Work-In-Progress

Another sketchbook photo set this week. I feel a litle guilty posting these sometimes, because they are almost filler in nature, but maybe people like them? I really don’t know. They are easy for me and that makes them always a good option.

SO, I have become kinda obsessed with that store called- Free People. Most of the clothing is too revealing or too young for me, but I love the boho vibe. I decided, therefore, to do a boho paper doll set with a jumpsuit (because I hate jumpsuits, but I am trying to get over it).

I’ve seen the movie Newsies, but I don’t get it. I have friends who LOVE it with the sort of passion that I simply can’t understand. I feel similar about my boyfriend and his obcession with football, but I love him enough to try to at least sort of get the football thing. I watched 2.5 games last year which is a 250% increase over the year before. Anyway, I don’t get Newsies, but I was inspired by 19th century young men’s clothing to draw this steampunk paper doll set for Mia. It’s a long way out, I think, since I have recently set up a huge backlog of Marisole Monday and Friends sets and need to focus on other series.

Another Mia set, because she hadn’t gotten any love this year and I was feeling guilty. This one is inspired by ancient Chinese dress (Tang Dynasty- not unlike Jia- I drew this shortly after) and then a lot of just random stuff that I liked. I wanted to do pattern and lots of color. It’s a very bright set, now that it is done. The doll for it is going to be an elf with an over the top pile of braids. I’m actually really pleased with how it is coming together in Photoshop.

And those are all the previews for today! Enjoy.

Meanwhile, I am going to go do laundry! (Laundry is more fun if you put an exclamation point after it.)

I draw a lot of paper dolls. Is that a shock to anyone? It really shouldn’t be.

Anyway, I inked a huge number of Marisole Monday & Friend’s sets a few weeks ago. They’ll start to go live starting next week, I think. Anyway, I wanted to share what I’ve been working on with people as a sneak peek at the future.

The first set here is Tudor era, specifically the mid-1500s in England. There’s two dresses, one set of underwear and two pairs of shoes, but I have the sinking feeling one of those pairs of shoes isn’t going to fit on the set when I do the layout. On the upside, I’ve gotten to practice drawing complicated patterns and I really love how the gowns both turned out. I think this is going to a dfun set, even though French hoods are hard to draw.

I did a 1920’s set years ago, but I love that era- also I own like five books about it in my own costume book collection and that means I don’t have to interlibrary loan reference books. Periods of fashion that don’t require extra work are my favorite periods of fashion. This clothes set is for Monica. It’s being colored as we speak.

Lastly, here’s a contemporary set borrowed from March’s deluge of fashion magazines. Color blocking seems to be the in thing. I really love the dress, but there are some inking errors that I’ll have to clean up with Photoshop later. I’ll be coloring this set based on Pantone’s color reports.

So, those are the future paper doll sets. I’ll show off some more next week. 🙂

I’ve been working on developing a backlog of paper doll sets. Lately, I’ve been drawing a lot of Mini-Maiden sets. You can expect to see more of them popping up around here soon.

So, the first set here is part of a series of contemporary fashion paper doll wardrobes I decided to draw. One of reach of the Mini-Maiden base paper dolls. This is Hazel’s “girly” set. Her ladylike style is going to include floral shorts and polkadots. I am very excited about the short choppy hair style.

Next, we have a set for Greta. Inspired by my Weekend Denim paper doll set. While I was working on that paper doll, I was struck by how I tend to lean more towards high fashion. I’m out of the age range where I really follow teen trends, but I’ve been seeing a lot of over sized sweaters and skinny jeans around campus. There are no skirts in this paper doll wardrobe, just like Weekend Denim

Last, but not least, here’s a preview of a paper doll warrior clothes set that I drew. I’ve not yet decided who gets this set. Probably not Faye, since she got to have Runic Adventures last year. I think this might be another Greta paper doll set. Secretly, Greta is my favorite of the Mini-Maidens, but don’t tell the others. They might get jealous.

Aren’t they fun? I am excited about all of them.

I also just finished penciling a set of tudor-era gowns for Marisole Monday & Friends. I’ll share those just as soon as they are inked. I am so excited by them, but I have to confess… 15th century clothing is hard to draw.

As I know I have mentioned in the past, I work in bursts. This is for two reasons. Reason one is that I just seem to work better that way and reason two is that I’ve figured out how many sketchbook pages a paper doll set is likely to take up and I loath wasting paper.

So, taking Marisole Monday & Friends as our example… I know that the average mix and match set for Marisole Monday & Friends contains 11 outfit pieces and two pairs of shoes. Feel free to check my math, but I am pretty sure that I’m right about this one.

In sketchbook pages, that is roughly 1.5 pages. This is why I trend to draw Marisole Monday & Friends posts in sets of two, but ever since I stopped drawing stands and started using “The Power of Photoshop” to place shoes on their stands, I have found sometimes sets take up much less room.

This is the page of hair and accessories for the four contemporary sets I drew in September. One of them posted earlier this week “Southwest Boho” and the others will post as I finish them. Obviously, I tend to leave hair and shoes out when I am first starting to sketch.

Lady-like is a thing I’ve seen a lot of in the fashion magazines for fall. I’m dreading putting together the complicated floral patterns that this set is going to need. The small afro and ankle boots from the first image are going to go with this set and it will be modeled by Monica.

One of the trends for fall is for bright colors, but simple shilouettes. This set is going to be all about the bright color scheme. The ladylike hairstyle at the bottom of the first image will go with this set and it is going to be modeled by Margot.

The only one of these sets not based on September fashion magazines. I wanted to so a fun, bright colored, sort of Harajuku street fashion thing. The pigtails on the first image in this post are going to go with this set. It was also inspired by some of the outfits worn by Blythe on my Pinterest boards.

So that people don’t get totally sick of contemporary sets, before the end of the year, I will be mixing in some fantasy and other things. I’d get sick of contemporary sets, I think, before my readers.

Considering how long it sometimes takes me to finish things, it might be next fall before some of these make it onto the blog, but that’s neither here nor there.

So, I actually filled out up my latest little steno book. I’ve drawn almost everything in it that I had planned, so it will soon get tossed into the recycle. I’ve never been very much of a packrat. I think it’s a side effect of working with manuscripts and archives. After going through other people’s old papers, I really want to keep as few of my own as possible.

This is one of two Marisole Elven set designs. I think this set is going to go to Monica of the Marisole Monday family. I’ve sketched and scanned the set, but I think it’ll be a while before I get it cleaned up and colored. I was very productive scanning last night while watching season 3 of Grimm.

Another “elven” set- I am thinking Margot or an Other Friend will model this one. It’s been scanned as well, but it will be a while before it is ready to be colored. I have other things ahead of it in the queue.

Poppets are getting some love here. I’ve just finished up a historical set for the Poppets which will be up next week. I have a bunch of contemporary stuff those paper dolls in progress, so I feel like some fantasy things will be next in line.

So, these are things that maybe coming down the pike soon enough. Plus I’m trying to do some fun Halloween planning. Usually, I don’t think far enough ahead to really get into the holiday, but this time I really want to.

The best thing about the photocopier at my job is that it can scan and email me things. I don’t use it for paper doll scanning (the resolution isn’t high enough), but it makes these sketchbook and doodle posts really easy.

Some contemporary clothes for a Mini-Maiden. Don’t ask me which Mini-Maiden. I haven’t a clue, yet. I really am pleased with the set through. I really like the curly hair, especially.

Here’s the doodles I did for a dark circus inspired Marisole Monday & Friends paper doll set. As it turned out, I didn’t use all of these designs, as you can see below.

A page of the dark circus Marisole Monday & Friends set that I inked last weekend. I really love her shoes and her wig. We’ll see how all the whole thing comes together. I am thinking a black, white and red color scheme with some gold to accent it. I also might do some clown makeup on the paper doll’s face for this set.