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Robespierre is an immortal determine not as a result of he reigned supreme over the Revolution for just a few months, however as a result of he was the mouthpiece of its purest and most tragic discourse.
– François Furet, Interpreting the French Revolution
Cal Arts animation scholar Michelle Cheng’s character design primer, above, attracts consideration to the numerous hats an animator should be ready to put on when bringing to life a determine who truly existed:
Artist…
Researcher…
Costume designer…
Hairstylist…
Psychologist…
Her selection of Maximilien Robespierre, one of the crucial influential figures of the French Revolution, means that Cheng enjoys a problem.
As historian Peter McPhee writes in The Robespierre Problem: An Introduction:
Was Robespierre the primary trendy dictator, icily fanatical, an obsessive who used his political energy to attempt to impose his inflexible ultimate of a land of Spartan ‘advantage’? Or was he a principled, self-abnegating visionary, the good revolutionary martyr who, together with his Jacobin allies, succeeded in main the French Revolution and the Republic to security within the face of overwhelming army odds?
Cheng believes an animator’s first job is to grasp any given character’s position within the bigger story, and her analysis means that “there’s by no means only one story.”
In the long run, animators make selections primarily based on the narrative they want to push, enlisting palettes and kinds that can help their favored strategy.
Cheng went into this project perceiving Robespierre to be “a first-rate instance of situational irony, a fanatical dictator who had despatched lots of of individuals to the guillotine solely to be guillotined himself in the long run.”
This, she readily admits, is a two-dimensional understanding.
Although he solely lived to thirty-six, the person advanced. Robespierre, the image of the Reign of Terror, is distinct from Robespierre the person citizen.
This duality led her to concoct a spread of Robespierres – evil, good, and impartial.
A not significantly distinguished-looking fellow, he was extensively acknowledged to be fastidious about his appearance.
All three animated characters are garbed within the neoclassical fashion typical of a progressive gentleman of the interval – shirt, breeches, stockings, waistcoat, coat, a lacy cravat, and a curled wig. 
Cheng, in session with fellow Cal Arts animator Janelle Feng, outfitted the “evil” model with an ominous, figure-concealing black cloak lined in blood purple. Angles and factors are emphasised, the face attracts on his opponents’ sinister descriptions of his routine expressions, and refined nods to punk and Goth cater to trendy sensibilities.
The “good” model employs rosy Rococo hues to lean into the Robespierre his family and friends knew – a poet who cherished his pet pigeons.
Historical past prevents Cheng from ditching his signature wig fully, however she granted herself some leeway, softening it for a extra pure look.
This Robespierre is as dreamy as any Miyazaki hero.
Between these two poles is the “impartial” Robespierre, maybe probably the most difficult to depict.
Feng took the lead on this one, looking for to strike a steadiness between his reportedly unprepossessing look and his revolutionary fireplace.
She retained the striped coat of his most iconic portrait, however up to date it to a cool inexperienced palette. His nickname – the Incorruptible – is embodied in his agency comportment.
The video attracts to a detailed with a assessment of the assorted methods Robespierre has been depicted in art and film over time, a vivid reminder of Cheng’s assertion that “there’s by no means only one story.”
See extra of Michelle Cheng’s animations on her lemoncholy YouTube channel.
See extra of Janelle Feng’s French Revolution period designs here.
Associated Content material
14,000 Free Images from the French Revolution Now Available Online
Enter a Digitized Collection of 38,000 Pamphlets & Periodicals From the French Revolution
– Ayun Halliday is the Chief Primatologist of the East Village Inky zine and writer, most just lately, of Creative, Not Famous: The Small Potato Manifesto and Creative, Not Famous Activity Book. Comply with her @AyunHalliday.
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