The Sketch Pad
Cillabub: *ahem* One year ago, I began the website that you are presently visiting. However, my Les Misérables fascination--
Combeferre: Try obsession.
Enjolras: Or addiction.
Cillabub: What did I tell you about interrupting people who actually exist?! Now go back into some far reach of my brain, and stay there until I tell you that you can come out! *turns back to you apologetically* I'm sorry for the interruption. I swear, sometimes I just don't know what I'm going to do with them. Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. My fascination--*shoots a look in the direction of the door the boys exited through*--began about a year and a half before that.
From the very beginning, I had been compelled to draw my opinions and mental images of characters and events in both the musical and the book, because fan art was not a new concept to me when I became interested in Les Mis. I had dabbled before that in Cats fanart, and Les Mis seemed pretty much the same, except that they were people, not cats. So I adapted, as all aspiring artists do at some point or another.
Recently, I was going through the big plastic tub I keep all my Les Mis stuff in, and noticed a lot of loose papers and little sketchs that had been drawn on those little pads they give you in hotel rooms, and places like that. Many of these were preliminary sketches for possible drawings that I had considered doing. I often do prelims to help me work out problems of anatomy and perspective, and I never ever throw anything out. I'm an incurable packrat. :-) Obviously, for some reason or another, I had chosen not to follow these prelims, and make accompanying drawings for them. I had thoughtlessly thrown them and many of my early Les Mis drawings into this tub without really looking at them.
I got to thinking. Now, believe you me, I don't like people to see my cruddy work any more than any artist does. But I realized that these sketches and early pieces do have some value, as some of them show the thought process that I go through when trying to make a Les Mis masterpiece. And some of them are just plain bad drawings, that I was too embarrassed to show anyone. ;-) But anyway, now they have a home, as I have scanned many of them in and put them here, in case anybody cares to see them. :-D This page reads like a history of my Les Mis fanart. Every artist likes to see how their style and talent have changed and developed, and that is what these sketches show: how my Les Mis drawings and my perceptions of Les Mis have altered themselves over time. They are listed in approximate order by age, the oldest being at the top (all dates are listed the American way: month/day/year, or, more vaguely, month/year). Enjoy. :-)
The First Ever Les Mis Pic by Me
Created: circa 10/8/99
Yes, it's true. This is the actual first Les Mis pic I ever drew. Forgive the fact that it has smudged; most pictures do when they've been sitting around for two years. ;-) And don't get on my back about it...I wasn't quite out of my Cats stage yet, okay?! ;-)
A Very Bad Drawing Done Very Early in My Knowledge of Les Mis
Created: [unknown]
I am ashamed of this drawing, so please don't e-mail me about it just to laugh at me. ;-) No doubt, this was one of my very first drawings with the characters as human beings (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you didn't look at the piture above this one ;-)). I had to tint it a bit on the computer, because it had faded to almost invisibility. And yes, that is Eppy on Enjy's lap. *g*
Dead Mouthless Enjy
Created: 5/1/00
Yes, he's dead. Yes, he's lying on the ground. Yes, I had to tint him on the computer a little as well. And yes, I drew him without a mouth. And no, I didn't just forget to put his mouth on. Some of my more cartoon-like sketches don't have mouths, or have little tiny mouths. Deal with it. *g*
In Which Enjy and 'Ferre Look Constipated
Created: 7/10/00
The title given to this picture when it was created was "Logic and Philosophy", but I think you'll agree that that is not the best title for it...>:-) Rather ignoble, considering it was the absolute first pic I ever drew of 'Ferre. That's why he looks so bizarre.
The Infamous Androgenous Picture
Created: 8/8/00
Ever since I created this monster of a drawing, originally intended to be a picture of Feuilly, it has been known as the "Androgenous Picture", because when one is first looking at it, one is unable to determine the sex of the subject. What do you think: boy or girl? It's been a sick running debate among my friends. :-D
Cosette in Her Wheelchair (from Scarlet Pimpolras)
Created: circa 9/2/00
This is a cartoon based on my parody "Scarlet Pimpolras". Cosette spent the vast majority of that parody in a wheelchair, due to an unfortunate *cough* accident. But we won't dwell on that, will we, Enjolras? ;-)
Cutsie Orestes Sketch
Created: [unknown]
Enjy and R on the back of a piece of used notebook paper...a very quick prelim sketch that I had meant to base an actual drawing on, but obviously never got around to it. It depicts the scene where Enjy-Orestes washes up on the shore of Taurus, and R-Pylades comes to his rescue, if that gives you an idea of about when it might have been drawn.
Prelim for a 'Ferre & Javert Drawing
Created: [unknown]
This was one of the prelims that I actually used to base a drawing on. This is the prelim for the drawing titled "Take the Bastard Now and Shoot Him!" (no, that's the title ;-)) It was drawn on the back of a worksheet, as many of these prelims are, since I never intended to put them up on my website...
Enjy & 'Ferre (Not Constipated This Time)
Created: [unknown]
This is a tiny sketch done on the bottom of a worksheet about the Enlightment Period in Europe. Not sure what I was thinking, but the guys were drawn without mouths again, and were done in one of the several styles of cartoons that I use.
Eyeless Javert
Created: [unknown]
This was another popular style that I adopted for a while, in which the sketch only has a shaded area to represent the eye sockets, instead of having actual eyes...:-) Believe me, it sounds weirder than it looks.
'Ferre Looking a Little Crafty (or Maybe Flirtatious...?)
Created: 6/01 (not sure of exact day)
This is a rather realistic sketch that I did of Combeferre, just because the little kids at the summer camp I was working at wanted me to draw something for them (imagine that, having to draw on demand...!), so what else was I going to draw? I mean, really...;-)
Enjy and Eppy Have an Arm Wrestling Match
Created: 6/01 (not sure of exact day)
This one was done while I was on vacation with my friend at the beach, which explains the theme of this particular one. Enjy & Eppy, in bathing suits, arm wrestling. And yes, Eppy's winning, much to Enjy's chagrin...;-)
Modern Feuilly Concept Sketch
Created: 6/30/01
This was the first time I'd drawn Modern Feuilly (in fact, this was when I was first conceiving the idea of modern Amis, and what they would all look and act like), and he looks slightly scary. In a cute sort of way, of course. :-)
Orestes Fasting, Pylades Drunk
Created: 7/01 (not sure of exact day)
This is another prelim for a drawing that was never started. It is simply the way I interpret Enjolras and Grantaire's death scene. It is a little more dramatic and "Romantic-style" than the actual death scene was, but I like it nonetheless. This sketch and the four following it were drawn on vacation in Montreal.
The Gunnery-Sergeant Incident
Created: 7/01 (not sure of exact day)
Another interpretation of an event in the novel that never made it into an actual drawing. Another unusued prelim. *sigh* I really should make a drawing out of one of these prelims, now that I have all of them just sitting around here.
Enjy Grinning Like a Madman
Created: 7/01 (not sure of exact day)
I think he looks realistic, but kinda scary too, so I decided after that not to draw any more Enjys grinning outright. ;-) Enjolras just wasn't meant to express that superlative degree of emotion.
Sleeping Enjy, Stalking Combeferre
Created: 7/01 (not sure of exact day)
Okay, so 'Ferre's not a stalker. But normal people don't accost defenseless sleeping people. ;-) This sketch had great influence from a fic by Laura Waterstripe, named "Two Midnights."
Combeferre from "Orestes: 1832"
Created: 7/01 (not sure of exact day)
A quick sketch of 'Ferre in his funky "Orestes" hooded cloak. He looks a little upset, but it's hard to say what particular part of the story I had in mind when drawing this.
Neko-'Ferre
Created: 8/7/01
Wow, this sketch is odd. In anime circles, it is not considered strange to draw pictures of human characters as half-human, half-cat. These are referred to generically as "neko" pictures. A friend asked me to draw her a neko-'Ferre as a favor, and I did. *g*
My Present Model for Drawing Feuilly
Created: 10/01 (not sure of exact day)
My impression of Feuilly has been changing since the day I first learned his name. I never have been able to decide on one mental image of him, until I started drawing him to look as he does in this model. Here, I drew him from several different angles and styles (yes, including a little anime chibi-style one ;-)), in order to be sure of how I pictured him.
Ian 'Ferre as a Cartoon
Created: 12/29/01
Basically, this is the cartoon style I've been trying out recently. I applied it to the first picture I drew of Ian Combeferre, and made him into a cartoon...
Logic & Philosophy Prelim
Created: 12/31/01
This is a prelim for a drawing that I intend to do, perhaps in a more interesting medium like charcoal or pastels. God, I wish I could paint. BTW, I would like to title the finished piece "Logic/Philosophy", or something to that effect, and that is not to be confused with the horrid picture listed on this page, that I have renamed "In Which Enjy and 'Ferre Look Constipated".
Bolshevik Feuilly
Created: 4/9/02
This was just a little sketch of Feuilly in a hat that was done during a Comparative Government lesson on Russia, and thus turned out looking slightly like a Bolshevik, I am amused to say. ;-)
Joly Portrait
Created: 5/29/03
A cute little Joly...*g* And who doesn't like that?
Unfinished Combeferre
Created: 6/26/03
Manga-style 'Ferre that I didn't have the energy to finish shading. *shrug* Hehehe...
*Sweatdrop*
Created: 10/20/03
It started out looking like Combeferre on too much caffeine, and then my friend suggested that he was looking at gay porn, and that ruined it for me. XP I added the sweatdrop, and now he's just eep-ing, okay, everybody?!
Cillabub: And there we have a little study of my character sketches and other assorted oddities. Perhaps I shall add on to this page as time goes by; perhaps not. We shall see. And now, I believe I shall leave off the sketches for a while and go draw something real. ;-)
