Marisole Monday: Inspired by Africa

Way back in June, I did a paper doll set roughly based on some Asian costumes and mostly based on what I draw when I’m bored in class. Lindsey asked if I would consider doing an African inspired set in the same style. Now, I wasn’t against the idea, but I didn’t know anything about African dress. After several months of looking at pictures, many books borrowed from the library and a fair bit of internet searching, I can now say I know a little bit about African dress.

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To give credit where it is due, the dress with the blue sash on the cream is based on a dress in the South African Fashion Week show of Amanda Laird Cherry. You can see a picture of the original garment here. The trousers are based on this design by the African designer Janice Morrison. I used a considerably more subdued color pallet for my paper doll based on the colors of mud cloth and traditional bead work.

The black dress with the gold is based on a dresses worn in Tunisia, usually over white blouses and loose trousers. I have included a white dress to wear under it. The two poncho like robes (the cream one and the blue one) are based on robes worn by men in Nigeria made up of strips of cloth. Mine are much shorter and slightly more fitted. As I said, it was a fantasy interpretation of African costume. The book I adapted these costumes from is called African Costumes and Textiles: From the Berbers to the Zulus. It’s a wonderful look at original garments. This paper doll set is an utterly inauthentic collection of fantasy garments. Enjoy. 🙂

Edit: It has come to my attention that some sites are linking this post as actual African traditional dress. It is NOT. Please don’t pro-port that it is. 

Pixie: Zoe

It’s the New Year.

Time for changes, adventure, excitement and a brand new paper doll series. Yay.

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The Pixie paper dolls will go up every Sunday. They are, obviously, full color printable paper dolls inspired partly by Marisole and partly by the desire for another full color series. There will also be a few other major changes for the new year, but we’ll get to those as we do. I don’t want to say things and then have them not happen.

Unlike Marisole (whose hair is redrawn each time but nothing else is), the Pixie’s have their whole heads changed each time and this lets me play with characters and expressions and things in ways I can’t really with Marisole (well, I could, but I don’t cause it feels weird).

The first of the new paper doll series is Zoe. Zoe is named for a girl who I played with when I was in middle school. Since I live in graduate and international housing, the paper doll was also inspired by a Chinese girl who sat across from me in class for a semester. I really doubt she knew I was examining her face for future paper doll fodder or even noticed. The resulting doll looks nothing like her, but the early doodles did give me the confidence to try to draw epicanthic fold (I think it’s called) on a paper doll.

New Year’s Party: Printable Paper Doll

I don’t celebrate Christmas, so there was never going to be any sort of Christmas paper doll from me though I have enjoyed other’s forays into that genre. But I do celebrate the New Year in traditional style which is to say, I get together with friends and party.

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I wanted to draw some party dresses for Curves and that meant sketching a pair of short flirty dresses. Though I must confess openly, that the dress on the left (with the puffed top) is not the most flattering thing I have ever drawn for Curves. Of course, I suspect it wouldn’t be that flattering on anyone.

In other website news, I’m excited to offer a preview of something coming starting in January. I’ll be starting a new paper doll series and here is a little preview of what they’ll be looking like. So, you can expect a new full color printable paper doll set starting January 2nd, which is a Sunday for those who are counting.

Oh, and as long as you’re here, why not vote in the poll on the sidebar and help decide the future layout of this little corner of the web?

Nautical Girl: Fashion Paper Doll to Print

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There’s something very 4th of July about today’s paper doll. That wasn’t my intention for this paper doll, though I think she does have a red white and blue scheme thing going. I remember reading over the summer that nautical was in style, though I have to confess my interest in fashion extends as far looking for things to turn into paper dolls, much to the amusement of my friends who often make fun of me buying fashion magazines and then just looking at the pictures.

On a totally unrelated note, there is a new poll up- basically I’m curious to know if people like the comic press format or think I should convert back to a traditional blog format. I’m not promising to follow the results (since the level of technical difficulty to convert will be a factor in my final decision and I haven’t looked into that), but I am curious what other people think.

Update 8/11/2014: This paper doll is now available in black and white for coloring. You can find her here.

Space Babe: Sci-Fi Paper Doll to Print

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And here we are- Marisole in SPACE!. If you are going to say “in space” I think the ! is necessary. I don’t normally like ! points, but they are sometimes useful.

I had a lot of fun with the colors of this paper doll. I wanted to give Marisole dark skin and then be able to use absurdly bright colors in her costumes. These are the kinds of colors I like, but as a pale skinned person could never wear. (Seriously, me in lime green is among the most disturbing sights ever.)

Florence’s Dinner or Wedding Dress: Victorian Paper Doll Dresses

A wedding dress for Florence, a paper doll based on a French fashion doll of the 1870s.

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And so, today is the last Florence paper doll post. Actually, I can’t say its the LAST, because lord knows I might decide in five months that what I really want to do is draw the paper doll something new and then I will, but it is the last committed Florence post.

So, since we are on the eve of the New Year (which is quite exciting) and I am considering the future of PTP, I have decided a few things. One is that the short run dolls are ending. I don’t know how I will post my paper-dolls that aren’t serial, but I think some sort of gallery might be the right format for them. I ended up having to reformat them in strange ways to get them to fit with the rest of the site and I didn’t always like the outcome. For the moment, Sundays will be paper doll free- however, I will be working on a Gallery for the site. We’ll see how long it takes me to produce it.

If you missed the first Florence post (which seems not surprising since this is the last Florence post), that is where you get the Florence paper doll.

Fantasy Girl: Elven Printable Paper Doll

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The Curves paper dolls I originally drew while on a ferry traveling from Juneau, Alaska (where I am from) to Prince Rupert, Canada (where I got on the highway.) That was over a year ago. I still enjoy drawing the paper dolls, but I must confess I’m a little low on ideas for them. As a result, I am requesting assistance. Sounds so official.

People can either post their ideas in the comments or drop me an email (paperthinpersonas(at)gmail.com). If you want to include photos, please use the email option. There is no reward for this except that I’ll draw it and put your name on it (unless you’d rather I didn’t). The only guidelines are that the Curves paper dolls are always in black and white and they are always in sets of two.

Black and White Printable Paper Doll from the Marisole Monday Series

Black and white printable paper doll Marisole Monday

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I had a request from a regular commenter named Sara to do a Marisole as a black and white printable paper doll. I thought- Sure, I can do that. How hard can it be? I forgot what I learned from doing a Marisole post in two different color schemes (a gothic scheme and a pastel scheme) that it’s harder than you might think.

Still, I think the outcome is rather fun. I openly confess that I never thought of Marisole in black and white, but I think the paper doll is cute in that format. And it gives people a chance to color if they wish.

When I was working on it, I did think maybe I’d start regularly posting in both styles, but then I decided that was just too much work.

Want more paper dolls? Check out my Master Paper Doll Index. If you love the mod style of today’s paper doll, I have a few more paper doll forays into the 1960s that you might enjoy.

Modern Girl: Fashion Dress up Doll

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Today’s Marisole paper doll started as an attempt to a modern take on some fun Mod clothes and then kinda turned into just a bright citrus based series of Marisole clothing. This is the sort of clothing I would never wear, but would admire and be glad other people wore it.

After all, I can live vicariously through my paper dolls.

Mix & Match 1870s Paper Doll Clothing for Florence

A set of skirts and bodices for the 1870s paper doll Florence.

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This is the second to last Florence post with her last being a wedding dress/dinner dress for next week. The regency wooden doll is going slowly. I have the doll drawn, but am struggling with regency underwear information. My sources suggest that while some women shed corsets (mostly radical french women), most still wore some sort of corset like garment. The challenge is figuring out what those garments were. So, I have six books on historical underwear spread across my dining room table while I try to figure it out.

Speaking of paper doll research, I have been collecting a series of links I use for research. You can find them up in the new Research Resources section.

Plus, if you need the base paper doll that wears these outfits, she’s here.

Red Carpet: Printable Paper Doll with Dresses

 

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I’ve really been enjoying Liana’s posts over at her blog lately. I love that she’s making them more substantive. I always want to do that with my posts, but I also feel like I don’t have a lot to say. There is, also I suspect, a fair bit of general tiredness thrown in there. By the time a paper doll is ready to post, I am usually tired and not very interested or capable of writing intelligently.

It is something I am trying to work on.

On that vein, I would like to bring up one of my favorite websites which is Arabella Greyson’s site. Considering some of my other favorite websites are Go Fug Yourself and Jacket Magazine, it shouldn’t surprise anyone I have a soft spot for Greyson’s site which includes a selection from her collection of black paper dolls along with articles about her collection and about the question of race in relation to paper dolls. I remember reading about the famous baby doll experiment done by Kenneth and Mamie Clark in the 1940s and being fascinated by how children internalize the messages of toys. Though the more I read about it, the more concerned I become about the internal messages of my own paper dolls… then I remind myself not to over think these things.

Fairytale Maiden: Printable Paper Doll

They appear in many fairytales. A beautiful maiden, often daughter of a poor wood cutter, living in a cottage in the woods. She’s always sweet, kind, good and has the common sense of a brain damaged kitten.

I always did like fairy tales.

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So, I am sorry for disappearing like I did. I got busy and then I got lazy and then my computer died and I had to buy a new one. Then I left town for Thanksgiving. As you might imagine, life was nothing short of insane. Now things have settled down a bit and I hope to be back.

Plus, my Grandmother doesn’t have internet, so I spent my Thanksgiving time drawing a lot of paper dolls. It was fun and I’m excited to share the fruits of my labors. Of course, life might get in the way. It does tend to do that.

Edit 8/10/2013: There is now a a black and white version of this paper doll for coloring.