Pixie & Puck

Pixie & Puck: Delia

I wanted to do a set based on winter clothing, but I liked the idea of playing with color. Rather then doing the traditional color scheme, I wanted to do something in pastels and spring colors.

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It’s slowly becoming spring here in the mid-west. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to the idea of seasonal change happening so rapidly. It seems like only a few days ago I needed my hat, gloves and boots to go out and now I can wander around in jeans and a sweater. It’s nice to be coat free, but I always liked the winter, so I shall miss it.

And since it’s supposed to snow tomorrow, I doubt I will miss it for long. 🙂

Pixie & Puck: Clementine

Obviously, today’s paper doll is partly named after the orange. One of the fun things about the Pixie paper dolls is picking out color schemes to work with for them. It’s always a blast. I enjoy that part of the creative process even though I don’t think I’m that good with color. I’m learning which I guess is the important thing.

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As I suspected she would, Marisole won my poll by a wide margin, but I didn’t get a Curves up last week and I wonder if that skewed my results. I shall have to give it some thought. I was surprised by the large margin that she won by. Half the votes went to Marisole, which is a huge difference.

I wonder why… Anyone care to enlighten me?

Esther: A Purim paper doll!Also, since today is Purim (well, technically it began at sunset yesterday, but that’s all right), I thought I would post a paper doll.
I openly confess to not being an expert on Ancient Persian dress, though I found no one else seemed to be either. It was one of the most challenging research tasks ever. The result was a paper doll that I think looks pretty, but I don’t think is at all historically accurate. Mary Houston’s Ancient Egyptian, Assyrian, and Persian costumes and decorations was published in 1920 and unfortunately doesn’t have much on women’s dress in Persia, but I used her illustrations of a crown for my purposes. I did find some wonderful pictures of Persian Statuary which I used and, of course, there is always Braun & Schneider’s The History of Costume which had several illustrations, unfortunately Braun & Schneider is not a very accurate source of a whole slew of reasons starting with its age (it was published from 1860 to 1880) and it’s target audience of the general public, not scholars. Still, one makes do with what one can find on short notice and I was not going to pull an Edwin Long and make Esther greek. You can, of course, get the printable version of Esther from the Printable paper doll index or here is a PDF of Esther to print.

Puck: Dillon

So, I got to have an epic adventure today. I tried to clean my scanner bed. Recently, I have been getting dust marks on my scans and since I’ve never actually cleaned the scanner bed, I decided I should do so.

This is what I learned: Cleaning a scanner bed is scary.

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Maybe I’m just a coward, but I’ve had the same scanner since freshman year of college and while I love my scanner, it’s fairly cranky. I could probably afford a new one by now, but since it still works I don’t see the point in replacing it. Anyway, I was scared of somehow damaging it. After reading all sorts of horror stories on the internet, I finally got up the nerve to spray a little cleaner on my rag and rub it on the bed and then let the bed dry.

Of course, nothing went wrong and the scans are coming out much clearer now. I wonder what I was so worried about. The mind can be a funny thing sometimes, I think.

Today’s paper doll is another Puck paper doll. Someone remarked that his arms are a bit long which is true or his legs are a bit short, I haven’t decided which yet. Now, of course, I must decide if I want to re-draw him and there fore render useless the several other Punk paper dolls I’ve already drawn and scanner for later use or maybe do some other male paper doll. I haven’t decided what to do yet with him.

Oh, and I have a poll.

Pixie: Vera

I have such mixed feelings about this paper doll and I have such mixed feelings about starting a post with the words “I have such mixed feelings…” I usually try to not talk about what I dislike, but I must confess I don’t think the face of the paper doll Vera was very successful. I love her black and gray kimono-esque costume with the pink flowers though, I think that one came out beautifully.

So, I guess maybe you win some and you lose some when it comes to paper dolls.

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One of the unique features of paper doll blogging vs. standard paper doll drawing is that I find I hate going to the trouble of inking something only to decide I don’t like it. Don’t mis-understand me, there’s plenty of things in my sketchbooks that will never see the light of day, but I often feel that the goal of posting on time and regularly is more important then the goal of always being in love with what I post.

While my natural inclination is not to post anything I don’t like, the actual practical consideration is that if I never posted anything I wasn’t totally satisfied with then I would likely only update once a month at most. As it is, I’m learning to be okay with posting paper dolls even when I have mixed feelings about them.

Especially when I really adore their strange futuristic kimono costumes.

Pixie: Amelia

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Of all of the Pixie paper dolls I have done over the last few weeks, this is perhaps my favorite. I love how her hair came out and I think she looks fun and cute and interesting. I also think her wardrobe is fairly versatile. All in all, I’m pretty proud of her.

I hate that I don’t have much else to say intelligently about this paper doll, but sometimes all I can offer up is a few sentences. Also, I have papers to write and a custom Marisole Monday to finished (which, though I am only halfway done, is coming out quite nicely I think.)

Puck: Jian

It’s a MAN! Well…sort of. The following conversation may have occurred.

Me: Look. I’m trying a guy paper doll.
My Male Friend: That’s a guy?
Me: Yes.
My Male Friend: He’s kinda girly.
Me glaring.
My Male Friend: But his clothing is cool…
Me: Uhuh… keep back peddling. Then we’ll talk.

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So, I redrew him, edited him and gave him manly strong man arms. He might not be like… the ultimate in masculinity, but considering I haven’t even tried to draw a guy paper doll in… um… seven years? Since high school anyway, I’m fairly okay with how he turned out. I agree his pose doesn’t scream MALE, but I wanted him to go with the Pixie dolls and match them to some degree. He’s like a male Pixie paper doll.

And my critical guy friend made up for his criticisms by suggesting the name Puck for the series.

This all began because I got a very sweet email asking for a paper doll for her son who wanted a boy paper doll. And since this year is about be trying new things with my paper dolls, I decided to go for it. My plan is to do one per month for the year, though I have to confess that most guys I know just wear jeans and t-shirts. It’s making for really boring paper doll clothing drawing, hence the steampunk paper doll.

Pixie: Valentina

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day when we celebrate the death of a saint, by buying chocolate and paper hearts. I’ve had a rather bad history of horrible Valentine’s days, but I am trying to not let that get me down this year. Here we have Valentina with her red, white and black attire.

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In other news, it seems like a contest would be a good idea, so I’ll have to think of something to do which is contest like. I have a few ideas. It will be something casual, believe me. I’m also excited to say there will be something totally new next Sunday and it’s very exciting.

Okay, well, I’m excited. It’s possible no one else cares.

In the mean time, enjoy Valentina and on Monday there will be a Valentines Day themed Marisole. Oh, the hearts and the pink and the bows…. (It’s nearly terrifying.)

Pixie: Belladonna

A gothic fairy paper doll with a 12 piece wardrobe from paperthinpersonas.com.

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Last year, one of my most common search terms was “Gothic Fairies” and I felt rather bad about this since I didn’t have any on the site. So, at least now there is a slightly gothic fairy paper doll available for anyone whose looking for a gothic fairy paper doll. Actually, I wasn’t totally sure what a Gothic fairy paper doll was, but my research (google image search) suggests layers of torn garments and pale skin seem to be requirements of the gothic fairy look. I rather think she needs wings, but I don’t know how to add them, so that might be a later addition to the set.

The paper doll is rather a companion to Flora (not to be confused with my wooden doll named Flora. Apparently, I like the name Flora…), who is my other fairy paper doll. I don’t usually draw fairies, but they were fun.

And there’s a poll.

Pixie: Flora

A flower fairy paper doll named Flora with a mix and match wardrobe. From paperthinpersonas.com
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When I was a child, I loved the work of Cicely Mary Barker who did wonderful illustrations of fairies and is now quite the commercial enterprise thanks to Penguin. When I was reading them, of course, they weren’t as big as they are now. She died in 1973. My neighbor had an address book with an illustration for each letter (all 26) and I remember being enchanted by them as a child.

Now, I confess I am well aware that actual fairy folklore is considerably darker then the short of cute little flower fairy which the Victorian’s brought us, but the flower ones are easier to draw. What does a Banshee wear anyway? Well… that might be a question to answer at Halloween.

And have I mentioned there’s a poll?

Pixie: Yasmine

When I don’t know what to draw for printable paper dolls, I tend to draw formal dresses. I think because formal dresses take up space (I don’t need a lot of them) and I can just kinda be random (which is nice). So, here we have a formal gown sort of post.

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The name “Yasmine” is Arabic/Persian and was later adapted into Jasmine. I’ve always liked it. She’s kinda inspired by this Bollywood film Dil To Pagal Hai (The heart is Crazy) which stars the beautiful Karisma Kapoor who (like our paper doll) has the most amazing green eyes. That’s all I got about that. The only relation to the film, by the way, is that the paper doll and one of the actresses both have green eyes. Anything deeper is just… um… not there.