#visualnoteslibrary

[visualnoteslibrary]

What is this blog?

@visualnoteslibrary a.k.a. the illustrator's library is a project wherein I attempt to collect, organize and share all the physical/visual descriptions of characters in classic lit to provide reference to illustrate from! It started as a personal project, as I had been annotating my copy of The Count of Monte Cristo to save all of the quotations referencing characters' appearances to draw them and decided to digitize and share the notes and decided it would be fun to make it an ongoing project. The folder can be found here!

Current Titles

The Count of Monte Cristo

Dracula

Little Women

War and Peace

Les Misérables (work in progress, see this post for more information)

Les Misérables [Version Française] (see above; this version will be updated concurrently)

How is the information arranged/presented?

By character, then by chapter so you can easily find the quotes in context. I also sometimes add a column to easily track characters' ages where relevant/possible. Check out some titles above for examples!

Can you add this book?

For copy-pasting purposes I prefer to do books in the public domain, and I'd only do a book I'd already read, since it would otherwise be pretty spoiler-heavy. I also prioritize books written in English since it's my native language and I'm extremely opinionated about translations and can be skeptical of their accuracy (I hand-typed all the quotes from my favorite translation of War and Peace) but I definitely make exceptions. But please do request titles and if they fit the bill I'll try to get to them!

Do I need to credit you?

Not at all! I'm just pulling quotes from books I didn't write, so I could hardly demand credit. If you'd like to credit me in order to inform people about the project, it would be appreciated! I also love to be tagged (@visualnoteslibrary, #visualnoteslibrary or #visual notes library) so I can reblog your awesome art!!

You missed the part in [book] where it says that [character] is [description]!

Pleeeease tell me these things so I can fix them! I'll even add your URL, name, or whatever moniker you prefer to the bottom of the document and say how you helped.

[sneakydraws]

Okay so!! Here's a little wap design compilation - not exhaustive, both because of the image limit and because there's many things I'm not settled on but I want to post some of it at least~

Organised by families because familial resemblence or lack thereof is one of my favourite factors in chardes! And because Tolstoy is so good at creating these family dynamics of shared traits! First, the Bolkonskys:

Lise, Mlle Bourienne and Nikolai jr. not included for now, maybe later. The shared traits I gave them all (therefore presumably coming from Nikolai's side) are sharp, angular features with a beaked nose and high cheekbones, thin figures and straight, dark hair. Both Andrei and Nikolai are described as short, so initially I wanted to apply this to them all, but then I thought it would be cool to emphasise Andrei's similarity to his father AND separate Marya out by making her much taller than them. It works really well because Andrei and Nikolai are both short yet straightened out to their full height while Marya cowers and hunches to hide hers - which also works to create the unattractive figure she's described as having. I use heads to note height - as in, how many heads tall a character is - mostly because numerous manga art tutorials ingrained those in me <:3c Nikolai has his signature bushy eyebrows, and his clothes and hair are inspired by his depiction in the first soviet wap movie because I really liked it!

In general I spent the most time on Andrei, both because he's my favourite and because he has a lot of tantalisingly sparse and at times interestingly contrasting descriptions - he's meant to look unassuming, his small and slender figure hiding his impressive stamina and his cushy administrative position contrasting with the rugged hussars (and his small hands are mentioned as well) but he has sharp features, and his design should showcase his proud, decisive nature as well.

The Rostovs! Not including the count and countess because while I have some features in mind I haven't made up my mind yet on the overall designs, and excluding Vera for reasons I'll divulge later. These Rostov kids are all energetic, emotionally driven and strong-willed and I wanted to reflect that in their designs - most of all in their hair, which is curly and kind of fluffy, making big, untamed shapes - I decided this they would have inherited from the Count. They're all rather short (I think some of the Rostovs are described as short so I extended it to the whole family) and a little stockier than the Bolkonskys - Natasha's figure is really incosistent because she gains and loses weight a lot over the book, but I settled on the slightly heavier side mostly to contrast with Sonya. I also love freckles and always associate them with energy and youthfulness so they got given to the Rostovs - presumably from the Count's side again. And their eyes and hair are all black or dark brown!

BIG RAMBLING RANT: The Countess is described as having "oriental features" and I wanted to incorporate that into the kids because it's like the most detail we ever get on someone's overall facial features lol but it turned out kind of frustratingly vague. I think my first idea was towards Georgia because Pierre mentions a woman with Georgian features in 1812, and because my ballets russes research included a very orientalist ballet about a georgian queen. I didn't find very good references though and turned next to Armenia, and when I found someone talking about common Armenian features that fit what I already had in mind for the Rostovs I ended up using that. However, later I realised those countries are in Western Asia and don't really fit the descriptor of "oriental (eastern)" from the perspective of Russia... Now I'm looking more towards the Kalmyk and Bashkir people after seeing them mentioned in one of my interlibrary books so I might revise the Rostovs yet. I did get kind of attached to the nose though so I'll do my best to keep it haha

The odd ones out in the Rostov household!! Sonya is, I believe, related to the Rostovs on the Count's side so maybe it would make sense to give her the fluffy hair and freckles, but she has enough descriptions in the book to form a separate design on her own (and she's only a second cousin to the Rostov kids, so it's pretty far away anyway). She's compared to a graceful kitten, described as almost unattractively thin and with a sallow skin, so I thought it would fit her to have a slightly unwell air, with portruding collarbones and a slight hunch. She also has her dark double braid.

Vera was fun once I got the idea to make her look very different from her siblings - to mirror her personality being completely different (cool, impassionate, meanspirited at times) and to visually reflect how she's disliked by the Countess - perhaps almost looking like she's not her parents' child 👀 She's taller and slimmer than her siblings, with straighter and lighter in colour hair, and her features are more smooth and soft. No freckles either.

The Kuragins! Those guys are fun. I have Anatole as the tallest in the cast (save for Pierre), and Helene as the tallest woman, with Ippolit the same height as her. Helene and Ippolit in general are described as having the same features so they ended up almost looking like twins! Later I'll talk a bit more about their facial features and hair but in terms of silhouettes, Helene has to have her round shoulders and impressive bosom (and low neckline), while Anatole has to look all broad-shouldered and masculine. He was actually the hardest to draw because I kept feeling like his head was too small and his whole body too long... I might go back and make him a bit broader still. A book I have says the elite life guards of the Russian army were known for their impressive, immaculate appearance, with some men padding their uniforms to add volume to their chest... That made me think of Anatole lmao.

A little roll call to show everyone's height in relation to each other.

More about the Kuragins! I tackled Helene with the aim to make her beautiful by the standards of the time, and luckily there's actually an 1812 bust of the Greek Helene! It was too poerfect of a coincidence so I leaned heavily into it. I find that typical features of ancient Greek or 19th century Hellenistic busts are a very straight nose that flows smoothly from the forehead, a very round jawline with a somewhat portruding chin and that particular curve of the neck. I gave Helene all of those along with heavily-lidded, downturned eyes and an expression that hopefully conveys calm confidence and intelligence. Ippolit is supposed to have the same features but made to look ugly by his stupid expression - this actually turned out easier than I thought? Though it might just be that the moustache looks kind of stupid - maybe I should try a version without it. Anatole I thought ought to look impressive and masculine so in the end I kept the squarer jaw and strong forehead (and I couldn't resist the slicked back hair) but I considered a more Hellenistic version too, with the short curls and round jaw. Helene's hair was tricky because none of the styles I saw felt quite right - I settled on a sort of combo of the Hellenistic curls from the statue but a bit looser with the braid she's described to have in the book. She'd also probably wear a lot of hair accessories but I'll have to do more research on those.

More Natasha and Sonya, and Andrei - Andrei is so difficult!! I always kind of oscillate between "stern, strong-willed soldier", "sharp-featured intellectual" and "soft pampered prince/troubled poet" (where I try and fail to imitate this gorgeous illustration by Vadimir Serov). The Brutus haircut is tempting in its historical accuracy, but I'm just a little bit too fond of the immaculately slicked back hair...

Edit: I completely forgot @visualnoteslibrary was on Tumblr!! Thank you so much for collecting all the descriptions, you spared me quite the Easter egg hunt through the Gutenberg version <3

[visualnoteslibrary]

As I participate in @lesmisletters (a project that emails you a chapter a day of Les Misérables), I’m slowly working my way through an entry for Les Misérables! (For convenience, quotes are pasted from the Hapgood translation, courtesy of Project Gutenberg, with an occasional light edit from me with reference to the original French text. I may make a French version in the future.)

I plan to highlight visual descriptions as I read along and add them all in one go once I’ve collected a few, so I plan to post here when I make an update, and of course upon completion as well.

If anyone is interested in helping speed up the process, since I don’t plan to read ahead too drastically and it will thus take about a year to complete, feel free to request edit access. As long as you promise to try your best to adhere to my citation/formatting style I’d be happy to add you, and feel free to give me a name or moniker you’d like to add to the document for credit!

If you’re new here, the Visual Notes Library is a folder of documents compiling physical/visual descriptions of characters from various novels to provide reference for illustrators. You’re free to use them as you’d like, with or without credit, but tagging @visualnoteslibrary #visual notes library or #visualnoteslibrary would be appreciated and will get you a reblog from me :)! Current entries include Little Women, War and Peace, Dracula and The Count of Monte Cristo.

[sneakydraws]

OK SO my wap design masterpost was admittedly incomplete because! Despite Tolstoy's robust (to say the least) description, Dolokhov gave me SO MUCH TROUBLE! Strap in for a design rant

I couldn't settle on an overall direction until I finally figured the best approach would be through contrast - stick him next to the character he's most frequently with, examine their differences and try to express them. This was of course Anatole (though I should probably look at him next to Sonya, Nikolai and Helene too) so the goal was to make dolokhov older, shorter, less bootylicious, more composed/sinister/shady etc... I gave him a broken nose because duels and whatnot, and then I thought maybe I could reflect that zigzaggy line in his face as well? Then I remembered split eyebrows exist... Eventually I had something I was more or less happy with! Body type wise he ended up a little like Andrei but that's not really a problem given they don't interact much. Anyway I guess there's some other characters in this drawing so let's talk about them for a change:

Anatole and Andrei because I felt like they didn't look right next to each other in my previous lineup - I think that was mainly because making Anatole that tall and that, cough, robust looking was really hard for me!!!! So I whittled away at it for ages until I felt like he looked more or less proportional. Then there's Pierre and Lise who I didn't draw last time - pierre is tricky because I REALLY like the Josh groban version of him but I'm also keenly aware that Pierre should probably be clean shaven and have shorter hair, at least at the beginning of the book... Tbh he changes so many times over the book that in order to be thorough I'd have to do a whole timeline but I think this Paul dano esque take works well enough for early book Pierre 🤷

As for Lise, there's tons of visual cues to take from so she was mostly easy - more than anything I want her to look really small and childlike to drive home the dread and horror that I always feel when her pregnancy is brought up - I might have been influenced in this by Lila from the Neapolitan novels, whose marriage and pregnancy at 17 is the source of some really good really unsettling writing - she changes physically as her pregnancy progresses so again I'd have to do a redesign to convey that but this works for her early on! And then of course her squirrelly smile and stache are a must.

[visualnoteslibrary]

Collection Update!

Dracula by Bram Stoker has been added to the library, which now includes four titles:

Dracula

Little Women

The Count of Monte Cristo

War and Peace

What would you like to see next? Works in public domain in English that I have already read will be prioritized.

The Visual Notes Library compiles visual descriptions of character in classic literature for reference by readers, artists and illustrators. It is free to use, and while no credit is needed or expected, you are welcomed to tag me to take a look at your work through the hashtag which I track or by @'ing me in the replies!

**These reference sheets are not free from spoilers.**

[visualnoteslibrary]

Welcome! Check it out and keep an eye out for more.

Hello readers and illustrators! As I read, I like to mark pages of description of the characters so that I'll be able to draw the characters in the books. I thought it might be nice to compile my notes and make them available for general use. Since I've added my first title, I'm ready to introduce the project. Here is the folder, to which I will continue to add new titles as I go.

Since I am merely compiling notes and not creating any original work (unless specifically stated: I may use some original translation for my notes), I don't require any credit (though I'll gladly accept it), but please feel free to tag me (I'll track #visualnoteslibrary) in anything you create using my resources! I'll check the tag and reblog some cool pieces.

[visualnoteslibrary]

Collection Update!

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott has been added to the library, which now includes three titles:

Little Women

The Count of Monte Cristo

War and Peace

What would you like to see next? Works in public domain in English that I have already read will be prioritized.

[visualnoteslibrary]

Thanks for enjoying the library! Reminder that if you tag @visualnoteslibrary or #visualnoteslibrary w/ anything you draw from any of the documents I’ll be sure to reblog it!

some really quick notes on that wap chardes post:

the clothes are all really basic because i'm just... not that good with them... the military uniforms are mostly the same thank god (except the hussar coat) and the ladies all got fairly similar neoclassical dresses but there's obviously tons of potential for design flair once i get more references of specific dresses and styles! oh but nikolai sr has a distinctly old fashioned coat - before the super high waisted trend of the 1790s/1800s coats, including military coats, were tapered at the natural waist and flared out below.

natasha and andrei are briefly said to look similar and i REALLY wanted to incorporate that but their designs ended up diverging from each other. but like i said i am reconsidering bits of the rostov design so maybe i'll circle back to that!

same as clothes, i'm not terribly confident about hairstyles - i know the brutus cut was actually pretty popular for men and that various hellenic styles with those tight ringlets and headscarves were a thing for women, and curled fringes and side locks as well... i'll have to look into it

i HAVE to draw natasha and nikolai in more folk esque clothing - adult nikolai wears kaftans and natasha's connection to folk culture is really strong so it would be a perfect fit. similarly, @andryushas planted the thought in my head that marya should get to wear some folk costumes - it would make sense both because of her connection to the pilgrims and her marriage to nikolai... though i suspect she'd wear westernised fashions while her father's alive, since he does so himself. i wonder if there was any distinctly prussian fashions..?

natasha would probably have fewer freckles while in the city because she spends her time indoors (and probably powders over them for social outings as well) while nikolai would have more/darker freckles from soldiering around in the sun!

also, this document was invaluable <3

[draculadailyreactions]

#visualnoteslibrary #dracula #daily dracula

Collection Update!

Dracula by Bram Stoker has been added to the library, which now includes four titles:

Dracula

Little Women

The Count of Monte Cristo

War and Peace

What would you like to see next? Works in public domain in English that I have already read will be prioritized.

The Visual Notes Library compiles visual descriptions of character in classic literature for reference by readers, artists and illustrators. It is free to use, and while no credit is needed or expected, you are welcomed to tag me to take a look at your work through the hashtag which I track or by @'ing me in the replies!

**These reference sheets are not free from spoilers.**