Printable Paper Dolls from Paper Thin Personas

On Future Streets… Paper Doll to Print

May 22, 2020February 17, 2014

So, last week I was feel very meh about this paper doll set.

Now, I’m rather in love with it.

I have a very on again, off again relationship with my paper dolls sometimes. I mean, if I was dating this blog, I would definitely declare the relationship highly unhealthy. As it is, the Blog is a demanding associate.

Anyway, I have decided on a name for this new “face” of Marisole. I’m calling her Magnolia, after the magnolia trees that aren’t blooming at all in the dead of winter in Alabama, but which are beautiful anyway. She’s stuck in the Other Friends category though until I decide if I like her enough to draw more sets for her.

marisole-2014-cyberpunk-paper-doll-full-color

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for More Marisole Monday & Friends Printable Paper Dolls}

I went back and forth and back and forth about Magnolia’s skin tone. I wanted to something darker than my standard Marisole skintone. I’ve posted before about my Skintone Pallette which I use to select skin tones for the blog. Now I was going to go with my darkest color which is #3b2219 which, as you can see, is a very dark brown. The trouble with #3b2219 is that it makes seeing the black lines on the drawing nearly impossible, especially when you print out the paper doll.

So, I lightened the skin-tone to a new shade which is #502e22 which I like a lot better, though it lacks the richness of the darker brown. I want to use #3b2219 more, but I am having trouble with it allowing the line-work to show up. I need to think about how to fix that problem in the future.

One last thing, I finally got the PDF of Seagulls and Seaside In Color fixed. Never let it be said I don’t get things done… eventually. 🙂

Oh and before I forget, I want to wish a happy President’s Day to those celebrating here in the United States.

Happy Valentine’s Day! A Printable Paper Doll

May 19, 2020February 14, 2014

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

This holiday totally snuck up on me. I kept thinking… I have time before I need to worry about a Valentine’s Day paper doll and then I turned around and it was here.

I’ve done other Valentine’s Day paper dolls over the years, and this year I wanted to do a Poppet Valentine’s Day paper doll (partly because I ran low on time and it was easy). I like only having to draw one paper doll outfit rather than several. It’s very liberating.

I have fond memories of Valentine’s Day in Elementary school when my mother would insist we hand make the Valentines and I’d get to play with glitter and dollies and red construction paper.

As I got older, Valentine’s Day became one of my least favorite holidays in the real world. I’ve had a series of rather horrible Valentine’s Days over the years, but I am looking forward to a quiet night this year. That seems like the ideal way to spend Valentine’s Day to me. Meanwhile, enjoy the paper doll.

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Plus, I ain’t gonna lie… I love the polka-dot tights. They’re some of my favorites.

And We Visit the Future! Paper Doll Coloring Page

May 22, 2020February 10, 2014

Today’s Marisole Monday & Friends paper doll is a little futuristic and a little cyberpunk. She has a new face which I like I think, though I’m not sure about it. Drawing new faces for Marisole is a struggle for me. Drawing for Marisole at all right now is a struggle for me.

In fact, I kinda hate Marisole right now.

Don’t get me wrong…I’m proud of the 96 or so versions of Marisole I have drawn and I’m pleased she’s been a ninja, a fairy and an alien (not to mention plenty of other things), but lately I’ve been feeling uninspired when it comes to her. I think a big part of my frustration is that I drew this base doll over four years ago which is a long time to be drawing for the same doll. Working on her is like going back in time to a style I drew a long time ago and don’t anymore.

Some days, that feels very odd.

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Before anyone freaks out, I’m not saying I’m not going to continue with Marisole style dolls, I just feel very much in a slump. The wheel in spinning, as they say, but the gerbil may be dead.

Advice for getting out of slumps, anyone?

Sewing the Seventies… A Printable Paper Doll For Jo

December 6, 2020February 3, 2014

This is the paper doll set I abandoned last week and instead posted the doodles. I am so happy I gave it another week to be refined. Jo was one of the two winners of my drawing in January. She asked for a “groovy” late 60s early 1970s Marisole paper doll based on pattern covers from patterns she actually had sewn at the time. How cool is that?

You can see a PDF of the pattern covers Jo sent me here. I loved all of the pattern covers and I wish I had been able to draw them all, but, of course, that would be way more than a one page paper doll.

Normally, I do two pairs of shoes for each Marisole and friends set, but I wanted to focus on things the patterns had, so a simple pair of clogs did the trick. Tiny calico patterns were the “in” thing in the 70’s, so I created some to decorate these groovy outfits using a new method that I’m experimenting with involving Photoshops pattern making tools. I think they came out pretty well considering that I only sort of know what I am doing.

{Click Here for a PDF of Sewing the Seventies in Color} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG of Sewing the Seventies in Color}I drew a new Marisole paper doll face for this set, because I wanted to try to capture some of the whimsy of the pattern cover’s faces. I don’t think I did a good job of that, but I did have fun. Jo asked for bangs and brown hair, or I would have given into the temptation and tried to do Farrah hair.

(Okay, I did try. I confess. It came out… weird looking.)

{Click Here for a PDF of Sewing the Seventies in Black and White} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG of Sewing the Seventies in Black and White} {Click Here for More Marisole Monday & Friends Paper Dolls}I had so much fun dabbling in the 1970s, especially since I’m not very familiar with the clothes of this era. So, fans who remember the 1970s… how did I do?

Delaney… A Little Bit Sweet and a Little Bit Punk

May 22, 2020January 30, 2014

I have to confess that it is getting harder to name these paper dolls. I nearly called this doll Zoe, before I remembered I’ve already done a Zoe (and we won’t talk about the three different Flora paper dolls problem), so I have been trying to come up unique names that I’m certain I haven’t repeated. Hence the Delaney choice.

Delaney’s style is a little punk and a little sweet. I have been noticing more of this look around lately and I thought it was worth exploring. I didn’t draw her really any accessories and I’m kinda regretting that now. I think she needs some… oh well, sometimes that’s how it goes. I’m also thinking I really should have made her lips pink rather than that bright red… anyway, not every paper doll is perfect.

{Download a PDF to Print and Color} {Download a PNG to Print and Color}

Since I was feeling a little rockabilly with these pieces, I decided to go with a sort of sweet color scheme of pale blue, pink, light green and white. I wanted to contrast the content of the skull prints against the colors of the outfits. My favorite piece might be her punk combat boots. Everyone needs bright pink combat boots.

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Weather in Alabama has been crazy. It took me eight hours to get home from work on Tuesday afternoon. My work has been closed for two days. There’s snow on the ground and ice and things are insane. Stay warm, dry and safe everyone.

Captain Mannequin

May 22, 2020January 28, 2014

When I started the Ms Mannequin paper doll series, my goal was to draw primary contemporary clothing. I had high plans of doing stylish designers and other things. Maybe dabbling a little into vintage Dior, but mostly being contemporary. The dolls were designed to be models, not curvy at all, so they could wear the contemporary styles.

However, it wasn’t long before I was sketching and suddenly pirates reared their heads and demanded to be drawn. I ignored them for a while, but soon they were saying, “DRAW US.”

And I said, “Okay. No need to shout.”

And so this pirate set was born.

What can I say? I like pirates. I feel like there’s nothing “new” about this pirate set though, so I’m not sure it’s my best set. Still… sometimes you just have to draw pirates.

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By the way, I’m doing site clean up, sometime I do every Jan/Feb to tidy up categories, fix things that seem broken and a little spring cleaning is done. So, things might be morphing and changing around here in subtle ways. Nothing to worry about, just me tidying up my files. 🙂

Poppets go Medieval… sorta… Printable Paper Dolls

May 19, 2020January 23, 2014

When I first drew the Poppets paper dolls, I knew I wanted to do historical costumes. This isn’t historically accurate by the way, but it does have a 1300s flair, I think. One of the reasons I steer clear of certain periods of history is that I feel like I don’t know enough about them. I am familiar enough with Victorian and 18th century costume that I feel fairly comfortable simplifying it without losing it’s authenticity, but I know very little about clothing in Europe before 1400.

As a result, I tend to categorize my forays into the “medieval” look as fantasy, rather than history. It keeps me from feeling guilty about not really knowing what I’m doing. However, Gwendolyn asked for a paper doll of a 10th century Anglo-Saxon when she won my drawing last week, so I guess I better learn something about the 10th century.

In the meantime, here’s a Poppet Medieval outfit strictly in the realm of fantasy being modeled by Petunia. I like to think she might be a princess, but I haven’t given her a crown, so the jury is out.

{Download a PDF in Color} {View a 150 dpi PNG in Color} {Download a PDF to Color} {View a 150 dpi PNG to Color} {More Poppet Printable Paper Dolls}

I’m also really pleased to say I’ve recently stumbled across a new paper doll blog called Paper is Suffcient. It’d a new blog, so go over there, check it out and drop Natalie a comment. We need all the paper doll blogs we can get. 🙂

A Paper Doll with Vintage Evening Gowns in Color

May 22, 2020January 20, 2014

Last week, I posted this paper doll set in black and white for coloring. I promised I would talk a little about each of the gowns and where they came from.

I need to learn to streamline my method for dealing with elaborate florals, or I need to never do one ever again. Normally coloring a paper doll set takes about 2 to 4 hours, at most. Sometimes longer, but only if I take a lot of breaks and am doing a lot of other stuff. If I have my colors picked out and I’m on a roll, I can do the set in about an hour when I’m really on the ball, though formatting, saving and other detail work takes longer. That single floral dress took me nearly an hour, by itself, to color. NEVER AGAIN.

(I say that and I’m already thinking of other cool florals I might draw… I have a problem, people.)

Okay, so here’s the paper doll in full color:

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for More Marisole Monday & Friends Printable Paper Dolls}

Let’s talk about where each gown came from. The floral gown, the blue gown and the red gown are all from the V&A in London.

The blue gown is based on this red dress from 1957. The red evening dress was drawn from this evening gown by Hardy Amies was made right after fabric rationing was lifted in England (1949), so lacks the layers of lace and silk that were common in evening gowns on this period. I love the simplicity and shape of the dress. The last dress from the V&A is my favorite, the floral evening gown made in Paris and worn by the wife of the British Ambassador. I tried, but I don’t think I captured the beauty of the rose patterned skirt and layered bodice.

The last pink dress comes from The Met, known as “Tree” this gown was designed by Charles James. Of all of the gowns I drew, I feel like this one didn’t work. My style of flat color just can’t capture the layering of the gowns beautiful fabric. Liana did a beautiful version of Charles james Butterfly dress on her blog several years ago which I think captures his work better than I did here.

Okay, that’s everything. Happy MLK Day to those in the US who are celebrating like me.

Latanya, the 1st Printable Paper Doll of 2014

May 22, 2020January 15, 2014

I am excited to introduce everyone to Latanya, the first Pixie paper doll of the New Year. I drew her last year, technically, but that’s not really so uncommon for me. It can take months (years…) for a paper doll to move from my sketchbook onto my blog. I’ve had a request to do a full paper doll tutorial which is a lovely idea, but considering how slow I am at getting things done… it might be a year before its finished.

So, I wanted to do a fantasy paper doll with a autmunal color scheme. So we have Latanya rocking some darn lovely fantasy gowns and a little bit of armor. She’s apparently both a lover and a fighter.

{Download a PDF to Print and Color} {Download a PNG to Print and Color}

Her colors remind me of autumn leaves and crisp fall days. I am really adoring her curls and the pattern on her dress which I am very proud of. I am trying to draw more patterns. I say that every year… And every year, I usually end up chickening out because patterns take time and I am lazy.

{Download a PDF to Print in Color} {Download a PNG to Print in Color} {Click Here for More Pixie and Puck Printable Paper Dolls}

My Drawing/Contest closes tonight at midnight. So, if you haven’t entered and would like too, please do so today. I’ll contact/announce the winner tomorrow. 🙂 By the way, I haven’t responded to any of the answers, because I didn’t want to skew the results. I have read them all and I appreciate everyone’s honesty. Winner will be decided using a random number generator.

Marisole Monday in Vintage Gowns to Color

May 22, 2020January 13, 2014

Nearly a year ago, I was asked to draw a paper doll of 1950s evening gowns.

Initially, I didn’t do it, because I couldn’t find any 1950’s evening gowns that I liked. Eventually I felt guilty enough to check out the V&A and the Met, both have strong collections from the 1950s.

I told the requester that I was working on the paper doll and asked what the hair should look like. The immediate answer was, “Like Mine.”

“Well,” I said, “Micro-braids with streaks weren’t really a thing in 1950 something, but okay. If that’s what you want…”

So, we have Marisole here, rocking her micro-braids with some couture 1950’s evening gowns to show off. As inspired by Liana’s comment a few days ago about stories, I offer the following scenario to justify this strange juxtaposition:

Marisole, working as the fashion editor of a major publication, has been invited to the Met’s annual gala whose theme, this year, is the designers of the 1950s. Eager to make an impression on the red carpet, she’s choosen to wear a vintage gown from the period. I am sure she will be the hit of the party when she arrives. 🙂

By the way, in a totally unrelated note, that floral pattern on the full skirted gown was the most complicated floral pattern I have ever done. I’ll rant more about coloring next week when I post the colored version. All I have to say is that normally, a paper doll takes me four to six hours to color, layout and get set up for blog. This paper doll… took longer. Much Longer.

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for More Marisole Monday & Friends Printable Paper Dolls}

I will talk about the sources for each gown next week when I post it in color.

Also, my little drawing/contest is open until midnight on the 15th. Feel free to enter.

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