Ami, I know, but I wanted to include him all the same since he is with them a lot. Soft hair, heart motifs. I wanted him to have a very young and kind of ditsy vibe. Primary colour White, secondary colour Black (the Amis and Cosette bring colour into his life)
Thats all for now! I said above but please fire me drawing requests in the ask box, especially for the Amis, but I’ll take for anything and anyone!! I just wanna draw for this rn and I have no ideas lol.
Usual disclaimer: THESE DESIGNS WILL CHANGE!! I’ve got some things I already wanna tweak, I just wanted to have something so I could start to draw the Amis
I think my three favourite from this year, artworks in which I've tried a slightly different colouring approach than my usual and haven't focused solely on the characters
pixelskylines
blakekathryn
kaledo-art
romaincrisis
annaxmalina
