Marisole Monday: Coastal Princess

Today, we have Margot rocking a fantasy look. I know the title seems of today’s paper doll seems a little odd. There’s nothing obviously seafaring about this paper doll, but I already knew that I wanted an ocean color scheme for her before I posted today’s Margot. On Saturday, I went to my favorite game shop to pick up some new dice and met a nice art student with whom I chatted for a while. He spoke so vividly about the colors of the entertainment sea that I knew I wanted to use them in my next paper doll set. You’ll have to wait to next week to see her colored, but I think she’s going to look wonderful.

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Spring has come to Alabama and with it pollen. I never used to have allergies and now I am sniffling and sneezing up a storm. No one warned me about this problem when I moved here… It’s beautiful. The trees are blooming. The birds are singing. And I have forgotten what it feels like to have both nostrils working. People keep saying it will be over soon, but I wonder what “soon” actually means.

Back on the paper doll front, I always have trouble coming up with accessory items for the paper dolls. Does anyone have ideas for medieval fantasy-ish sets like this one? I seem to draw a lot of books and boxes and scrolls and swords. I suppose more jewelry would be an option… I need to think on it. Though this might be the last fantasy paper doll set for a while. I’m feeling a little restless with the style.

Marisole Monday & Friends: Marisole as an Elven Maiden

So, a while ago I had a contest to name the Mini Maidens. Natalie won my contest and therefore won her very own custom paper doll. Natalie selected a Marisole Monday & Friends paper doll as the basis for her paper doll, specifically Marisole.

Natalie Wrote:

I would love to have an Elf themed sort of thing like in the Lord of the Rings (with marisole)… Also can you make sure she has a bow and arrows?(that would be awesome!)…. I’m sort of imagining her with a little medievial themed clothing.

marisole-elven-princess-color{Click Here for a PDF of Elven Maiden in Color} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG of Elven Maiden in Color}

So I openly confess that the last time I read Lord of the Rings I was thirteen, stuck in Italy and only got through it due to the lack of other English language reading material. I’m not much of a Tolkien fan, truth be told. Never the less, I liked the movies (not enough to own them, just enough to not mind watching them with others) and I do think Tolkien was the father of modern epic fantasy. Not being a huge epic fantasy reader, the jury is out as to whether or not this was good thing.

Needless to say, I wanted to try to capture the spirit of the LOtR elves from the movie to the best of my ability without actually copying anything from the films. The Costumer’s Guide to Movie Costumes was a godsend in this regard, proving me with a wealth of photos of elven costumes to pull from. The kimono sleeves are my addition, because I love kimono sleeves and the modified mandarin collars give everything a tiny bit of Asian flair.

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{Click Here for a PDF of Elven Maiden in Black and White} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG of Elven Maiden in Black and White}

Normally, I don’t post both the black and white and the color versions at the same time and I won’t be doing this again, but I didn’t want to make Natalie wait for the color version of her paper doll set. Both are here for printing, so people can select their choice. I did a sort of autumn theme for the colors. Natalie didn’t give me any guidance on the color scheme, since she said she wanted to be surprised.

Natalie, if this color scheme is a little too surprising, let me know. I can re-color them for you. 🙂

So, did I capture the spirit of Lord of the Rings or totally fall flat? Let me know in a comment, since I’m not going to be picking up those books again if I can help it.

Pixie & Puck: Philippa… Named for a Queen

Another fantasy Medieval sort of Pixie Paper Doll for the this week. I have been on this fantasy Pixie kick for a while… I have one more of a similar style to post and then I shall have finished my flight of fancy in this direction until I get distracted and decide to turn to something else.

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{Click Here for a PDF of Phillipa in Color} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG of Phillipa in Color} {Click Here for More Pixie Paper Dolls}

She is named for Philippa of Hainault who was the Queen consort of King Edward III of England in the 14th century. Philippa of Hainault is buried in Westminster Cathedral, so you can go visit her there should you be in London and feel like it. Westminster is pretty darn cool, I have to confess.

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{Click Here for a PDF of Phillipa in Black and White} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG of Phillipa in Black and White} {Click Here for More Pixie Paper Dolls}

So, the response to the new lips on the Pixies has been uniformly negative. I tend to agree with the concerns leveled by my readers and therefore won’t be continuing in the style after this paper doll set.

Marisole Monday & Friends: Mia Goes to the Bathing Place… and gets some colors…

So, as I mentioned last time, I always liked the idea of multiple costumes for various activities that was such a part of the Victorian way of dressing. Personally, I think it would be rather fun to have a special outfit I wore while visiting or yachting, but jeans and a t-shirt seem to see me through nearly all of my social engagements. I suppose that says something, perhaps not flattering, about the nature of my social engagements.

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The outfits today, are, as I mentioned last week, a grey and teal skirt which can be paired with either the corset, jacket, and top hat to make a traveling or promenade suit or can be worn with the bodice trimmed in pleats for a dinner toilette. The yellow and white yachting costume is sort of practical (barely) and the bathing dress (a swimsuit to most of us) has matching slippers. All things considered I think Mia would do quite well for herself with this set on vacation. Of course, she can share her dresses with Marisole and Margot.

Personally, I just got back from gallivanting around Alabama for work and then finishing up my taxes (I hate doing taxes) and now I can consider all of my obligations for filled for the moment. As always, enjoy the paper doll and, as always, feel free to let me know what you think. Next week, there will be elves.

Marisole Monday & Friends: Mia at the Bathing Place…

Let me be clear: When it comes to Victorians, the coolest thing to me is the idea of changing your clothing for several times a day. Also, getting to put together a trousseau before you get married. Is it wrong that I love the idea of not having to think too hard about what I would wear for a year?

Anyway, today’s paper doll is a riff on that whole concept. I love reading through old fashion magazines to find out what was proper to wear for a carriage ride or afternoon tea. As a child, I loved the idea of having special outfits for riding or hiking or going for a walk. It felt exotic and fancy.

A jaunty collection of neo-victorian fashions for Mia. her mix and match wardrobe includes 18 pieces for a lady-like day at the seaside,. Free to print and color.

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My original idea was to do a bride and her trousseau inspired by the Victorian inspired styled I love so much. I always think of this as a chance to draw Victorian inspired fantasy clothing with no guilt about lack of historical authenticity. I realized, after I started that I wasn’t sure I wanted to draw that many items, so instead focused on a smaller set of “bathing place” costumes for Mia. Basically, Mia’s off to the coast for a vacation and she’s gotta be dressed appropriately.

So, there’s a yachting costume, a traveling suit with an alternate dinner bodice and a swim suit with slippers to match. All in all, she can handle a weekend in on the coast rather well, I think.

Pixie & Puck: Robynn, a Huntress

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Every paper doll I do is a little different. Today’s Pixie Paper Doll has a few things that are different from normal. I’ve been experimenting with how I draw the Pixie faces, so you might notice her lips are distinctly different from the other Pixies. I’m not sure how I feel about this new style, I think I’ll stick with it for the next few (since I already have their heads drawn this way) and see how I feel. Feedback, as always, is enjoyed and very useful.

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{Click Here for a PDF of Robynn in Black and White} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG of Robynn in Black and White} {Click Here for More Pixie Paper Dolls}

So, I got an email a few weeks ago from a nice young lady name Megan who asked for:

Pale
Blue eyes
ginger
Female

Style:
Commando
Outdoors
midevil

And, debates of the spelling of Medieval aside, I was intrigued. What was a Medieval outdoors commando? I wondered and how would one dress, anyway? And so, mostly to forefill my own fascination at the concept, I drew this Pixie set. Free advice to people who make requests, the weirder the request, the more likely I am to take it on.

A couple things that are different about this Pixie than what was asked for. I did not give the doll blue eyes (mostly because I forgot) and the set is only medieval in the vaguest of senses. Still, I think she came out pretty cute. I do rather wish I’d remembered to give her blue eyes, per Megan’s request, so I hope she will forgive me that oversight.

Robynn is named for Robin Hood, of course, who robbed from the rich, gave to the poor and was generally a cool dude, though did not, necessarily exist. I had a great love of Robin Hood stories when I was a child.

Marisole Monday: Phoenix & Smoke in Color

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This is one of those sets where the yellow looks a lot more yellow than I had planned for it to look. Oh well…

I spent most of this weekend trying to come up with something witty and funny to do for April Fools day, but… honestly… I got nothing. Therefore, we’re just going to keep puttering along here in paper doll land. Sorry guys, I’m just not that good at that sort of thing.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter or is still having a wonderful Passover, depending. I had a quiet day spent working on blog stuff and cleaning my apartment. I rather enjoyed myself, I confess.

I’m also not totally pleased with his face. I don’t think he looks as African-American as I had planned him to look, but I am trying my best. I think he’s okay, but I’m not totally pleased.

Pixie and Puck: Pirate Nammu in Black and White

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I was asked by a reader to do my Nammu pirate paper doll in black and white. She was posted in full color back in November. So, it only took… um…. six months for me to get my act together. Seriously, it might have taken longer, but I was feeling guilty.

Normally, I save the paper dolls in a file with all the layers broken up. The color is on one layer and the line work is on another layer and than the heavy black borders, which I add last, are on a third layer. This time, I saved the file with those layers merged, so I didn’t have a separate line-work layer to work with. Since I didn’t want to redo a lot of work, I tried using Photoshop to remove the color from the paper doll set. I can sat with utter confidence that this worked better than expected, but not as well as I would have liked.

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{Click Here for a PDF of Nammu Page 2} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG of Nammu Page 2}

I will spare everyone a list of the things that I think didn’t turn out quite right, but the quality of the line work is not what I hoped it would be. Never the less, a black and white Nammu is better than no black and white Nammu, so hope whoever asked for it (and I honestly can’t remember who that was) is pleased with the outcome. And besides, once you color her, I don’t think my insecurities about the line work will be obvious.

Some people have expressed fear that the Mini-Maidens will replace Pixie and Puck in my heart and I hope that this Pixie paper doll reassures people that I still love the Pixie and Puck paper dolls.

Phoenix & Smoke: Male Printable Paper Doll in Black and White

Hey, It’s a MAN.

The most commonly requested thing for the blog, outside of sometimes asking for more things in black and white, is for a boy for Marisole Monday. I know this has taken a long time to happen and I don’t regret that. I drew about seven versions of this pose before I finally had one that I felt didn’t look like he was HUGE next to Marisole and her friends or looked like he was creepily androgynous (not in metro-sexual way, but rather in a… disturbing alien sort of genderless way).

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So, today we have the first of the males of Marisol Monday. Since the girls are Marisole, Mia and Margot, it seems only fitting to give the first of the boys an M name as well. After some thought, I have settled on Marcus. Though I have been often asked for a boyfriend for Marisole, I am not defining Marcus’ role. He could be a friend, a brother, or a lover. There’s no reason to be hetronormative with Marisole Monday. I should also add that since the Marisole Monday family is growing, I’ve renamed the sets “Marisole Monday & Friends” and will probably be redesigning their logo in the future.

I am going to confess right now that I don’t know how many Marcus’ dolls I will do. I have two other sets in the works, but as I have mentioned before, I find men’s clothing really dull for the last two hundred years or so. I work on a college campus and so I get a fairly good look at what young men wear these days and well… I just can’t imagine drawing hoodies and jeans for the rest of my life. I’m not say there won’t be other boys in the Marisole Monday world, but they probably won’t be too common.

This is Greta: A New Black & White Printable Paper Doll

Okay, so news: After some deliberation I settled on Natalie’s suggestion for a name “Mini Maidens”, though I have to mention that DotRot’s suggestion of “Faye and the Holidaze” was probably the one that made me laugh the hardest. I have a soft spot in my heart for alliteration. I want to thank everyone for entering, since I hate naming things.

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Greta is the new Mini Maiden and she shares a face with the Valentine’s day doll. I’ve made a new category for the Mini-Maidens with separate subcategories for Faye and Greta, since those are the two members at the moment. Passover in on the horizon, but I don’t think I’ll be doing a Passover paper doll. Though a mini-bowl of matzo ball soup might be worth it…

Anyway, I hope everyone likes the Mini Maidens and their new place among the serial dolls on the site. They aren’t on the Index page yet. With one thing and another last night, I forgot to make them an icon, but they’ll be added soon.