Black & White

This category gathers all Paper Thin Personas printable paper doll designs available in black and white, featuring original artwork created for easy printing, cutting, and coloring. Because it includes many styles and eras, the list is long—feel free to browse at your own pace, or use the Master Paper Doll Index to find something more specific.

Topaz- A Fairy Paper Doll in Layers & Flowers

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One of the nice things about working with the Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 collection is when I feel a little stumped or frustrated, I have a back log of older Jewels and Gemstones stuff to refer to and build on. This set, for example, came from a Topaz as a Woodland Fairy set combined with a Fairy Wings and Gown set. I added a few things, removed a few things and then recolored everything to feel cohesive. This is actually the first of two fairy sets I have been working on.

While I recommend gluing the fairy wings to the doll for sturdiness, you could also use adhesive Velcro (or hook and loop tape if we’re being more general) dots and apply on to the back of the doll (or maybe two, depending on size) and then one or two to the wings and that would give you a way to have removable wings. I would add that not all adhesive velcro is paper friendly (some is specifically designed for fabric), so I would double check that.

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In the Tropics with Pearl

A printable paper doll coloring page with a 9 piece mix and match wardrobe of tropical patterned fashion pieces to print.
A printable paper doll with a 9 piece mix and match wardrobe of tropical patterned fashion pieces to print.

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Tropical patterns seem to be here and they don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. I actually had a lot of fun expanding my Jewels and Gemstones 1.0 version mini-dresses with some more pieces to fill out a tropical pattern fun wardrobe. I also had more fun than I should maybe admit designing Pearl’s swimsuit.

When people ask me my “favorite thing” to draw, I’m always a little stumped. I tend to be most proud of my historical work (hence why the Historical Gallery exists), but when I see these complicated patterns and I think about how much fun they are, I confess that they do have a special place in my heart.

The leaves might be changing and there might be termination dust (an Alaskan term for the fresh snow on the mountain tops that indicates that winter is coming) on the mountains, but I can still bask in the tropical warmth of these paper doll patterns.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

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Diamond Exploring the Nautical Cuteness of Sailor Lolita Fashions

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Lolita fashion is a Japanese alternative fashion style that is based on Victorian children’s clothing and all things cute. Let me be clear- if you know anything about actual Victorian clothing, this is not Victorian clothing. It’s Victorian clothing taken to the absolute extreme of ruffles and matching and theme. Like anything in this world, there’s a lot of sub-genre’s of Lolita fashion.

Sailor Lolita, one of the many genres of this style, emphasizes pleats, sailor collars, and all things nautical. If you want to see more of this style, I have a Pinterest section for Military and Sailor Lolita Fashion. While I love a lot of different Lolita styles, the thing them I find most interesting is that (despite the name) it is a hyper-feminine style without being sexualized- necklines tend to be high, skirts are at least knee length, shoes are often without heels.

One thing I find interesting is that elements of Lolita fashion has become more mainstream as the cottagecore trend seems to be flourishing at the moment. I’ll be curious to see how these hyper-feminine styles evolve over time and if they stick around after the trauma of the pandemic. Cultural upheaval often seems to bring about a flourishing of feminine clothing styles- the Great Depression, the Aftermath of World War 2… etc.

Anyhow, this isn’t the first time I’ve done Lolita fashion for Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 paper dolls, I did a Gothic Lolita foray back in 2020. To fill out my themes, there are several other Lolita sub-genres I should explore like sweet, wa, qi, and classic. However, for the moment, here’s nautical. (And yes, some of these pieces came from a Jewels and Gemstones 1.0 set.)

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A Fantasy Paper Doll: Lady of the Tower

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In my head, this paper doll belongs in the same fantasy world as Diamond as an elven archer. I think all of these dresses share a lot of design elements and feel coherent- there’s high collars and flared sleeves on all of them. A big influence on this set of paper doll fantasy gowns are my desire to experiment with pattern which is not something I do on my fantasy gowns as much as I would like. I tend to do a lot more trims (like on this Pearl fantasy set or this Norse influenced set with Topaz). Not to say I have never done all over pattern, just that it is rarer.

Color scheme wise, I wanted to use colors I think I don’t tend to gravitate too as much as I tend to gravitate to warm pinks and colors. So, I used teal (which I do love) and paired it with purple and yellow. It’s a pretty close to the classic split complimentary color scheme, though not quite perfectly spaced I don’t think. Not that I am too worried about perfectly splitting my color schemes along the color wheel, but I do think about color schemes carefully.

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DDJ: Sweet Summer Scallops with Dusk

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While all of my paper dolls have themes, I think my contemporary fashion paper dolls have themes that are sometimes more subtle or more defined by color than anything else. After all, there’s only so many ways a person can draw a pair of blue jeans. This set was inspired by summer florals and a pair of polka-dot jeans my sister used to own. In my head, I was thinking feminine silhouettes (hence the flutter, tulip and puffed sleeves) and scallops. I included the long denim skirt, because I feel like 1990s fashions are having a revival and long denim skirts feel so 1990s to me.

I wanted to keep the colors soft and pastel without feeling too… childish. I think pastels can go nursery room really fast. For those keeping count at home, this is my 7th Dolls Du Jour paper doll and my second one with Dusk. The last one was this very fancy evening gown set.

There’s also a new paper doll set up on Etsy if you’d like to go check that one out. It’s a three doll set with five pages of fantasy clothing. I imagine it would be super fun to color.

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Lapis in the mid-1940s

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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!

The Early Fashions of the 1930s

A 1930s vintage fashion paper doll to print and color with three dresses and two pairs of shoes. She has a coat, a day dress and an evening dress.

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A 1930s vintage fashion paper doll to print with three dresses and two pairs of shoes. She also has two hats and I love her evening dress.

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As often happens with my historical paper dolls, we need to talk about reference images. So, Diamond’s hair is based on the hair of Ann Sheridan in this 1935 promotional photo from Paramount Studios. HHer evening gown came from A Decade of French Fashion, 1929-1938: From the Depression to the Brink of War which I bought for this project. Her underwear is from Simplicity 2288, a sewing pattern from 1930. Everyday Fashions of the Thirties As Pictured in Sears Catalogs provided more source images, because it is one of my go-to 1930’s fashion books.

As I was working on writing up alt-text for my images, I realized this printable paper dolls sort of has a little mini-wardrobe. Since, she has an evening dress, a coat, and a day dress. Plus with the two hats, she’s ready for anything. And, of course, she can share clothing with Amethyst and her 1930s clothing.

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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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1930s Suits and Dresses with Amethyst

A printable 1930s vintage fashion paper doll coloring page with four dresses, two shoes and hats.

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A printable 1930s vintage fashion paper doll with four dresses, shoes and hats.

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No secret that I adore doing my historical costume paper dolls and the 1930s is a time period I feel like really has two sort of looks happening. The first is a very soft, floral, feminine, lots of little details kind of country look from the feed sack prints of the era. This is not the look of today’s paper doll.

Contrasting with that aesthetic is a sophisticated, shoulder details heavy, suits and jackets of the 1930s. There are still plenty of bows, but the lines are sharper. The dresses don’t feel soft, but almost prickly to me. This is the look I wanted to explore with today’s 1930s vintage fashion paper doll.

A few references- her hair is based on the hair of Gertrude Micheal in this 1935 promotional photo from Paramount Studios, her swimsuit is from the V&A, and one of her dresses is from McCalls 8461. Over on Pinterest, I have more of my inspiration images for this 1930s vintage fashion paper doll, but I also used several books, including A Decade of French Fashion, 1929-1938: From the Depression to the Brink of War which I just picked up and Everyday Fashions of the Thirties As Pictured in Sears Catalogs which I’ve owned for years.

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Ruby In Retro-Space Adventures!

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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.

Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Jewels & Gemstones 2.0

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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