Category Archives: Marisole

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I don’t normally start with a color scheme. I normally start with an idea and then worry about how to color it, but with this paper doll set I started with a color scheme. I knew I wanted to do something with browns and creams. The pink came from the desire to pick a contrasting color that was warm rather then cool.

I decided to name this paper doll set after that ice cream with the vanilla, chocolate and strawberry stripes that I always used to think was called Napoleon Ice Cream, but I realized later that it actually had nothing to do with short militaristic Frenchmen and was actually called Neapolitan Ice Cream after the city of Naples. So, I’m glad I found that out before I wrote this post and sounded like a total ditz. I take some pride in only being a partial ditz.

I’m actually quite pleased with how this paper doll came out. I really like the contrast of the red hair with the brown and pink color scheme, though I confess I originally tried her out with every other hair color since I felt like I have done a lot of redheads and then I gave up and decided didn’t care. I’ve likes redheads ever since I saw Anne of Green Gables on TV as a child.

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Oh, my poor neglected blog. The real world has been very busy (and I was really really ill), and so I don’t think I’ve pulled out my pens in a long time. Fortunately, I had some time last night and I got some work done. It seems a pity April has come and gone so fast.

The challenge with mix and match pieces is not to repeat myself too often. I tend to draw the same sorts of things a lot. I realized I was drawing yet another pair of ankle boots and I made myself stop, though not soon enough to not have them in this set. I love shoes in the real world, but I hate drawing them for paper dolls. They never seem to come out right. So, I’ve been trying, also, to do more fantasy and I think these are pretty darn fantasy. but I had fun coloring and drawing them and that is the important bit.

This is not the most coherent post ever, so just enjoy the pretty paper doll.

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So, I hope you’ll forgive me Monica for the tardiness of this post. Monica won my last contest/drawing and asked for a Chinese girl paper doll wearing street-fashion from China. This caused a fairly long series of internet searches during which I attempted to figure out what the heck Chinese street fashion looked like anyhow. I feel rather bad because Monica was kind enough to send me some more reference images after her first set, but by that time I had already scanned and colored this paper doll, so they will have to wait for a sequel.

So, the inspirational images for this post included these. The fluffy green skirt was inspired by a picture of a pink one. More obviously, the red coat was based on this image. And then I decided to make some obnoxiously bright pants which came from another image from flicker. Of course, since I didn’t bookmark all the images I ended up using, I don’t have as many as I used, but those are a few of my inspirational shots. There are plenty of other Marisole posts which include items that could be added to this set to expand the paper dolls wardrobe. Sweater Style has some neat boots that would go well with today’s set and the sweet version of the retro pin-up set has some short white shorts that would layer well over the black leggings and pretty much all of Modern Girl would work as well, though it’s a little bright in some respects.

As I mentioned yesterday, the blog is obviously being reformatted as we speak. I just have to ask people to be patient while I get things looking at least decent and get everything relinked and some images which were lost when I lost my formatting reloaded. Be patient with me and promise I will get it all done eventually.

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So, this paper doll began when I was asking for paper doll ideas and my friend said, “Pirates vs. Ninjas.”

He was joking. I wasn’t.

I actually gave some thought to the matter and decided I could do both a ninja and a pirate version of the paper doll. Today is the ninja and then next week, there will be a pirate paper doll for Marisole. I did a pirate paper doll a while ago, but I was never really pleased with how it turned out. So, I decided I should have another go at it.

In paper dolls, unlike in life, there are plenty of second chances.

On a totally unrelated note, I was looking at my poll results and I noticed that Marisole won as the favorite paper doll by a landslide. While I always thought she would win, I didn’t think she’d win by as much as she did. So I am curious, why Marisole won. To help answer this question, I have developed a contest.

The Contest

The question is: Which paper doll series on the blog is your favorite and what makes it your favorite? A one word answer will not count, the “why” is very important to me.

The Rules:
1) One answer per person.
2) Contest will run for this week.
3) At the end of the week, I will put the names of everyone who answered into a hat, draw one randomly, and announce the winner on next Monday with the Marisole post.

The Prize: A custom paper doll for a series of your choice- Curves, Marisole, Pixie & Puck or Flora (though Flora has to stay in the Regency Era).

All right, I look forward to reading people’s answers.

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There were a few more pieces of clothing for this paper doll then could be easily fit on the page, so I lost the title and just sort of went for it. I intended the white dress to be a slip to be worn underneath the other costumes, but, of course, it could also be a sun dress. This Marisole Paper Doll came out of the same doodle session as my Tokyo meets Georgia paper doll, though I finished the Tokyo meets Georgia one sooner. I tend to do a lot of thumbnail doodling and then those doodles become paper dolls, but sometimes not until weeks later.

And I have a poll.

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So, we’re up a little late this time and I am sorry for that. This weekend has been nothing short of insane here in the land of the corn. I’ve had classes (yes, weekend classes) which were educational, but time consuming. I finished this paper doll close to midnight and decided to crawl into bed rather then finish the posting.

But that’s okay, we now have a paper doll. Drawing a superhero paper doll was a suggestion of a friend who reads far more superhero comics then I do. The only superhero comic, I’ve ever really enjoyed was Deadpool and Cable. Mostly, because Deadpool is hilarious and extensional and everything I enjoy when reading a comic.

And also, I’ve been trying to get a good “shiny” effect on the clothes. This is the first one I’ve posted like this. I think it came out all right, but what do others think?

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Erin, who won my little Trivia contest from last Monday, wrote me the following description of what she wanted for her custom Marisole paper doll.

I know that I want my doll to be very pale with brown hair… As for style of clothes and what not, I know that I love Victorian and Steampunk style. Belts, buckles, zippers, lace, keys, and corsets. That kind of stuff. I have included a few links as inspiration I guess, but feel free to disregard them. I dislike the color yellow, LOVE red, black and purple, but other than that… I’m not overly picky.

I asked for a little clarification on shades of brown (she said red brown) and exactly what sort of colors for metals she liked and then set to work. Like a deadline, it was oddly liberating to be paper dolling based on someone else’s guidelines. I do hope she’s pale enough, because outside of doing another vampire paper doll, I couldn’t imagine going paler than this color. I think it reads as “pale” rather than reading as “corpus.”

Since one of my favorite features of Victorian dresses was the fact that women got to wear all sorts of different clothing for different activities, I decided to treat the paper doll as though she was an actual Victorian lady in need of costumes for the range of standard Victorian lady activities. I guess I’ll talk about each costume in turn.

Here we go.

The Morning Dress: Morning dresses were always more casual then other costumes. Erin sent me a reference link to this beautiful costume. I loved the colors and the drape. To make it a little more Victorian feeling, I added sleeves. Though technically a morning dress would never be worn outside the house, I added a hat since the reference costume featured one. Also, I like hats.

The Walking Costume: The other set of reference images I got was for ta beautiful 1880′s reproduction bustled suit and I confess the early 1880′s when skirts were tight, before the huge bustle emerged is one of my favorite times in Victorian fashion. I made the suit purple (to match the purple/red color scheme), created a totally non-period hat and added some accents in silver and brass.

The Afternoon Dress: Mostly an excuse to draw a wild leather corset (well, I imagine its in leather, I suppose technically it could be any fabric you like), the afternoon dress was inspired by the corsets of 1910. The net/lace overlay was my attempt at lace, though I have mixed feelings about how it turned out. Afternoon dresses were also often visiting costumes, so she had to have a hat.

The Ball Gown: No costume set could be complete with out a ballgown and as I love drawing corsets, no ballgown couldn’t not have a corset top. The far left costume of this fashiion plate inspired the oddly bondage-esque skirt. I got a little carried away with my lock and key motif I think, but I had fun doing it.

As regular readers know, I’m a wee bit obsessed with Victorian inspired costumes. I’ve done two other steampunk/neo-Victorian Marisole paper dolls. There was the slightly candy like one (a lesson in how colors don’t look so bright before I process the images for Web and then seem to get brighter) and a more traditional color scheme.

I will probably do another trivia contest thing next week. So, keep your eyes open for that.

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Picking out color schemes is one of the hardest things I do for my paper dolls, but I think it’s very important to make sure each paper doll makes sense. I want it to be colored in such a way that you can combine as many pieces as possible for as many outfits as possible. After all, that is the point of a paper doll isn’t it? I use some tools like The Color Scheme Designer and the Color Schemer Gallery which provides all sorts of color scheme options. I love looking at different color ideas, but I find I come back to the blue, orange, purple schemes a lot. I wear all those colors fairly often in the real world.

So, I’ve also decided to have a contest. Answer the question right and you get a custom Marisole paper doll. Details below:

What is my favorite holiday?

The Rules:
1) One guess per person per day.
2) If no one guesses right by Monday, I’ll give a hint or pick the closest.
3) Anyone who knows me well enough to make a very informed guess, doesn’t get to enter. Sorry guys.

I think that’s everything. And lest you think this is completely random, I assure everyone that I have mentioned the holiday on the blog before, but not in a very obvious way. The prize is a custom Marisole paper doll, so you tell me the hair color, skin color, hair style and basic theme and I’ll draw the paper doll. Of course, it might take me a while since I’m often slow with finishing things.

Good luck