Creating a Paper Doll Book: Sketching and Inking Paper Doll Clothes

So, last week I shared a little about the brainstorming stage of my latest paper doll book, Big Eyed Girlies. This week, I wanted to take you a bit deeper into my process by showing off a few side-by-side images of penciled versus inked pieces I created for the book.

For me, inking isn’t just about tracing over lines (though yes, I do find that part incredibly therapeutic—there’s something so meditative about it). It’s also a stage of refinement. This is where I often make small but meaningful decisions. I might draw something in pencil and realize during inking that it needs a little something extra, or that a line isn’t quite working the way I imagined. In those moments, inking becomes a space for problem-solving and quiet reconsideration.

For a long time, I thought this was a flaw in my process. Somehow, I should be able to make all the right decisions in the pencil stage. I’ve come to understand that this is just how I work. Inking isn’t just a darkening of pencil lines, rather it is where the work settles into its final shape. It’s where the ideas get polished and where I decide what stays and what goes. It’s both editing and clarifying.

And honestly, it’s kind of magical.

As you look at these pencils vs. inks comparisons from Big Eyed Girlies, I hope you’ll see how much things change and how much they don’t.

One thing I like about digital inking is that I can erase it if I need to. I try not to do too much of that because I want things to feel organic and have those natural, human imperfections, but it’s nice to know I can make changes if I want to. Things can get over edited and end up looking too stiff.

I learned to draw with ballpoint pens, and I still sometimes struggle with using a stylus. There’s a lot of muscle memory and feel that goes into drawing, and I forget how much that matters until I’m actually working on something.

In the sketches above, you can see a few of the small changes that happened between penciling and inking: a collar got removed, sleeves were adjusted, a choker was added, and a pattern was refined. All subtle, but meaningful shifts that help the piece come together.

Inking might be my favorite stage of the process. It’s super therapeutic and meditative for me. I pop on a favorite podcast and just get to trace little lines on a screen. Hard to beat that for relaxation mode.

If you haven’t checked out the book yet, it’s currently available from Paper Doll Review! It’s full of big eyes, bold outfits, and lots of whimsy.