Happy Barricade Day! After all, June 6th is the day they made their sacrifice, so I’m not late, right?
The inspiration for this drawing came from the Toledo Cathedral—the sense of the heavens opening up, which also corresponds to the final song of Les Misérables, "Epilogue."
In the painting, I wanted to depict the scene Jean Valjean vaguely sees as he passes away. Fantine takes his hand, leading him toward heaven, while the Bishop stands beside him, illuminating the path behind. And in the background are those who fell during the battle.
The upward composition gives the feeling that their voices fade into the "valley of the light," reflecting their destiny of "climbing to the light." I wanted the darker surroundings to contrast with the light of heaven, showing that they now dwell in that place beyond—echoing the lyric, "We will live again in freedom in the garden of the Lord."
Jehan loves playing the flute, so perhaps the "distant drums" are sounds he conjures.
Behind Valjean, there is a mural of women—intended to represent the "lovely ladies," along with little Gavroche and his sister Éponine above. These figures embody the suffering people of the earth, much like the lyrics of "Wretched of the Earth."
On the heavenly side of the mural are two elderly men: the Parliament G and Mabeuf. Finally, the little angels surrounding the Bishop are Gavroche’s younger brothers.
A little beyond the black corner of the alley and the Rue de la Chanvrerie, which threw a broad shadow, in which he was himself buried, he perceived a light upon the pavement, a portion of the wineshop, and behind, a lamp twinkling in a kind of shapeless wall, and men crouching down with muskets on their knees. All this was within twenty yards of him. It was the interior of the barricade.
The houses on the right of the alley hid from him the rest of the wine-shop, the great barricade, and the flag.
Marius had but one step more to take.
Then the unhappy young man sat down upon a stone, folded his arms, and thought of his father...
...He saw civil war yawning like an abyss before him, and that in it he was about to fall.
[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
You know that “A sceptic who adheres to a believer is as simple as the law of complementary colors” sentence? Well apparently I’ve reached the level of maximum cheesiness
It's been over a decade since I first read Les Mis, and first drew this, (which still floats around in reblogs, the original post now being deleted with my old blog) and I thought I ought to finish this for Barricade Day. At the time, that illustration was the most ambitious I had ever drawn.
In the last ten years, Les Mis has perhaps felt more pertinent than ever. In Australia, where I live, bigoted, far-right political parties that were previously considered fringe are leading polls on the back of racist, anti-immigration rhetoric. I donate regularly to a charity that supports refugees that is local to me, the Asylum Seeker Resource Center, and am going to do so again today. I encourage you to do the same, either to the ASRC, or to an equivalent charity in your area.
"So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth... books of the nature of Les Misérables cannot fail to be of use." — Victor Hugo
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