In 2009, something horrible and magnificent happened- I crashed my entire blog.
I didn’t have a great backup and I didn’t know that I had a friend (he was just an acquaintance then) who could have probably fixed it.
It was simitaniously horrible and completely liberating. Freed of the constraints of what I had done before, I started fresh with a new format, new layouts, new everything.
Lately, I have felt a great deal of blog ennui. Since I haven’t crashed the entire site (thank goodness), I don’t have any kick in the pants to change things.
A week ago, a dear friend said to me: If you could do anything with the blog, what would you do?
It took only an instant to know the answer: Update daily and only have one paper doll series.
And then I gave all the reasons I couldn’t do that: Marisole Monday is my most popular series. B&B is my only curvy series… I have a million reasons.
But the reason I should do it was also utterly clear- It excited me.
Ever since I made the decision, I have been working with the sort of manic delight that I haven’t felt about creating paper dolls in at least a year or more. Last time I really remember feeling it was when I was researching vikings for my Viking paper doll.
I spent all of Saturday sketching and erasing and scanning and fixing. I called my mom and asked what she thought of various names for the new series.
I lost track of time and stayed up far to late working on shoes and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Hulu.
In short, I felt delight and delight is why I have this hobby to begin with.
Every Thursday until the end of the year, I will share updates about where and how this is going. I will keep you all as much in the loop as I can. Until then, I hope you can share my excitement as I close the door on one period of the blog’s life and open it to another one.
Here’s the two previews to share:
The templates I sketched in my notepad. On the left, many many drafts of the guys. I confess I am still not great at drawing guys. On the right are the ladies.
The base dolls of the new series whose name will probably be Dames and Dandies. The gents on the left and the two lady poses on the right. I will share more next week.
Let me know what you think in a comment.
P.S: I am currently working on updating my theme. Please forgive me while things look a little messy and strange around here. 🙂
I like them. I’m glad we’ll still get a guy paper doll in there, even if you don’t feel like you do them well. It’s always fun to see the male counter part in your series.
Yes. I am very excited about the gent.
This is great — I like the dolls very much. Also like looking at the work-in-progress posts; it’s nice to see how an artist works. Thanks!
I tend to post more Work In Progress posts over on the Patreon page if you are a patron than you get to see those.
I, too, love work-in-progress posts. I had been thinking about a one doll/daily outfit kind of format as well, but it probably won’t happen for next year. It’s exciting to see where you’re going with this & it’s always good to have enthusiasm for your hobby!
Yeah, the idea has been nagging at me for a while. So, I decided to go for it.
I’m happy that you’re excited and curious as to where this will go. 🙂 I’m also glad that there’s a gent!
BTW, are you, Boots, Julie and Miss Missy going to continue the Paper Doll Collab into 2018?
We are planning too.
To be honest i’m pretty bummed that both girls aren’t curvy and you’re not going to do your curvy series anymore. It was nice seeing someone do paperdolls that were not like traditional models proportions. I do really like the gent and I’m glad you’re getting passion back for your hobby. I’m sure the outfits will be amazing.
There may yet be an additional curvy doll (or dolls) in the future. Right now, I didn’t want to start with more than three base dolls for my own sanity and organizational purposes.
I think sometimes change is necessary to refresh your creative spirit (for lack of a better phrasing) and limits can be surprisingly freeing.
Maybe one day, you’ll find the desire to restart/reboot older series, or they’ve come to their natural end. Even if a series is loved. I’ve always dreaded the idea that paper dolling might one day feel like a chore.
I’m looking forward to seeing what you create in the future and it’s great to hear that you will be too.
They look great! I’m excited to see your changes 🙂
These look great!!!!! I’m happy you’re happy with making paper dolls again, I absolutely Love you’re dolls!!!!!! But does this mean you might not do commissions on the other series in future?
Well, commissions are a bit unique, because someone else is paying me to create something. If the client wants an older series, than I’d be happy to work something out with them. It’s not like I’m throwing away my templates and burning my sketchbooks. 🙂 It’s more like… I’m starting something new for the blog.