More Italian Renaissance with Sapphire

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So, when I do historical clothing sets, I’ve learned drawing two takes about the same amount of time as drawing one. Of course, the downside is that I always worry if I make a mistake then I’m likely to repeat it. I’m not 100% sure about the waist lines on these, but that’s okay.

The paper doll is wearing a shift with a gathered neckline which seems to be the style in Italy. It’s a lot more fitted than these would have been for layering reasons. There’s some debate from my research in what women wore under these gowns. There’s not a lot of evidence for stays, but there’s no way to get the smooth line shown on the bust in these portraits without some sort of support either built into the bodice or underneath the bodice. If you look closely at side of the pink gown, you’ll see there’s a fold between where the armpit meets the shoulder and that suggests there is something under the bodice; however, I have not been able to find any evidence on what that undergarment might have looked like.

Later, there’s this Venetian Woman with Moveable Skirt from the 1560s and there might be a set of stays there or it might be an artistic choice to continue the bodice after the skirt is lifted. It’s tough to know. I tend to think it’s likely stays, because the work is erotic art and there’s nothing erotic about a bodice (or is there?). When I do a Venetian set (and I plan to do that someday) I’ll use that as my base design I suspect. However, we’re not working on Venetian clothing today. Today, we are in Florence.

Both of these dresses are again based on portraits. Both sitters are probably from Florence, based on professional folk’s assessments of the paintings. Lucrezia Panciatichi, for example, was the wife of Bartolomeo Panciatichi, a Florentine humanist and politician. The other sitter there’s some debate over, but her clothing does look like that which was worn in Florence according to folks who know more about this than I do which isn’t I grant you a high standard at this point.

Despite the few small changes I might make to these in the future (and my annoyance that I couldn’t seem to track down a full length portrait to get skirt shapes right), I’m super proud that I did these despite feeling like I don’t “know enough” to do them well.

I will say that I want to do something later in the 1500s from Venice, as I mentioned, because the Venetians had these wild shoes called chopines which were platform shoes so high that women needed help walking in them. They’re so strange and I want to draw them, but I need to do more research on the clothing that would have gone with them. More research!

So, if you want to get to vote in my next paper doll content poll, join us on Patreon.

Spring Princess Gowns for Jade

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Sure, there’s still like feet of snow on the ground here and sure yesterday the high was under freezing at 29 degrees, but it is spring darn it! (Signs of spring include a longer day, muddy streets, and trees that are starting to bloom.) It’s just been a much colder spring than usual, but I would rather have a long slow slide into break up than a rapid one, so I’ll take it.

I will also complain loudly about it.

I can have contradictions in my life.

All righty, so let’s talk paper dolls. Back in 2019 or 2020 or something, I started drawing some very fancy big-skirted princess gowns that I called the Princesses and Their Gowns collection. Not really because I thought it would be a big collection, but because all the gowns used the same basic color scheme and style, so I figured it would be simple enough to group them together.

All of last years additions to the collection ended up being Patreon content, so I knew I wanted to add some more for this year and make them blog content.

I chose daffodils to decorate these gowns, because my mother always planted them and they were a favorite flower of mine. I remember my mother would always order her bulbs in the fall and sometimes they wouldn’t arrive until after the ground was frozen and, not about to let that stop her, she’d go out with boiling water and spade to plant them anyway. They always came up, one way or another.

My other favorite flower is peonies which has nothing to do with this paper doll set, but are gown up here and are just amazing in a few weeks when the farmers’ market reopens.

So, do you have a favorite flower? Let me know in a comment!

DDJ: It is Pirate Paper Doll Time!

A pirate coloring page paper doll to print with a mix and match wardrobe.
A printable paper doll  pirate with mix and match clothing, a map and swords. She has dark skin and dreadlocks.

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Happy March!

There are paper doll themes I think I’ve done a lot of- like pirates-, but then when I actually go through my own archives I realize- I really haven’t done that very many pirate paper doll sets. (I have a similar relationship with fairy paper dolls.)

The problem, I suspect, is that I don’t feel like there are that many ways to draw a pirate. So, I guess that’s a factor. I should expand more into space pirates or steampunk pirates or… I dunno… Need to think on it.

Anyway, one of the things I am doing over on Patreon is working on my goals for 2022. One of those goals is more Dolls Du Jour, I was slightly embarrassed to realize I only did 4 last year. Plus, they were nearly all based on things I actually drew in 2020. (This isn’t super uncommon. Some things sit on my computer a long time before I finish them, because I am fickle and have more ideas than time.)

So, anyway, one goal is more Dolls Du Jour. I have been finishing up my Goals post. The hope is to get that up later this week, so it’ll be “Official”. I like having all that sort of thing in one place, because I will refer to it later. I know I will.

More and more over the last few years, I havecome to think of the blog as a long form sort of art project. I like having most things here, because I know I own this space. No algorithm can interfere with what I’ve built here.

Meanwhile, if you’d like to support the blog, then there’s a way to do over on Patreon. My Patreon projects for this year is a gothic/steampunk fantasy thing for Vivian and a set of Antique Doll paper dolls. I’m super excited about both.

Sapphire: A Fashionable 1960s Paper Doll for Printing and Playing With

A 1960s fashion printable paper doll coloring page with historical outfist including 2 dresses and 2 suits, along with hats.
A 1960s fashion paper doll with four outfits, shoes and hats to print and play with.

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After I did 1970s sets (one with Sapphire and one with Opal) and a 1950s set, drawing some 1960s paper dolls felt pretty inevitable. The 1960s are a fashion era I like, but haven’t done as much drawing from. I think because my mental image of the era (super 1960s mod dresses) exists and the actual mainstream fashions which were much more conservative. I love the wild mod looks, but most folks weren’t wearing them.

So, today’s 1960s paper doll is Sapphire with a very ladylike wardrobe from mostly the early 1960s, though I didn’t notice that until I was labeling everything. Here’s a few of the sources- her underwear comes from Sears in 1968. Her bra was based on several different years like this one from 1962 or this one from 1964. The pink suit is from McCall’s 6437 from 1962. Her hats both come from my John Peacock book on 20th century fashion, The Complete Fashion Sourcebook.

The evening gown was based on this Vogue 1452 pattern from 1965 designed by Galitzine of Italy. The green suit is from Vogue Couturier Design 1127; ca. 1962 designed by Michael of England. The 1965 Montgomery Ward Spring Summer Catalog was the source for the yellow polka-dotted dress.

You can, of course, see a lot more 1960s fashion references and inspiration on my 1960s Pinterest board. I tend to collect a lot and then pick and chose when the drawing point happens. There will be another 1960s paper doll up soon, as I have a second one finished as well.

Jade in the Lady-Like Looks of the 1930s

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I am always struck by the femininity of 1930s fashions. Both 1920s and 1940s fashions tend toward the more masculine, but the 1930s always feels very girly to me. I think it’s all the small florals and the puffy sleeves and the ruffles. 

Jade here is in the same color scheme as my Diamond 1930s doll and my Amethyst 1930s doll, so between the three of them I think you get a pretty nice collection of fashions from the era, hats and shoes.

Enjoy!

DDJ: Color Blocking with Twilight

A black and white paper doll with a mix and match wardrobe of 8 clothing pieces.

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A black paper doll with a mix and match wardrobe of 8 clothing pieces.

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Color blocking is one of my favorite fashion themes. I just love how it lets me play with different colors and experiment with how different lines look on a set of garments. I first drew this paper doll set last year, but didn’t manage to actually get it done until a few weeks ago. Sometimes, I am a little slow on finishing up my own artwork.

Let’s not talk about the large number of 80% finished projects lurking on my hard-drive.

By the way, this is only my 6th Dolls Du Jour paper doll. I created this series in May of 2020 as part of my move towards drawing more diverse figures. Figure drawing is my least favorite part of paper doll making and it is the part I think I am worse at. There’s dozens of abandoned attempts at figure drawing in my notebooks. I still don’t think my figures are as diverse as they could be, but I also can only bang my head against the things I don’t like doing so long.

Just let me draw silly shoes and ignore when my people look off, which they often do.

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1940s Fashions with Jade: A Printable Paper Doll

A paper doll coloring page with a curvy 1940s black lady and her ten piece wardrobe.

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A paper doll coloring page with a curvy 1940s black lady and her ten piece wardrobe.

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I love drawing historical fashion for paper dolls. It’s a little more time consuming than some of the other things I do, but well worth the extra work I think. I tried to capture the broad shoulder of the 1940s with all these pieces and I think some of them were more successful in that than others. Color-wise, I wanted things to be super mix and match. Plus, of course, today’s 1940s Jade paper doll can wear any of the dresses for last week’s 1940s Topaz paper doll. For my patrons, there was a 1940s Lapis paper doll who can also share.

Jade’s hair is based on that of Butterfly McQueen. I often use actresses for vintage paper dolls hair reference images and I don’t have a strong collection of vintage black fashion magazines. Since I work with historical documents for a living, I have no desire to add piles of old magazines to my world. I do enough of that at my job. You can pop over to Pinterest to see more of my 1940s fashion inspiration for today’s paper doll. As always, I also used my books which are a big part of my paper doll research universe.

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Paper Doll Fashions of the Cyberpunk Future

A black and white cyberpunk paper doll coloring page featuring a black doll and her mix and match wardrobe of scifi fashions.

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A cyberpunk paper doll coloring page featuring a black doll and her mix and match wardrobe of scifi fashions.

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Today’s cyberpunk paper doll is a combination of some Jewels and Gemstones 1.0 content and some new content that I created to fill out the set. When I design a mix and match paper doll set I think a lot about layers. With four bottoms, three tops and two pairs of shoes, you’re getting 24 outfit combos out of nine pieces. However, I’m not 100% sure how well the black boots will layer under the skinnier pants, so I might feel more comfortable calling it 21 combinations. (I have a whole post here about how I do outfit combo math.)

Funny fact, that post is actually one of my most popular, because apparently people need help calculating clothing combinations? I don’t 100% get it, but whatever. A little algebra never hurt anyone and my middle school algebra teacher is no doubt very proud.

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Aces & Queens: A Playing Card Inspired Paper Doll

A playing card inspired paper doll with dreadlocks and a mix and match wardrobe.

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A playing card inspired paper doll with multicolored dreadlocks and a mix and match wardrobe.

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This paper doll set was my partner’s suggestion for a playing card themed paper doll creation. When I think of playing cards, I sort of inevitably end up thinking of retro glam, show girls and a little bit punk. That maybe helps explain why this paper doll’s clothing is a little all over the place. However, I do think there’s some neutrals like jeans you could steal from Polka-Dots, Retro-Beach Summer or Flowers and Showers. I am realizing though, as I write this, that I haven’t done that many contemporary fashion sets for the Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 ladies.

By the way, I’ve had a few people reach out over my long absence. I was dealing with some family things. It’s all resolved and I have a wonderful support network. Thank you for your kind words and things will slowly be ramping back up here as I get more settled.

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