Mini-Series

A Stylish Paper Doll July: Visiting The Early 1910s

A black and white line drawing of a woman paper doll wearing a 1910's underwear consisting of a long corset over a chemise with stockings and shoes.

Download Black and White PDF | More July Project Paper Dolls

As I wrote to my patrons earlier this week, I wasn’t sure if wanted to do this idea I’ve had rattling around my head. I really want to get better at drawing line-work and it seems to me the best way to do that is to draw a lot of line-work. So, I thought I would try to draw a paper doll or/and an outfit every day for the month of July and share them here.

I am totally unprepared for this- usually I don’t start projects like this without a big head start and I only have the first two fully finished (though the several others are in various stages of progress.) But I am also trying to get over my fear of failure and how better to do that than try something and possibly fail publicly. Because that’s not anxiety inducing….

Anyway, I decided to start with the 1910s, because my patrons voted a while ago on which time periods I should draw and 1910s was one of the winning eras. It’s not a period I actually knew much about, so it was a lot of looking at things and trying to decide what to draw. I’ve actually not done a lot of 1910s paper dolls over the years.

A little about this paper doll…

Women in the early 1910s wore long corsets that went over their hips. These corsets often unlaced at the bottom and this meant a woman could decide how restricted she wanted her movement to be. Unlacing the bottom of the corset would allow more movement for walking or hiking. Underneath the corset, women wore slips or combinations that were decorated with ribbons and lace. Combinations were underwear that had short pantaloons and a chemise top, similar to a modern romper. The long garters attached to the corset were used to hold up stockings.

Capturing the interaction between the garters and the bottom of the combination worn underneath the corset was hard. I’m still not 100% happy with that outcome, but the whole point of this project is to move forward, even when I am a little conflicted.

As for the hair, I am really pleased with it. Women often styled their hair by pulling it over their ears and twisting it at the back of their heads. This hairstyle was a preview of the short bobbed haircuts that became trendy in the 1920s. It’s common to see women in this era and wonder if the hair is long or short. I was surprised at how many styles I saw included bangs, which I hadn’t known were popular.

What do you think of today’s paper doll? Do you like the 1910s?

Sources:

Another take on Citrus Summer in Color

A printable paper doll called Citrus Summer with a six piece mix and match summer wardrobe. This version of Citrus Summer is meant to look like she's printed on grey newsprint and has additional highlighting.

Download PDF

Okay, so I somehow got it in my head that I really wanted to try to put Citrus Summer on a vintage background- something that would feel like newsprint- a nod to comic paper dolls. Again, I wouldn’t recommend home printing this one, because the amount of ink you’d need would be a lot.

I stopped doing backgrounds on my paper dolls years ago, because I was trying to respect people’s home printers. However, I still think backgrounds are pretty! And I think they make a more artistic and interesting paper doll.

Something about the limited color scheme, the tones I chose for her, just seemed to speak to me to try this out.

Had I been really wanting to mimic comics, I could have redone my shading with sort of Ben-Day Dot look, but honestly, I haven’t found a Ben Day Dot brush that I like yet. I’ve always been a little conflicted about Ben-Day dots… I think as a black and white effect I like it more than when it was used as a coloring medium, like you see on comics.

If I ever find one I like, maybe I’ll dive into some Ben-Day dots or lines… I’ve always liked the look of copper plate engravings. Another thing I’d need a brush for… thoughts.

Seriously, a paper doll project that I respect so much was done by Boots back in 2015 when she redrew some amazingly wacky illustrations from Judy, the London serio-comic journal as paper dolls. Her line-work is an utter delight and she super captures the feel of the original.

Anyway, back to this paper doll, the background was done using the Phantom Paper Pack from RetroSupply. I tried several free paper backgrouds before, but man, sometimes tools are worth the money. This one was so much easier to use. It really was delightful and the micro-adjustments you can make using it are really great. Well worth the cost.

Okay, I think this is my last version of Citrus Summer. I don’t know what else I would do with her at this point! Let me know in the comments if you had a favorite version.

And if you’re a patron, don’t forget to vote in this poll.

Citrus in Color!

Citrus summer is a printable paper doll with tan skin and pig tails. She has a 7 piece mix and match summer wardrobe with three tops, a sun dress, capri pants and shorts. Her theme is citrus fruit and there's a lemon and an orange motif. Also on the image are instructions for printing and cutting out the paper doll and the Paper Thin Personas logo in bottom left corner above the artist's name- Rachel Cohen and June 2023.

Download A Color PDF

So, you might remember this Citrus Summer paper doll.

I decided to try flatting the paper doll in Photoshop and then moving it back into Procreate for details and shading.

(Side note: For those of you who didn’t develop your art-practice based on advice of web cartoonists in the early 2000s, flatting is how comics were traditionally printed. The color was printed so that it completely filled the page and then the black lines were printed on top of the color. I use a plugin in Photoshop called BPelt that allows me to “flat” solid black line-work and THEN go in an color it.

That process is explained in way more detail on this blog post from 2013. My version of Photoshop has changed, by the basic system hadn’t until… well, now.)

Anyway, after I flatted it and then added shadow and some other details, I imported it back into Photoshop.

My thoughts-

  1. I still don’t totally love the eyes. I think they’re too tall and I’m going to work on the face of the doll.
  2. Compared to the Newsletter Doll which she’s based off of, this doll has a less short waist which really does make drawing specific sorts of things much easier. (Proportions… am I right? I really should try to get better at figure drawing one of these days… )
  3. I don’t know if I love shadows… I don’t dislike them, but they feel a little… I dunno. It feels very very digital… that’s not a bad thing, but I’m not sure how I feel about it.

I am thinking I need to break apart two different things I’m working on. One is learning to use Procreate and that is a matter of exposure.

And then there’s trying to tackle my intense fear of figure drawing and moving out of my comfort zone. That’s a matter of maybe taking a class and getting away from sharing things. So, that’s a totally different challenge. Fortunately my mom got me a sketchbook for my birthday this year and maybe that’ll be how I put that one to use.

Thoughts… thoughts…

Anyway, let me know what you think of this new paper doll. The flower in the background is just a stock one from Photoshop-it felt a little like a cut citrus fruit to me.

A Fairy Tale Paper Doll Experiment

A black fairy tale printable paper doll with curly buns wearing a blue and purple corset. The paper doll's dress is a red overdress with yellow and blue trim. Underneath it, there is a cream blouse. In the background, there are hills, a path, and a castle with a flag. The linework is done in a sketchy style, similar to a colored pencil.

Download a PDF Version

So, I thought I would try a sketchier looser style for this paper doll, but I’m not convinced it works. Generally, my rule of thumb is to never apologize for my work.

However, I also think it’s okay to talk about things I don’t think were super effective.

I actually don’t think I took the “looseness” far enough. The result is something that just sort of feels like my usual stuff, just a little more loosely colored and I don’t love that. It feels like it’s neither fish nor fowl. The trick to trying out a different style is that you need to “commit” to it and I don’t think I did.

The experience was valuable. I might be a little “meh” about the outcomes, but I’d not unhappy I tried it.

As I told someone recently, I have less of a comfort-zone and more of a comfort puddle. So, getting out of my puddle is very frightening. It’s a big world out there.

I’m also realizing that there’s some core functionality to the program Procreate that I still don’t 100% understand. That’s a big learning curve too- figuring out how to make it do what I want it to do and deciding if it is best tool for certain parts of the process.

Slowly but surely, I am getting there though.

Right now, I am thinking Procreate may end up like my sketchbook used to be and Photoshop will remain my preferred tool for final finishing work. It’s selection tools and resizing abilities are so much better than Procreate and I like how it’s text tools work (I still haven’t figured those out in Procreate.)

Oh, I have a link to the printable pdf, but as with my other experiments lately, I’m not 100% sure I’d recommend home printing due to the massive ink usage the background is going to take. I mean- you do you! But that would be my concern if I was going to do it.

A Little Steampunk Paper Doll Experiment in Color

Download Color PDF | More 365 Paper Dolls

So, I decided to dip my toes into color in Procreate with this paper doll. I also did some experimentation with noise and backgrounds and other things.

While I wouldn’t recommend home printing for this one, because the ink usage will be through the roof, I have added a link to the PDF if you feel the urge to try to see what happens if you do.

East of the sun and West of the Moon illustrated by Kay Nielsen in 1913.

You do you!

And if you do print it, it is scaled to mix and match with the 365 paper dolls.

I’ve been trying to sort out how to get texture. Of course, I think the effect doesn’t work super well unless you zoom in at which point, like maybe it doesn’t work at all?

Hmm….

So, here’s what I was trying to mimic…

One of the things I love very much is the illustrations of the turn of the century. Generally done with a trichromatic printing process (sometimes black was added and sometimes green was added, which is fascinating in it’s own right), the screens used result in a very specific texture to the solid colors in the prints. You can see it in classic illustrators like Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen, or fashion illustrations from things like Bon Ton. You can see the texture I’m talking about here and here.

Anyway, trying to archive that effect digitally is not as simple as you might think. So I have been experimenting with noise and other texture effects in Photoshop and Procreate. The result, however, is probably not “strong” enough to be obvious. This is one of the problems of working digitally- you are zoomed in or zoomed out or… whatever. It’s actually super hard to tell what the finished product is going to look like at true scale.

The other factor is that digital printing introduces a bit of noise and I don’t like how it looks, but only because it feels unintentional and I really really value being intentional in my work. I want control, or an active lack of control (hello ceramics, I’m looking at you.)

As I keep saying on these posts, Julie has been a huge help in referring me to tools to try to get this effect.

There are many tools and brushes and things for Procreate that it is super overwhelming. There’s a million different tools and things you can do with those. But I suspect I’ll eventually find 3 or 4 I like and use them 90% of the time. That tends to be how I roll.

But you can’t find the three or four you like without trying out a few dozen, so that’s been the current challenge.

Next up, I’ll be sharing an experiment using a less smooth brush and seeing what happens when I have a “rough” line texture. More on that one next week.

Citrus Summer Paper Doll

Download the Black and White PDF

So, like what does it say when you share a piece with another artist and they immediately send you a tutorial and are like… you might want to watch this?

Personally, I think it says you have great friends who want you to improve and know you want to improve.

This is what happened when I emailed Julie Matthews all excited by my second finished digitally drawn paper doll where I proudly said I’d “varied my line-weight”. Julie nicely called my line weight variations “subtle” which I think is polite for “you can’t tell you did that, friend” and sent me this lesson from Proko on Line Weight which was really helpful.

Moral of this story, which I sort of told in this week’s email newsletter: If you want to get better at something, you need to have honest people who can give you informed feedback. So, become friends with people who are better than you at something and are kind enough to be willing to be honest with their observations. Be open to those things and improving your craft (whatever that is), becomes so much easier.

I am incredibly lucky to have Julie to help and her feedback consistently makes my work better.

I often think of this Neil Gaiman quote, “Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.” He was talking about writing, but the same thing applies to any creative piece of work. In art, there are “correct” things- like ‘hey, that foot is backwards,’ but once you get into choices that are purely aesthetic, then you need to listen to your own voice and your own taste. Make the art you want to see in the world. Not the art someone else wants to see in the world.

But as long as I am quoting Gaiman, I also think of this one a lot- “Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.” He’s talking about writing, clearly, but it is true of anything creative. You can endless edit. You can endlessly tweak.

I look at this paper doll and I see a dozen things I might “fix.”

That’s okay. Because there’s going to be a next time. So, the best thing I do can is share it here. Declare it done and make the next one.

There’s always a next one. Especially when you are, like me right now, learning new tools. You have to leave space for letting go and moving forward.

So, onto the next digitally drawn paper doll!

Her Ladyship’s Dressing Gown and Nightgown

ladyship-wig-10Last page of Her Ladyship today and now you can download all ten pages of this paper doll and print her out at at once, if you haven’t been collecting the pages. I never know how to describe black and white paper dolls. Sometimes, I think I should call them, “Paper dolls to color” or I should call them “colorable paper dolls”, but “black and white paper dolls” is what I seem to have adopted over the years of this little blogs life.

Fairly early on in the Her Ladyship paper doll set, I had a reader ask me if I was going to ever post a wig of her hair down. Well, here it is. Her dressing gown, nightgown and two wigs of her hair in a braid and loose over her shoulders. I couldn’t justify a crazy up-do for sleeping in. I’m a little embarrassed that I take the “reality” of my fantasy paper dolls so seriously, but it is really important to me that the paper doll set makes sense in the context of the world that it exists in.

After all, if I am going to spend my time drawing fantasy paper dolls, I might as well make sure that they are logical fantasy paper dolls.

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{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for More Gowns}{Click Here for Base Doll} {Click Here for the Complete Paper Doll Set to Print}
I hope everyone has enjoyed this little mini-series. Should I do more little series like this next year?

I had these grand delusions of getting a Hanukkah series together, but at the moment I am thinking that just isn’t going to happen. I will likely do what I did last year and post a paper doll every night. I think I have enough backlog for that.

One More House Dress and A Ballgown for Her Ladyship

ladyship-wig-9Wigs are certainly a theme of today’s page for my Her Ladyship printable paper doll set. Also- paper doll ballgowns and house dresses.

One more page after this set and then I’ll post the whole 10 page PDF of the paper doll for anyone to print who might want it. I have had a lot of fun sharing this set over the last few months.

So, last week I talked a bit about coherent sets and how to develop a consistent look for a paper doll set. Today, I wanted to take a moment and talk about the world I imagine Her Ladyship lives in.

First of all, Her Ladyship has money. Likely, serious money. She’d got ballgowns, after all. That means a decent amount of cash. I imagine her world is Renaissance (her clothing was highly influenced by Italian Renaissance fashion) or higher technology. Why you ask?

Because she has casual gowns that are patterned. Patterned textiles require skilled workforce and a considerable investment in equipment and raw materials- silks and wools have to be imported or homegrown (but generally were imported) from England to Italy. So, without a fair bit of weaving technology, that would be out of the question. So, I’m thinking a 15th century to 17th century level of technology. Clothing can tell you a lot about a time and place.

ld9-paper-doll
{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for More Gowns}{Click Here for Base Doll}
So, what do I know about this paper dolls world? She’s a wealthy woman living in a time and place when mechanized weaving existed, at least in part. She’s got “house dresses” but they’re far to nice to actually be worn for anything involving mud or dirt.

Sometimes, I stumble across something and feel rather foolish for not having found it earlier. Paper Doll A Day is a blog that seems to be no longer updating. Never the less, I encourage you to go check out the archives. There are some beautiful outfits (I really like this paper doll dress) and some wonderful different paper dolls, including men. Joleene Naylor has been around the internets for a while sharing her paper dolls and I couldn’t be happier to have found her latest website, though I do wish I had found it when it was still updating.

Any other great paper doll sites I’ve been missing? Or thoughts on the world of Her Ladyship?

A Winter Frock and a Summer Frock

ladyship-wig-8My favorite part of this set might be the wacky looking musical instrument. Just maybe, because I also love both of these dresses. Rarely do things come out as close to how I imagined them in my mind.

I am fascinated by historical dress, because dress is one physical manifestation of social and cultural phenomena. By it’s nature, dress is tied to technology and trade of the time when it was created. So, when I am creating a fantasy dress set, part of the process is thinking about consistency in design elements to create an coherent vision for a whole set. This vision comes out in both the sillouhette of the costumes and in specific repeated design elements.

The silhouette for all of Her Ladyship’s paper wardrobe is a high waist with long sleeves and square necklines (the riding and skating outfits don’t have square necklines, but we’ll get there in a minute). Nearly all the dresses are layered with an under-dress and than an over-dress on top. The two dresses that violate these rules are both for activities that, due to their athletic nature, have masculine overtones. The riding habit and the skating costume are both inspired by men’s wear.

ld8-paper-doll
{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for More Gowns}{Click Here for Base Doll}
Her Ladyship’s winter frock shares design elements with her archery outfit. Similarly, her riding habit and her skating costume are very similar- both are athletic outfits.

Her Ladyship’s wardrobe feels like a “set”, because the outfits repeat design elements and style. This is also something I try to do with my one page fantasy sets and my contemporary sets. Dionisia’s wardrobe is held together by doublets. Akemi’s armors are all angular and layered. Denise’s contemporary clothing embraces various types of pleats. If a set feels disjointed, chances are that it is because there are not repeating elements to connect the items.

Her Ladyship’s Winter Toilettes

ladyship-wig-7A cloak, skates and skating outfit for Her Ladyship today.

Sometimes, I think about how liberating ice skating must have been in the 19th century. I think about the insane limitations placed on a lady’s behavior and then I think about ice skating. Socially acceptable and athletic and, probably, very exciting. There weren’t a lot of things you could do as a lady in the old days, but you could ice skate (also ride horses, archery and eventually tennis). I knew, from the beginning, I was going to make Her Ladyship an ice skating toilette.

Here it is… along with a cloak, because everyone needs something warm to wear in the winter time, yes?

ld7-paper-doll
{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for More Gowns}{Click Here for Base Doll}
By the way, I have no idea how to make that muff actually “work” as a muff. I was going to add a floating tab for it, but I couldn’t figure out where to put a floating tab that would keep it on her arm. So… I dunno. Maybe it’s just the idea of a muff that matters.

A Tea Gown and an Afternoon Dress for Her Ladyship’s Wardrobe

ladyship-wig-6Tea pots are one of those things which I hate drawing. Somehow, they are a lot harder to draw than one would think. Anyway, I managed to draw one for this paper doll set. I avoid teapots in general.

I also avoid drawing animals, cars and anything involving mechanical parts, particularly gears.

I think accessories are a really fun part of paper doll play. When I was a kid, I had a set called Victorian Cat Paper Dolls and the number of accessories were astonishing. There was even a bed for the youngest daughter of the cat family. I remember painstakingly cutting out every accessory. When I think of that amazing set, I am regretful that I think my own drawing skills limit what sorts of wonderful accessory items I can include. I also think my own imagination limits it. I have trouble coming up with accessory ideas.

ld6-paper-doll

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for More Gowns}{Click Here for Base Doll}
Since we have a tea set, there is obviously a tea gown here to go with it. On the right, there is an afternoon dress. I have never felt like I really know what an ‘afternoon’ dress is for. It’s always been my impression that afternoon dresses were dresses one wore when receiving guests, rather than when one was going visiting. Maybe I’m wrong?

What I really need is like an “idiot’s guide to Victorian wardrobes”, so if someone knows of one, totally let me know.

I’m also trying to decide what to do for Hanukkah. Should I do a post a day, like I did last year or should I do a little mini-series? Thoughts?

Gowns for Home and Dinner

ladyship-wig-5So, after a short break last week to share something more Halloween themed, I am pleased to present Her Ladyship’s Summer Dinner Dress and an At Home Gown. I really like both these dresses and had a lot of fun with their patterned sections. Normally, I freehand scrolling floral patterns, like the one on her Summer Dinner Dress, but this time I drew segments and then constructed the pattern in Photoshop. I’m not entirely sure it was a more effective method than free handing it.

Honestly, this week hasn’t been a great one for me health-wise, so I am going to keep this post short and then probably crawl back into bed to sleep more. Sleep is nice and my bed is warm.

ld5-paper-doll

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for More Gowns}{Click Here for Base Doll}

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I will sleeping most of mine. 🙂