contemporary

Prudence and Constance: 2 Paper Dolls in Black and White

Happy Earth Day! There’s an Earth and we should be grateful or else we’d not exist. So, I’m glad for that. Beyond that, I try to avoid politics on this little corner of the web. There are other corners of the web for politics. Here is the corner of paper dolls.

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Two of my favorite recent paper dolls are Constance and Prudence, who I’ve always thought of as best friends, and so today I present them both in black and white for coloring enjoyment. Each paper doll was meant to have a distinct casual and slightly indie style. Prudence is a little bit vintage and Constance is a little bit tomboy. The t-shirt styles for the Constance paper doll are based on mandala designs which are simplified for the small size.

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So, today, I’d like to also call attention to a new blog with some delightful black and white paper dolls called Inflammation Of…, which is about both paper dolls and raising a child with chrons disease. I have had several thank yous sent to me over the years from parents with health issues in their families who like the paper dolls and I always feel very touched that my paper dolls can help in any small way for people in need. Plus there’s a whole set of clothes for her paper dolls inspired by Scoopy-Doo and who isn’t in favor of paper dolls inspired by Scooby-Doo? I loved Scooby-Doo when I was a kid.

(Actually, I still sorta love Scoopy-Doo, but I try to be more of an adult and not admit these things in public.)

Jose: Printable Paper Doll for Boys

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So, today, somewhat late, we have a new Puck paper doll named Jose. When I finished him, he looked like a Jose to me, so I decided that was his name. I like his nose.

I am tired of school, looking for work and stressed beyond belief. In truth, this printable paper doll has been sitting on my hard-drive for several weeks waiting for me to finish it up, reformat it and then posting it. I am continuing to work on drawing more men. I have another male paper doll finished and I hope to get it posted maybe this week, maybe next. I’ve not been very on the ball with this blog lately and that bothers me. Life is very complicated these days. I’ll be happy when school is over, I have a job and I feel a little more settled.

Jesse: A Guy Paper Doll with Clothing

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So when I asked people what they wanted to see on the blog, male paper dolls won out. I don’t really see the appeal myself- after a while, I think guys clothing gets boring, but I am trying to provide what people have asked for (also I have had this drawn for months and coloring it was fast), so here is Jesse- another Puck paper dolls. He joins the other Pucks which can be found with their female counter-parts the Pixies. In total, I’ve done six Pucks, I believe. I guess out of over 250 pages of paper dolls, six males isn’t much of a percentage, but it’s a lot higher than zero.

Today’s Puck paper doll fits in pretty well with Dillon having another fairly standard casual wardrobe. I confess I don’t know much about male clothing, but I do my best with the Pucks. I did just notice I do seem to have a lot of blond Pucks… which is rather odd. I’ll have to work on that.

Spring has Sprung: Asian Printable Paper Doll

Yay, it’s a printable paper doll.

I promised myself I wouldn’t spend this post whining about everything i have been trying to get done or making excuses. I had this last week off for spring break and I did get some stuff done, so I can’t be all unhappy about it. I don’t seem to be getting as much done I had hoped, but perhaps I have less then realistic expectations of myself.

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Today’s Marisole recycles a few things I’ve done before such as the shoes and the sewing machine. I really wanted to have a sewing machine for the paper Marisoles as well as the magnetic ones and I am just pleased that it came out well. The grey shoes are recolored from the set I drew for my Mother’s quilting retreat and the other shoes were drawn at the same time, but not used because she thought the heels were too high. I personally think high heels are fun.

I can’t decide how I feel about the patterned shirts in this set. I like them, but I’m not sure how much I like them… I was trying to do more patterns, but I’m not sure I should have. I really don’t like the black background that seems to happen when my pictures open in a new window… is it just me or do other people see it too? And does it annoy you all as much as it annoys me?

Circuits and Fishnet: Cyberpunk Printable Paper Doll

Today Marisole printable paper doll is going cybergoth since there’s just not enough neon and shiny in Marisole’s eclectic paper wardrobe. This is the first new Marisole in a depressingly long time… I confess I spent time I probably should have spent revising a paper on this, but after five hours in the library my mind is pretty much non-functional anyway. And it’s nice to come home to paper doll coloring as a relaxing project to work on.

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Now, I did recently get my hands on Gothic: Dark Glamour by Valerie Steele. While I normally I like Steele’s work, I was a bit disappointed by this book. It didn’t have the lavish pictures I have come to want in any costume book I buy. Still, it did have a fairly nice description of cyber-gothic and helped me narrow things down to black with neon accents. The hair was the hardest part of this paper doll, but I am actually quite pleased at how it came out. The other piece I am most proud of is the shiny black corset. Shiny fabrics are something I am still practicing and I am totally excited at how perfect the corset turned out to be. It’s rare that I really feel like I’ve achieved what I wanted with texture. Texture is hard.

So, I’ve done a dark steampunk paper doll over the years, a gothic Lolita one and one punk paper doll, but I don’t think I’ve ever really done a traditional gothic paper doll unless you count my vampire paper doll in 2010. I wonder if I should? What do other people think?

Magnetic Paper Dolls for a Quilting Retreat

Click on the images to download the PDF file for printing the magnetic paper dolls.

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First off: I was not abducted by aliens or eaten by a polar bear or killed by some strange monster which lives in the depths of the library stacks.

Rather, I was busy working on class things, working on work things and working on thesis writing things. The truth is that for the next semester, the blog is going to be neglected and I am going to feel guilty about it, but I am really really crazy busy.historicalquilter

My mother attends a quilting retreat each January with some friends and there is a tradition of bringing a little gift for the other quilters. Since I gave her a set of magnetic Marisole paper dolls this year for the holidays, she decided she wanted a set for her quilting friends. Everything about these paper dolls was produced with her consultation.quilterhikingandfishing

The magnetic paper doll (who can can clothing with magnetic Marisole) has gray hair, red glasses. She comes with her sewing machine, a rather lopsided quilt and several different important quilting accessories (scissors and things).

After she approved the paper doll design, we went through all of the Marisole paper dolls I have drawn and selected a collection of clothing to go with the doll. Each attending person got one main doll and then one page of extra clothing.queenquilter

It was fairly entertaining to sit down with Mom and have her select what she liked. Sometimes, I guessed right on what she would pick, but often I was surprised. My mom and I have similar taste in clothing and jewelry and fabric, so I suspected we’d have similar taste in paper dolls.

I knew she’d like the pirates and the commercial fishing paper doll. I was fairly certain she would go for something fantasy and I thought the art deco stuff was a shoe in. I knew Tones and Shades would be important since she shares my love of beautiful textiles that are used in Kimono. I was a little surprised by the fantasy set she liked, since it’s one I’m not totally pleased with.

I have come up with some quick fixes which I think should at least feed the blog while I’m so very busy. There will be some sketchbook posts, probably some black and white posts (mostly of things which have already appeared once in color since that is the easiest sort for me to do) and possibly something else as I figure out what I can find time for. I don’t want to give up PTP, but I do have a thesis to write.

One last note on these magnetic paper dolls, they are sized as an 8 by 10.5 inch image, rather then my usual 8 by 10 inch, since I knew which printer I would be printing them on. Double check the PDF settings before you print them to make sure they will fit. On some printers, they might print slightly smaller than the other magnetic Marisole paper dolls, which is why I’m not putting them in the same category. Enjoy them.

At the Big Gala: Black Printable Paper Doll

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day to all those in the United State who, like me, get the day off. I’m spending mine doing laundry and getting ready for classes, but hopefully other people are having more fun. Marisole is all dressed up for a big gala this week. I confess that my schedule for this coming semester is looking crazy and I don’t know how much time I’ll be able to devote to the blog, but we’ll see how it goes.

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So, my father is trying to get me to create some magnetic paper dolls to sell. I’m not so sure about the idea myself, but he’s convinced that in the tourist heavy summers of Juneau Alaska that they would be a hit. He’s promised to do the research, if I draw the paper doll. My question to all those grandparents who read this blog or parents or anyone else who buys gifts for children (or themselves, lets be honest here) how much would you pay for a magnetic paper doll, neatly packaged with an Alaskan theme (assuming you’re in Alaska to begin with, mind you). Five bucks? Ten? I’ve seen them on Etsy for as much as 30 dollars, but I can’t imagine anyone paying that amount (I certainly wouldn’t). How much would you spend?

Edit 4/6/2014: This set is now available here in black and white for coloring. Yay!

New Full Color Paper Doll Named Mara

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{Click Here for a PDF of the Paper Doll set to Print}{Click Here for a PNG of the Paper Doll set}

If this were a dating game show, I would describe Mara as a charming young woman with a love of flowers and long walks through the woods. Since this isn’t a dating game show, as far as I know, I think I’ll just stick with saying that Mara is a one page paper doll with a wardrobe of nine pieces that can be mix and matched to make up 18 different combinations.

In case you’re wondering how I got to that number, the calculation looks like this:

((Number of Tops * Number of Bottoms)+ Number of Dresses)*Number of Shoes= Outfit Combinations

It gets a little more complicated if you add in jackets and other layering pieces, but usually it works out well and, of course, it doesn’t consider things like how well the pieces match with each other. Yes, I might be a little OCD to have come up with a formula for calculating paper doll wardrobe options. (Only sort of math I can really imagine doing…)

Later or tomorrow, there will be something fun and new for the first day of Hanukkah (a holiday no one likes to try to spell) which starts tonight at Sunset.

Candy Coated Couture: Printable Paper Doll

I wanted to play around with bright colors and when I play with bright colors, I like to use a darker skintone on the paper doll. I think it looks lovely with the bright greens, blues, pinks, oranges and purples which make up this set. Colors inspired, I confess by those runt candies. Remember those? I loved Runts when I was a kid.

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Candy Coated Couture’s skin tone is the same as Book Loving Princess, so they can share shoes- should you feel the need to give the princess some rocking multi-colored platforms. (Who doesn’t need rocking multi-colored platforms, I ask you?)

There probably won’t be a Dictionary Girls update this week, because I don’t have one ready and I’m traveling on Wednesday to visit family for the holidays, there will, however, be Shadow and Light up on Friday and a one-shot paper doll to make up for the lack of Dictionary Girls.

Edit (10/7/2013): I just posted this paper doll set in black and white, so if you want to color her- now you can!

Constance: Paper Doll to Print

I would like everyone to meet Constance. Isn’t she cute? She’s the best friend of Prudence, I decided after I finished coloring her, though she has a less vintage inspired style. Her trousers came out a less perfect color of camel then I thought they would, but her shoes are totally cute and I love her freckles. (I blame my love of both freckles and red hair to reading Anne of Green Gables at a young and impressionable age.)

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A woman I used to work with was named Constance, though everyone called her Connie. I have an odd soft spot for virtue names like Constance or Prudence or Faith or Grace, though I am less a fan of a few of the odder ones which were common back when the Puritans were naming their children. Naming your child Temperance is one thing, but calling them Condolence just seems odd (and that’s not even getting into some of the odder names which hung around when the Puritans were naming things). Still, I suppose that’s easy for me to say since I’m not naming a child in 1615 or something.

On a totally unrelated note (because segues are for other people), I have just recoded the entire gallery page and have folded it into the indexes and now there is a Printable Paper Doll Index page which links to all the printable series and individual dolls. If you click on the image on the page it will take to to either the blog post devoted to the paper doll or to a separate page with the PDF’s and PNG’s to print on it. I’d love to hear what people think of the change.