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Full Color
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!
DDJ: Color Blocking with Twilight
Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Dolls Du Jour Paper Dolls
Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Dolls Du Jour Paper Dolls
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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The Newsletter Paper Dolls in Color by Julie Matthews
It’s been such a weird year. A dear friend of mine recently told me she felt like she was wandering through the year. I found myself nodding in agreement. Somehow we’ve gotten into August and I’ll be darned if I can remember what happened in July. I feel so dislocated.
Anyway, my day was made a few weeks ago when Julie Matthews (of Paper Doll School, many books from Paper Doll Review and all around enchanting member of the human species) sent me a wonderful surprise of a few paper doll books and color prints of these.
Download a Printable PDF of these Paper Dolls
What are these, you ask? Well, if you’ve been on my newsletter list, you know I have been sending on a black and white paper doll with each newsletter. (Okay, so I am way behind on that project, but that’s okay.) Julie colored a bunch of them in and made these fantastic full color versions.
There are so many things I love about these! I love the painterly quality of the color and the patterns she chose for the summer dresses. I love the variety of skin-tones. Most of all, I love getting to see my own art through someone else’s eyes. There’s something really inspiring about that for me.
If you want the black and white versions of these paper dolls (and you don’t have them) check out the Newsletter Archives. If you want to print the color versions, you can download a PDF of them here. If you want to get the new newsletter paper dolls as I share them (and there will be more!) sign up for my super occasional newsletter that I am trying to make less occasional.
Thank you, Julie! Both for your wonderful coloring talents and your generosity in letting me share these with everyone.
Oh, and if you haven’t checked it out yet, Julie has a new book out from Paper Doll Review called Nora and Nellie which features more of her wonderful skills with color and pattern with some very fun 1920s styles.
1940s Fashions with Jade: A Printable Paper Doll
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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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Topaz in her Early 1940s Fashions
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Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Jewels & Gemstones 2.0
When I am drawing a historical fashion set, like today’s 1940s fashion paper doll, I always struggle a little to find sources. Since most things after 1924 are perceived as being still in copyright, there’s just not as much out there on the internet. I won’t get into my personal opinions about that one, but I did discover an amazing resource when I was working on this 1940s fashion paper doll was this site called Christmas Catalogs & Holiday Wishbooks. It doesn’t just contain Christmas catalogs, but also have general Sears, Montgomery Ward, and a few JCPenney catalogs from the mid-20th century. Super fun to look through- one thing I noticed was the gradual decline of space given to the topic of hats for women in the catalogs from the 1940s to the end of the 1960s.
You can see more of my sources on my 1940s Fashion Pinterest Board. I also used my books, as I usually do. There’s going to one more from this collection. The first one was last month’s Patreon paper doll. I’m also doing a Patreon poll on the next decade I should do (I already have a 1960s and 1930s sets in the works). Currently, the 1980s is in the lead. If you are a patron, go vote!
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Beautiful Fantasy Gowns for Paper Dolls with Pearl
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Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Jewels & Gemstones 2.0
I always struggle to name these fantasy paper doll sets, but I do like naming each set. It’s useful to have names, because then I can refer to them later. I threaten to just number things occasionally, but I think that would annoy me in the long term. I used to number sets way back in the day. That was when I thought of this project as more of a web comic model than I do now.
I did create today’s printable paper doll with two different color schemes for my patrons over on Patreon. If you’re a patron, check those out here.
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Paper Doll Fashions of the Cyberpunk Future
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Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Jewels & Gemstones 2.0
Today’s cyberpunk paper doll is a combination of some Jewels and Gemstones 1.0 content and some new content that I created to fill out the set. When I design a mix and match paper doll set I think a lot about layers. With four bottoms, three tops and two pairs of shoes, you’re getting 24 outfit combos out of nine pieces. However, I’m not 100% sure how well the black boots will layer under the skinnier pants, so I might feel more comfortable calling it 21 combinations. (I have a whole post here about how I do outfit combo math.)
Funny fact, that post is actually one of my most popular, because apparently people need help calculating clothing combinations? I don’t 100% get it, but whatever. A little algebra never hurt anyone and my middle school algebra teacher is no doubt very proud.
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A Little Mermaid in the 1830s
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Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Jewels & Gemstones 2.0
To end the month of Mer-May, I wanted to share this Little Mermaid paper doll. As you probably know, the Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen is the classic tale of a mermaid who becomes obsessed with a prince, gives up everything for him, ends up in agonizing pain until he marries someone else, nearly kills him, kills herself, and gets to spend 300 years doing good deeds for humans, so that she might someday win a soul to go to heaven.
Most illustrated versions of the tale I’ve seen place the story in a orientalist fantasy setting, but I wanted to draw on fashions from around 1837 when the story was written. So, the paper doll’s dress is based on this dress from 1837, this dress from 1833-1837, plus this dress from 1837-1839. Her hair is from the early 1830s and I love those silly hair styles. I used this fashion plate. Despite appearances, it’s actually simplified.
The men’s outfit references a line in the story where the Prince has a page outfit made for the Little Mermaid, so she could ride with him. My paper dolls’ riding costume is based on this coat from 1830 to 1840 and this suit from the 1830s. Though the cut is a bit more regency than it is 1830s and the boots are very regency, I confess.
The knife with the paper doll is the one that the Little Mermaid’s sisters trade their hair for to try to save the Little Mermaid’s life by having her stab the Prince to death. By the way, if you’ve never read the original, I think you should. It is not the Disney tale most people think of.
If you’d like, I do have a lot more mermaid paper dolls. Check out my Mermaid tag and another Jewels and Gemstones Mermaid, if you’d like more mix and match mermaid options.
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Aces & Queens: A Playing Card Inspired Paper Doll
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Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Jewels & Gemstones 2.0
This paper doll set was my partner’s suggestion for a playing card themed paper doll creation. When I think of playing cards, I sort of inevitably end up thinking of retro glam, show girls and a little bit punk. That maybe helps explain why this paper doll’s clothing is a little all over the place. However, I do think there’s some neutrals like jeans you could steal from Polka-Dots, Retro-Beach Summer or Flowers and Showers. I am realizing though, as I write this, that I haven’t done that many contemporary fashion sets for the Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 ladies.
By the way, I’ve had a few people reach out over my long absence. I was dealing with some family things. It’s all resolved and I have a wonderful support network. Thank you for your kind words and things will slowly be ramping back up here as I get more settled.
Want to know more about my paper dolls? Subscribe to my Very Occasional Newsletter!
Want to support the blog and access to more paper dolls every month? Join us on Patreon!