RLC

Stardust Styles: Cute Alien Paper Doll

A cute alien paper doll printable with a mix and match wardrobe to color.
A cute alien paper doll printable with a colorful pastel wardrobe.

Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Paper Dolls from the Ensemble Eclectica Series

This is the first of a series of cute alien paper dolls that I have created.

The idea that art materializes in isolation is a pretty common misconception. Art is intrinsically tied to the world around us, shaped by our experiences, cultures, and surroundings. Everything is influenced by something. There’s this myth of the lone artist just creating out of nothing, but that’s really not the process. So, let me talk a little about how I ended up with a pastel alien paper doll today.

When I was in the Lower 48, I started noticing the Rainbow High dolls and I saw one called Zooey Electra. Her hair was a major influence on today’s paper doll. I read this review of that doll and it reminded me about the Novi Stars dolls which were fashionable alien dolls. Super fun and super creative, but the line didn’t take off. So, with those two things in mind (and my whole cyberpunk and retro futurism Pinterest boards to look at), I started doodling a set of cute retro inspired little alien paper dolls.

Back on the 19th of October, I showed a preview of these ladies. Back then, I wasn’t sure which order I would finish them in or what clothing I would pair with which doll. I’m still not 100% sure about some of the final touches. I’ve finished two and am struggling with color schemes for some of the other ones.

The point is that this is the first cute alien paper doll, but not the last cute alien paper doll. There will be more! There’s four at the moment. There might be a fifth… I haven’t decided yet.

In the meantime, enjoy this little pastel paper doll and I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I went down to visit family and just returned, a little tired to my home.

Bright Boho With Summer Styles

A trendy paper doll with brown skin and black microbraids with a 12 piece mix and match wardrobe. Her clothing is boho and inspired by dutch wax print colors.
A trendy paper doll printable coloring page with brown skin and black microbraids with a 12 piece mix and match wardrobe. Her clothing is boho.

Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Paper Dolls from the Ensemble Eclectica Series

I wanted to draw a sort of trendy paper doll. Two trends inspired this paper doll, one from Summer 2023 (boho) and one from fall 2023 (red). However, while I try to keep my paper dolls up to date (as best as I can), the fact is that there’s a bit of lag between when I draw a paper doll and when I actually finish a paper doll. Things move fast in the fashion world.

Fashion is a world that is pretty alien to me, as I live in Alaska and mostly wear hiking boots, cardigans, and hoodies, though the resurgence of grudge means I am marginally in style these days. It’s very weird. I’m not used to that at all.

Most of the paper dolls that I say were inspired by previous work, I think it’s kinda obvious. This one is a little more subtle, because it really took a very different turn than the original set. Wings and Petals, a paper doll set from 2010, inspired this set.

African dutch wax print patterns inspired the colors of today’s trendy paper doll. If you’ve never checked them out, I love dutch wax print fabric. I just adore the color combinations.

Bright Geometric Paper Doll Dress Up

A super cute 1980s inspired paper doll dress-up with a mix and match wardrobe.
A super colorful paper doll dress-up with a mix and match wardrobe. She has over 40 different outfit combinations.

Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Paper Dolls from the Ensemble Eclectica Series

So, I wanted to try drawing patterns in Procreate and practice using some of the shape tools. Today’s paper doll dress-up brings the geometric patterns and some 1980s flare. She can dress-up in circles, squares, or triangles. Not literally… that would be a totally different paper doll dress-up experience.

(My concussion on shapes in procreate- I miss my plastic stencil. It was MUCH easier to use.)

Personally, I think today’s paper doll has a kinda 1980s vibe. Not super 1980s, just in the patterns. I was not very old in the 1980s, plus we were living in rural Alaska, so fashion wasn’t exactly making its way to me. However, when I think of the 1980s, I tend to think of really bold colors and graphic lines and geometric patterns. (Also big hair, shoulder pads, and excess, but that’s not really visible on this paper doll.)

By the way, have you seen Julie’s new 1980s paper doll? It’s great. (And I’m not just saying that because I think Julie is great, though I do.)

The older paper doll that inspired this paper was Candy Coated Couture which is a good name for a paper doll set, if I do say so myself. Normally, I stick with 4 to 5 colors for a single paper doll set, but this one is stretching that rule of thumb. I wanted a sporty vibe, so I did sneakers for the shoes.

I’ve been drawing more crop tops. I was in high school during the “belly-shirt” fad of the early 2000s. And therefore for years I’ve been staunchly anti-crop top; however, I’ve been sort of impressed by the newer high-rise pants and shorter tops. So, I am more open minded about it.

Happy Halloween: Here’s a Little Gothic Fashionista

Celebrate the October season with this little printable Halloween dress up doll and her gothic wardrobe. A coloring page, this paper doll has a 14 piece mix and match wardrobe.
Celebrate the October season with this Halloween dress up doll printable. She has a cute modern gothic wardrobe and lots of mix and match clothing options.

Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Paper Dolls from the Ensemble Eclectica Series

I created today’s gothic themed paper doll for Halloween. So, I hope you enjoy this little paper Halloween dress up doll. Clearly, I’ve been digging into drawing skulls which I did here. One of the wonderful things about digital drawing is that it is so easy to work with reference images and you can resize them with much more ease, so the skulls are a big part of that.

One thing I’ve noticed about most alt fashion scenes is that there are endless nuances. It seems to me that there’s often “formal” alt-fashion and then also sort of street level alt-fashion. Things people wear and then also go onto the train, rather than just get photographed posing beautifully next to a headstone.

Last week’s three Ensemble Eclectica: Gothic Glamor Collection paper dolls were all more over the top and this paper doll is more street level fashion. While I know very little about where someone buys gothic fashion, The brand Fantasmagoria inspired both the paper doll’s cropped red corset top and also her hairstyle. The brand Heavy Red inspired the corset over the t-shirt look

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this little foray into paper dolls and has a safe, happy, slightly spooky Halloween! Or Samhain or Día de Muertos or anything else that’s happening around this time of year.

Vintage Vamp: Gothic Fashion with Retro Flair Paper Doll

A retro gothic fashion printable paper doll with a mix and match wardrobe.
A retro gothic fashion printable paper doll coloring page with a mix and match wardrobe.

Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Paper Dolls from the Ensemble Eclectica Series

Today’s creation is a retro gothic fashion printable paper doll with a mix and match wardrobe. Her purple hair is rolled up in some slightly over the top victory rolls. Her wardrobe is a little more colorful than a lot of the other gothic paper dolls I created. I really wanted to expand to other colors that I tend to fall into with gothic clothing. Plus, I can only draw so much black clothing before I get bored.

All of the Ensemble Eclectica: Gothic Glamor Collection clothing works together, as do all of the dolls. You could easily borrow the short skirt from Haunting Couture and pair it with today’s lavender top or grab one of the tops from Dark Demigoddess and match it with the skirts in this set.

Vampira is one iconic figure who seamlessly embodies the ways in which gothic fashion is always a little retro. Vampira, famously portrayed by Maila Nurmi in the 1950s, epitomized the dark allure of gothic aesthetics with her dramatic black gowns, cinched waistlines, and bold makeup. Her macabre elegance and haunting glamour had a absurdist humor edge. There’s a wink and a nod going on, always. I only recently learned about Vampira, because the Addams family movies of the 1990s are what I grew up on.

Morticia who inspired Vampira which in turn inspired Elvira are all the reigning ladies of gothic for me. Of course, Mortica is ruling queen. I’m fascinated by the ways different eras interpret her distinct black gown. As you may have noticed, the first three of the Gothic Glamor Collection‘s contain a lot of mermaid skirt silhouettes all owing something to Morticia Addams.

Next Tuesday’s addition is a little different, so stay tuned for that one.

Haunting Couture: A Foray into Gothic Fashion

A gothic wardrobe paper doll template printable for coloring. She has a 13 piece mix and match wardrobe. A little Halloween fun.
Gothic wardrobe paper doll template printable. She has blond hair, blue eyes, and a mix and match wardrobe. Some fun halloween things for you to enjoy.

Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Paper Dolls from the Ensemble Eclectica Series

Today’s paper doll with her gothic wardrobe was inspired by a lot of different things from my my gothic fashion pinterest board, including this corset, this top and this dress. I really wanted to do a take on Morticia Addam’s famous dress, but I added a bit of a puff sleeve, as those are very popular right now. Of course, Morticia Addams is timeless, but I didn’t want to copy the gown in all the details, in part, because I don’t love the bottom of the skirt. It reminds me a little too much of tentacles (true to the comic, but still.)

(Speaking of Morticia Addams, Julie Matthew’s did a nice write up about her paper doll of Morticia Addams.)

Lastly, I wanted to make a gothic baby doll dress which was 65% just a chance to play around with lace and a new procreate brush set. My first plan was to do see through lace sleeves, but then I couldn’t seem to get a version of that which I liked, so I ended up abandoning that idea. I did keep the lace around the neckline with the openings for some detail.

I can’t claim that I meticulously assembled my gothic wardrobe paper doll, because really this was not that organized (am I ever that organized?). I do think of all the pieces of the Ensemble Eclectica: Gothic Glamor Collection as sort of. mixing and matching together. I think the ruffled skirt from Dark Demigoddess, for example, would go well with any of the tops in this collection.

Anyway, stay tuned for more gothic paper doll fun Friday and Tuesday of next week.

Dark Demigoddess: Some Classic Gothic Fashion

A gothic fashion paper doll printable with a little mini-wardrobe of 15 different pieces.
A gothic fashion paper doll printable coloring page with a little mini-wardrobe of 15 different pieces, long straight hair, and lots of outfits you can make.

Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Paper Dolls from the Series

Not sure what to wear to a graveyard? Need something to carefully cut the roses off a bouquet? Consider this gothic fashion paper doll printable, because even if I think swaning around a graveyard would just get my skirts dirty, I can at least pretend. (Seriously, graveyards are muddy.)

Sources of inspiration for this gothic fashion paper doll printable include Evangeline Ghastly (a Tonner doll I used to want when it first came out and I was broke college student who never could have afforded it.) There’s not a lot about Evangeline Ghastly online, so I used the Evangeline Ghastly Archive. There’s also a nice detailed review of the doll on Toy Box Philosopher. Also, things on my gothic fashion pinterest board, particularly photos of fantasy headdresses like this one and this one.

This all started with me wanting to draw something for Halloween. I had this idea in my head that I would get this done earlier in the month, but that clearly didn’t happen. Anyway, since I work best in “groups” there’s actually four of these dolls which are all part of the Ensemble Eclectica: Gothic Glamor Collection. The librarian in me really values linking together sets that people might correlate with other sets. It’s a little bit Dr. S.R. Ranganathan’s fourth law-Save the time of the reader.

(For the non-librarians among my readers, Dr. Ranganathan’s 5 Laws are core to the mission of libraries and still apply almost 100 years after he created them. Soap Box Moment: Libraries are really under attack right now in the USA, and if you value your public library and the librarians there, please pay attention. It’s a scary time to be a librarian.)

Anyway, not that we’ve had a quick diversion into library science 101, we can return to paper dolls!

The Gothic Glamor Collection was originally planned to contain three dolls, but I ended up with enough content to expand out to 4. Originally, I planned for a “skirts and corsets”, “fancy gowns”, “modern goth fashion” as my themes. So, much fun was being had drawing the various pieces that I ended up with a fourth set.

What can I say? I like drawing corsets and fishtail skirts.

WIP: Aliens, Sci-fi and Cyberpunk

So, I don’t exactly recall how I decided to start this project, but somehow I got into the idea of doing a set of cyberpunk/sci-fi fashion and that evolved into this idea I had for cute little aliens.

Right now, it’s looking like three little aliens and one cyberpunk set is going to be the final headcount. I want to do all the aliens in pastel colors. I don’t know why the idea of pastel colored aliens tickles me so much, but it does.

So, that’s what’s on the ipad at the moment.