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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.
I wouldn’t worry overmuch about the “message” of your paper dolls. For one thing you have a wide selection: curvy, skinny, white, black, asian, zombie, and many different sorts of cultures. If anything, I would say be proud of your dolls, they’ll make the girls who play with them curious about the cultures and histories and fictions the clothing comes from. And that’s always a good thing.
Also, yay! you’re back!
i agree with sara ~ you shouldn’t overthink it too much. whatever you have to share is equally worth representing from a creative perspective. as a “poc” (and sorry if i roll my eyes a bit here), i actually find many people’s attempts at “political correctness” to be at least borderline offensive. it’s one thing to marginalize people ~ it’s another to point it out that marginalization by overcompensating.
even more, i too especially like that you have mixed fantasy and romance with a variety of body types. i really struggle with drawing realistic bodies. even when i describe a character as too thin or overly voluptuous or even “unpretty”, they all tend to look the same. i don’t blame that on stereotyping or imprinting in my childhood. i blame it on the limitations of my drawing abilities. i’m trying to do better. there’s no lack of models out there if one looks.
Greyson’s site is fabulous (though lacking some “obvious” examples (I’m think of “Addie” and Peggy Jo’s dolls) ~ wish she had more posted!
: D