RLC

Paper Doll Collaboration May 2018 Animals and Pets

A paper doll clothing coloring page featuring an evening gown and snake wrapped around the paper doll's shoulders. Part of the 2018 paper doll collaboration.

Black and White Paper Doll PDF Paper Doll Collaboration 2018
This month just got away from me. I meant to get this one up on Friday, but it has been a whirl of a week.

This month’s theme was animals or pets. I have a pet cat named Dewey (who ends up on my Instagram on occasion) and I adore her, but I didn’t want to do a cat based set. I’m not a huge pet person. I spoil my cat, but it’s sort of like the different between loving kids and loving your own kids. I love my cat, but I don’t always love other people’s cats.

Instead of going cat themed (which I felt like might be cliche) I went with an animal who is much more maligned, but who I’ve always had an affection for. I’ve always loved snakes. They are both fascinating and largely misunderstood.

Plus what paper doll doesn’t want to accessorize their evening gown with a snake?

If you’re still feeling cat deprived, there was a cat sweater in my February outfit for this paper doll.

For more of our paper doll collaboration, check out Paper Doll School and Miss Missy Paper Dolls for more animal and pet inspired paper doll outfits.

Need a paper doll to wear these clothes? Grab her and more clothing here.

Gothic Fashions (And a Little Momento Mori and a Little Rockabilly)

Printable Black & White PDF Printable Color PDF More Paper Dolls & Clothes

I’ve always had a place in my heart for gothic fashion. Perhaps, because I grew up in the late 1990s gothic fashion revival. Or just because I really like all things Momento Mori and always have.

When I am working on coloring gothic fashions, I do worry all the shades of dark grey I used to make things look black can end up obscuring some of the details. That’s why I’ve put the black and white version in front of the colored version this time, so you can really see the ruffles and a pleats.

I chose black, because black is the most common gothic color. I accented it in lavender, because in Victorian mourning traditions, lavender (or mauve) was considered half-mourning. In case you’re wondering, the complexity of mourning dress half myth and half real. There’s tons of references to it in fashion magazines and etiquette manuals, but how closely it was actually observed is hard to say.

Anyway, the purse is a bit of a reference to Momento Mori art (which I love) and also a bit retro. I suppose it’s a nod to retro rockabilly sensibilities. The shoes, blouse and skirt all owe a lot to the Victorians, though no Victorian would wear such a low cut garment during the day.

In case you are wondering- “Hey, where is your collab paper doll?” Well, life got busy and I lost track of time, so my contribution will be up Monday. But you can check out Julie’s and Missy’s contributions in the meantime. 

I promise I didn’t forget. Things just got crazy.

Need  a doll for today’s clothing? All the B Pose Dolls & Clothing

An Elegant Piece of Evening Wear for the A Pose Printable Paper Dolls

An elegant purple evening gown for the A pose printable paper dolls.

Printable Black & White PDF Printable Color PDF More Paper Dolls & Clothes
Today’s printable paper doll ball gown was inspired by this evening gown I saw on Pinterest. I loved the off the shoulder shape and the fullness in the skirt. I chose to make this version purple, but there’s a red version over on my Patreon page anyone can download to print if they prefer the original color scheme.

To go with the evening gown, there’s a little clutch bag, but I confess the dress is really the fun part of today’s post.

I enjoy drawing evening dresses, but after a while I get tired of the strapless simple gowns. I find I am attracted to evening gowns with interesting shapes or draping. I really want a dress that I think would be fun to draw, as much as anything else. I totally realize that “fun to draw” doesn’t mean “flattering to wear”, but I am completely cool with that. 

Paper dolls, as I have often observed, never complain about their clothing. 

Friday there will be a circus themed set, which I think is pretty exciting. 

If you love the blog, consider supporting it on Patreon. It helps offset the costs of keeping up this little corner of the internet. 

Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

Punk Paper Doll Clothing for the B Pose Paper Dolls

Even paper dolls want to rebel sometimes! Here's a set of printable paper doll clothing inspired by Punk fashion with cut off shorts, boots, a skirt, biker jacket over a tank and an arm warmer. Designed for the B Pose printable paper dolls.

Printable Black & White PDF Printable Color PDF More Paper Dolls & Clothes
A secret fact about me a lot of people don’t know is how much I love classic 1970s punk. I’m talking classic stuff- The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, The Clash and Blondie (though their exact genre is a subject of debate). Anyway, this is the fact people rarely guess about me.

I suppose I just don’t seem like a punk rock fan.

Needless to say, I am. So, I knew I wanted to draw some punk paper doll clothing for the Dames and Dandies. One of the interesting things about Punk is that I really do believe it is a fashion movement that is tied to a place and time. 1970’s classic punk fashion is as unreproducible in the 21st century as 1890s fashion is.

Women in heavy eyeliner, torn clothing and bondage accessories just doesn’t carry the same punch as it did almost 50 years ago. 

So, I don’t think this set of punk paper doll clothing is really 1970s punk (or I would have put it in the historical category). Rather this is some contemporary clothing with a nod to those styles. The truth is that the clothing worn by Punks was startling at the time. Today, I don’t think it has the same impact, as mentioned above. 

The cropped biker jacket, torn tank and zipper skirt were all fun to draw. I really fell in love with both the skirt and the boots which you can see on my Punk Fashion Pinterst board.

My cousin Keri wore punk clothing and I remember I always admired her guts. I never had the guts to wear much that wasn’t mainstream. I thought of her a lot while I was drawing this set. 

So, am I the only punk music fan out there? Are there other folks who enjoy it as well? Let me know in the comments. 

P.S. I wrote this whole post while listening to Ramones songs. Just FYI. 

Need  a doll for today’s clothing? All the B Pose Dolls & Clothing

Dabbling in the World of Ninja For the A Pose Ladies

A set of ninja inspired paper doll clothing for the A Pose paper dolls with swords and accessories.

Printable Black & White PDF Printable Color PDF More Paper Dolls & Clothes
So, a few weeks ago I made a list of themes I hadn’t drawn for the Dames and Dandies yet and I have been gradually inching my way through the list. Today’s paper doll is one of those themes- the ninja.

I have to admit I do basically no research for this ninja paper doll outfit. Everything I know about ninja I learned watching martial-arts films in college. Most of which were subtitled from Hong Kong and only half of which I actually completely could follow the plot.

I wasn’t as much of a fan of the genre was some dear friends were.

Anyway, the films heavily influenced my ideas of what ninja might wear, though (as mentioned) there’s no historical basis of this interpretation. I also watched a lot of Teenage Mutant  Ninja Turtles as  a child and this probably impacted me in strange ways. 

Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

A Cyberpunk Mini-Wardrobe for the B Pose Paper Dolls

A set of sci-fi paper doll clothing for the Dames and Dandies paper dolls.

Printable Black & White PDF Printable Color PDF More Paper Dolls & Clothes

So, I’ve had this idea rattling around my head for a while to create mini-wardrobes. Not, you know, whole sets or anything, but like mini-collections around a theme for the Dames and Dandies paper dolls. This is the first of these sets.

This might also be the last of these sets, but I really like the concept. I suppose some of my theme weeks are a similar idea, but I don’t really think all the 1940s pieces are mix and matchable which is a central idea of the mini-wardrobe.

Today’s Dame and Dandie Mini-Wardrobe is for the B Pose paper dolls and is sci-fi themed, maybe cyberpunk, but maybe not gritty enough for that? I’m unsure.

The idea in my head was to combine these pieces in different ways. The long sleeved crop top can be worn alone or it can be worn as a layering piece over the corset or high necked top. The boots match, of course, and were super fun to draw. I was inspired by this pair.

People ask a lot about inspiration. For this mini-wardrobe, the whole inspiration was those boots. I loved those boots.

Need  a doll for today’s clothing? All the B Pose Dolls & Clothing

Aisha Goes Cyberpunk, Because She Can

A cyberpunk paper doll to print in color or black and white for coloring with an outfit and two pairs of shoes from paperthinpersonas.com

Printable Black & White PDF Printable Color PDF More Paper Dolls & Clothes
Can I level with you? I like you all, so I think I can level with you.

I drew two Aisha paper dolls when I created her. I figured one contemporary sorta neutral design and one fun cyberpunk design would be handy. I did not plan to post these two one a week from the other. I really didn’t.

But somehow between classes ending and homework (so much homework) and real work and travel, I kinda got way behind on my paper doll drawing habits. So, I have four B Pose paper doll outfits, a new A Pose doll (Maybe named Abigail? Still deciding) and two A Pose outfits all in process, but none of them are done yet.

Some will probably be done tomorrow, but they aren’t done tonight. I figured I could stay up for a few more hours trying to get them done and then posted. However, that tends to lead to mistakes and sleep deprivation.

So, I am sharing cyberpunk Aisha a little sooner than I had planned to. But no harm in that, I do love my cyberpunk. The white and pink strappy top was the first thing I drew for this outfit and then the rest of the design kinda followed. For the record, I think I wouldn’t mind living in a world where one could painstakingly match your hair to your outfit.

Also for the record, I am super lazy when it comes to dressing and if this was an option, I would probably never do it.

Need some clothing for today’s paper doll? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing

Another Version of Bridget- This One With More Shoes

A printable paper doll in color or black and white with three pairs of shoes. She doesn't have any clothing yet, but she can wear any of the B Pose paper doll outfits.

Printable Black & White PDF Printable Color PDF More Paper Dolls & Clothes
The first version of Bridget was made for St. Patrick’s Day. I knew though that I wanted a second version of Bridget with sandals as I have done for all the other Dames and Dandies paper dolls.

Why sandals? Well, because sandals show off a lot of skin. Skin-tone is the one thing about paper dolls that limits some of the mix and match possibilities. I call this the “shoe problem” and its an issue I’ve never really found a good solution for.

So, until I figure out a better way to solve it, I try as much as possible to make many shoes for my paper dolls. That way, the paper dolls will always have a shoe that matches the outfit.

These are the problems those of us who draw paper dolls really dwell on. I talked at lot about this a few years ago when I wrote this post on Playability. It was part of a series I did on drawing paper dolls, mostly from a theoretical perspective.

Anyway, Bridget has her white sandals and brown sandals for casual wear and her fancy black dress shoes. She also has a pair of sneakers from the St. Patricks day set

Love the paper doll? Not sure about the paper doll? Let me know what you think in a comment! I love to hear from you.

Need clothing for today’s paper doll? All the B Pose Dolls & Clothing.

Fantasy Armor or Fantasy Gown? Why not both? One B Pose Paper Doll Outfit

A fantasy gown under laters of leather fantasy armor for the B Pose paper dolls. Printable paper doll dress in black and white or in color.

Printable Black & White PDF Printable Color PDF More Paper Dolls & Clothes

Originally, this gown/armor thing was a design I had created with the intention of drawing it for the Sprites paper dolls. However, since that series ended, it was one of the few pieces I was so in love with that I couldn’t imagine getting ride of it. So, I redrew it for the B Pose paper dolls.

I’m not sure if this armor is decorative or not, but I loved the idea of a fantasy gown which was also fantasy armor. So often women in fantasy end up wearing men’s style armor and I wanted to engage in the idea of elegance and strength. I imagine this armored gown as something beautiful, but with an underlying practicality. It’s not really an armored gown as much as it is a gown that could also be armor.

I was inspired by this image, this image, and this image from Pinterest. Plus, probably a lot more from my Fantasy Armor and Fantasy Clothing Pinterest boards.

I feel odd picking out favorite paper doll outfits, because I love drawing my historical stuff as much as I love drawing fantasy stuff, but this is probably one of my favorites for the moment. What do you think of it?

Let me know in a comment and if you love the blog, consider supporting it through Patreon. 

Need a doll for today’s paper doll clothing? All the B Pose Dolls & Clothing.

Meet Aisha: A New A Pose Paper Doll

A printable paper doll named is Aisha and she's free to print in color or black and white from paperthinpersonas.com

Printable Black & White PDF Printable Color PDF More Paper Dolls & Clothes
Somehow, I’ve managed to finish up all my homework for the semester (yay!) and now I have a few weeks off before summer classes rear their ugly head. I am not looking forward to another batch of classes, but the end is in sight and I can only hope I’ll get there soon. As much work as grad school was when I was working part-time, it is so much more work when I was working full-time.

But none of that has anything to do with today’s paper doll. Today’s paper doll is an A Pose girl named Aisha. Aisha is an Arabic name meaning alive, according to Behind the Name.

All right, so as I often do, this is first version of Aisha as all contemporary shoes. Eventually, I’ll add some more specialized versions of Aisha. I actually already have a cyberpunk version in the works.

Years ago, I collected a bunch of photographs of people from around the internet to try to create a skin-tone palette. I ended up with seven colors and you can see that palette here. I recently discovered the work of Angélica Dass. She’s been photographing people against the Pantone color background that matches their skin. You can see her work on the National Geographic Website. It’s really amazing.

I don’t think I’ll be creating 4,000 skintones to use on the blog. It wouldn’t be very mix and match shoe friendly, but I do find her project super neat and work checking out whenever you have a moment.

Meanwhile, go grab some clothing for this poor naked paper doll. She needs something to wear. After you do that, leave me a comment and let me know what you think of today’s paper doll. 

Need a clothing for today’s paper doll? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing