I try not to have favorites among my paper dolls, but I do have favorites. And these are two of my favorite of Cybergirl’s costumes. They feature all the things I sort of love- straps, tweed, crazy hair, a little bit Victorian, wacky jewelry, absurdly impossible to wear…
The joys of fantasy dressing through paper dolls.
So, I got a couple good responses about Fashion Doll Friday and what I should do about my apathy towards Florence. Since I have a few dresses already penciled, scanned or ready to post for her, things won’t be changing for a while, I assure you. I spent last night drawing and inking and working away on paper doll things, so Marisole will get some cute Ancient Greek inspired duds tomorrow. I also put some time in on a new paper doll, possibly a serial one. I wish I knew where my digital camera was so I could preview her. Maybe another time.
Until then, enjoy the future of fashion in this set of paper doll dresses.
Today’s paper doll costume is based off an 1872 dress housed in the V&A Museum which has a fantastic costume collection. I first saw the dress in a book describing it as a yachting costume which is not, I found out later, how the V&A describes it. I’m still calling it a yachting costume. After I saw it on the paper doll, I realized it should have been a bit shorter. Oh well.
I must confess I am getting a little weary of Florence. I have been drawing for her for over a year and a half. While I like the early 1870’s, I find my patience with the costumes is slipping. The stripes are much sloppier on this dress then they should have been and the bustle is awkwardly shaped. The paper doll has 22 dresses at the moment, not including hats and underwear. I have a list of paper doll dresses I still want to draw for her, but I worry I’m not really that interested in drawing them.
Of course, I have nothing to replace Florence with, so I guess for the time being she’ll continue. Still, I’m curious- If my readers could pick out an era to have a paper doll devoted too, which era would they choose? I might make a poll, but for now it’s just a casual inquiry.
In case you missed the first post of this long running series, here is Florence, the paper doll whose wearing this dress yachting.
Mermaids and I have a mixed relationship. On one hand, I really think they look pretty. On the other hand, I don’t think I can draw tails to save my life. The result is that I always think the idea of mermaids is great, but the reality usually doesn’t make me happy. But I think if you don’t try new things and stretch then you can not learn, so here we have me stretching.
Yes… that’s my excuse.
So, a new paper doll blog that was pointed out to me is Vee’s Paper Dolls which are darling and then on Monday, Liana linked Cutout Couture which has a fantastic name. I mean, I kinda think my blog title sounds like I either can’t properly pluralize my Latin or I have multiple personality disorder and paper dolling is my therapy (one of these is true… or both… you decide). I know I’ve gotten some requests to comment on other people’s work and I do try to comment on blogs when I can/when I remember, but I usually don’t remember to comment even when I do check out people’s blogs.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful Labor Day weekend. I have had one. I did a lot of drawing, a lot of homework and hung out with some friends. I’m hoping to spend Monday working on the site and getting some stuff posted and scheduled and generally better organized. We’ll see how that goes. In the meantime, enjoy this little pause in to the world of cyberpunk.
I drew this paper doll three years ago. I was living with two wonderful roommates in college. It was a wonderful year. It brings back fond memories of my senior year of college. Also, of trying to teach my friend how to cook… or trying. I don’t know how successful I was. I’ve lived by myself for two years now and I find I miss the company.
Whenever I draw a paper doll that I know is only going to be one page, I find I think carefully about what sorts of clothing she would need. I imagine Spring is a model or at least well enough off to afford beautiful clothing. She has her casual carpi pants, her afternoon dress for lunches or other more formal events and then her long evening gown for when she needs to go to some sort of paper doll black tie event. I like drawing evening gowns, so my paper dolls go to a lot of black tie evening events. My favorite is her evening gown, but what do the rest of you think?
So, there are a few scheduling changes happening which are explained over on the About Pages. Mostly, just me explaining how thing actually are working vs. how I thought things would work eight months ago when I started this mad crazy thing up after the site collapse. Oh, the adventures of a website owner.
Somedays, I love my scanner/printer thing. It does what I ask it. It doesn’t complain. It fills my heart with joy and happiness and then there are they days when it refuses to scan, scans at an angle or simply does weird and mystical things as though it were possessed. Outside of striking it with incense and casting out the demons, I have no idea what to do about it and I don’t plan on using the incense solution. Today was one of those days, but eventually the stars aligned properly and I got a scan to turn into a printable paper doll.
Go me.
Despite by frustration with the scanner, or perhaps because of it, I’m just not pleased with this paper doll dress. I don’t like the fringe even though it is very very period and I don’t really like the folds of the bustle and I’m not pleased with the train and… Yeah, I could go on and on. I do think when I feel like I’m on a time press, I let myself get sloppier then I like. Still, they can’t all be winners, right?
Here is a fairly old paper doll from the exciting depths of my boxes of drawings. Flora actually dates from 2006 or so. I remember drawing her in college while I was living in an apartment with three other people and changing majors. It was a rather hectic time in my life.
The original paper doll has a fairly complicated black background. I wanted to keep that appearance when I reformatted the paper doll for the blog, but I fear the background might overwhelm her. I think you can see hints of Marisole in her design, though she far predates any Marisole. Like Dot, she’s just black and white without any grey or color.
I’ve been checking out A Paper Closet for a while and I haven’t actually mentioned it here, because I am a space cadet. (Actually, I have been told that I am probably high ranked in the space case navy. Perhaps, nearly a captain.) Never the less, I am linking A Paper Closet now, because I do think it’s a really wonderful blog and I should have done it soon. Better late than never, right? Among the things I love are the fact that she posts the paper doll’s clothing on the actual paper doll, so you can see how it would look. Her paper dolls have the most amazing faces- simple, but really… pure, somehow? I’m not much of an art person, really, so I don’t know how to describe what I’m talking about, but they have a really great simplicity that I love.
Today was full of errands and craziness and being late with my Friday Florence paper doll post. These things happen. My classes start on Monday and I am looking forward to it. I do love class, but it’s also a little scary as I inch towards graduation.
Afternoon dresses were worn when receiving guests in the afternoon. They weren’t worn out, so they didn’t need a hat, but since they could be worn as visiting dresses, I decided to include a hat as well. I loved the boots which are based on these wonderful shoes with lots of little straps that button up the leg. I’ve always really liked them. The dress is based on a real afternoon dress from the V&A Museum.
And I thought, but I don’t know what a skypirate is, except perhaps a pirate who rides around the sky. I decided that skypirates would need flying ships, obviously, and so I turned to an old Russian folkstory called The Fool and The Flying Ship where in a fool gains a ship which will fly and proceeds to win the hand of a princess. I really loved the book of it we had when I was a kid.
The result is a little less pirate-ish and a little more Eastern European nobleman-esque. The outfit on the left is based on a vest from the Serbiadating about second half of the 19th century which lives in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The pants are from traditional Cassock uniforms and the boots are based on those worn by hot air ballooners in the Victorian era. How’s that for an eleclectic collection of sources?
The outfit on the right’s jacket comes from Albania, also thanks to the V&A Museum. The trousers are based on those worn by sailors and young boys in VIctorian England and the shoes are just a pair of riding boots.
This is an old paper doll. I think I drew her a few years ago. I seem to recall planning on doing a series- one with stripes and one with plaid to go with this one, but it never happened. Dot is the only survivor of that idea and I doubt I will be going back to create the other ones.
I love black and white. I love the contrast. I love the clarity and crispness and simplicity. I really am pleased with how she turned out. Though you can color her if you wish, I must admit my intention with the heavy shadowing on my paper dolls was to create a black and white paper doll that didn’t need to be colored. Of course, once she’s printed, I have no control over what happens to her, so feel free to color her if you wish.
