[link]


Oh GOLLY did this drawing take a long time!! Something over ten hours, but in truth I really don't know. It is in charcoal, and is of Eponine from Les Miserables!!! I know, I just drew one of her, but Mademoiselle created a contest that holds music as the subject matter (probably the best contest subject I've ever seen on DA, as anyone can relate to it). I have been wanting to draw this picture for over a week now, and the contesrt prompted me to do it. It's almost all I've done and considered in the past three days.



It is scanned in 4 pieces, and lining up the seems was fairly easy (you can't see 3 of them). Usually this is the wretched thing in scanning.



This drawing changes a lot as I drew it (from what was in my head). At first, it was just going to be Eponine against the brick wall. I had to take a profile shot of my sister's head for reference, and look at several other profile photos on my computer (of myself, my cousin Katy, cousin Beth, etc). So this Eponine isn't anyone specific. Then I decided to draw the gates. THEN, for the sake of using shadows and enphasising the mood of the picture, threw Marius and Cosette in (a little reluctantly). I think the shadow thing is REALLY cheesy and came out crummy, but I didn't want just a blank space there.



Anywho, I know that there is a jarble of text below, DO NOT worry about reading it. It just describes the picture in finer detail, because it is an entree. In a few months I'll probably shorten it.





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Rue Plumet Description, to song "On My Own" [link]






This illustration depicts a scene from the musical Les Miserables. The focal character here, Eponine, stands behind the gates of Rue Plumet, the residence of Valjean and his daughter Cosette. She is here on behalf of Marius, whom she is secretly in love with, but whom does not love her in return. Upon first seeing Cosette, Marius requested of Eponine to search for this unfamiliar, beautiful young women he became infatuated with at first site. Eponine did as she was told, and in eaves dropping on the lovers’ first meeting, her heart begins to break.



I chose to do this drawing for several reasons, the strongest one being that Les Miserables is the insane fetish with my sister and I right now (who knows what the next obsession will be). I saw the show for the first time May 2006, and was immediately taken with the Eponine character. She is not a feminine lady, always messy, always in tattered clothing. And in the book, she is a little off-her-rocker, I think (a bit of a rambler, saying things that may only make sense to her alone). But anyone who sees Les Mis is tempted to pity her. Eponine looses her best friend very suddenly to a girl much more delicate and proper than herself. And because I have never been the delicate and proper lady, perhaps this is why I like her so much. But I believe all of us feel a loss exactly or similar to her’s at some time in our lives.



This scene takes place during the piece “A Heart Full of Love.” However, Eponine, though her words are meaningful, has very little dialogue in this movement. So for the purposes of ‘s contest, I am correlating this drawing to the song “On My Own.” “On My Own” is my favorite piece in the musical, and is sung entirely by this character. Her feelings are expressed most evocatively during the number, and is therefore the more inspiring song for this drawing. The song is not merely my favorite because of its lyrics. I greatly admire lyrics (primarily and almost only in musicals, because most other songs lack whit and story). The score is very moving alone without the words, and I hold score much much higher than lyrics, I always have (I was raised on a lot of classical, which do not have words, and I think is very very underestimated by my age group this day in age). The score is dynamic, a little minor here and there, and all in all what I look for in my favorite score pieces. It moved me to tears the first time I saw/heard it.



So, now I give you the lyrics to Les Miserables’s “On My Own!” But, if you are not completely tired out by this hideously long description, and are even a tad intrigued, you must listen to this number rather than read it. Reading it will not give you the score, and the score is the most beautiful thing. You will see instructions to a recording below. This is from the 10th Anniversary concert of Les Miserables, and my favorite from the pieces I’ve heard (both for instrumental power and the vocalist). The singer is Lea Salonga (whom you might recognize as the singing voice of Jasmine in Aladdin and the singing voice of Mulan). I very much appreciate her articulation. It seems that the hip thing to do in singing is to slur all of your words (another reason I am tempted to detest modern music). She speaks clearly, no blending of lyrics together unintelligibly.





[link]







And now I’m all alone again, no where to turn, no one to go to,

Without a home without, without a friend, without a face to say hello to,

And not the night is near,

Now I can make-believe he’s here.



Sometimes I walk alone at night when everybody else is sleeping,

I think of him and then I’m happy with the company I’m keeping,

The city goes to bed,

And I can live inside my head.



On my own pretending he’s beside me,

All alone I walk with him ‘till morning,

Without him I feel his arms around me,

And when I loose my way I close my eyes and he has found me.



In the rain the pavement shines like silver,

All the lights are misty in the river,

In the darkness the trees are full of starlight,

And all I see is him and me forever and forever.



And I know it’s only in my mind,

That I’m talking to myself and not to him,

And although I know that he is blind,

Still I say there’s a way for us.



I love him, but when the night is over,

He is gone, the river’s just a river,

Without him the world around me changes,

The trees are bare and everywhere the streets are full of strangers.



I love him, but everyday I’m learning,

All my life I’ve only been pretending,

Without me his world will go on turning,

A world that’s full of happiness that I have never known.



I love him,

I love him,

I love him,

But only on my own.