Sprites Archives • Page 6 of 6 • Paper Thin Personas

Yumiko’s Spring Styles: A Paper Doll to Print

May 19, 2020January 29, 2016

I have been thinking about spring, but it feels a long away off. Even here in Alabama where the winters are so mild compared to what I have experienced in Alaska and the Midwest. Still, today’s paper doll to print is celebrating the possibility of warm spring fashions.

As I mentioned back when I first introduced the Sprite paper dolls, I want to establish a limited collection of dolls who will get outfits much like the Marisole Monday & Friends and the Mini-Maidens. So, this is the second Yumiko paper doll to print.

I figured after her foray into cyberpunk, the she deserved a chance to be a little more casual. I think her casual wardrobe is a little disconnected. I love all the pieces by themselves, but together they feel less the cohesive. I am getting over my mixed feelings by reminding myself that eventually there will be other Sprite paper dolls with casual clothes she can share with.

{Download a PDF to Print and Color} {Download a PNG to Print and Color}{More Sprite Printable Paper Dolls}

I struggled a bit to select colors for today’s paper doll to print. I am, personally, a lover of color. In the end, I settled on black as the neutral (though I worry with this paper doll’s black curls does that make too much black?) and pale blue as the other neutral. The patterned blouse over the striped skirt caused some problems since the complicated patterned needed a lot of colors to look right, but I think maybe the chose to many different colors for this collection? I think that’s adding to the lack of cohesion that is bothering me so much.

{Download a PDF to Print and Color} {Download a PNG to Print and Color}{More Sprite Printable Paper Dolls}

So, clearly, in case you couldn’t notice, I’ve got mixed feelings about today’s Sprite paper doll. Don’t get me wrong. There are things I love about her- those blouses, that darling purse with the tassel, her cute red shorts. But she feels… a tiny bit discombobulated.

Oh well, not every paper doll is perfect and if I only posted the paper dolls I was “totally in love with”, than I rather suspect I wouldn’t ever post anything at all.

More Yumiko paper dolls live here and there are also more Sprite paper dolls– in case you want Yumiko to get to dress up like an elf for a while or want to print out some friends.

Also, if you love the blog and want to help it keep going- support it through Patreon. There’s a special behind the scenes blog, perviews of sets, and I am way more likely to make patron requests, because… well, they are giving me money. So, consider joining up– it’s a fun group.

What do you think of Yumiko? Let me know in a comment.

Willow: Elven Paper Doll Fantasy

May 19, 2020January 22, 2016

Today’s Sprite is and elven paper doll named Willow in honor of Willow Rosenberg from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (More on that later.) I was the biggest Buffy fan when I was in middle-school and early highschool. I stopped watching around season five, I think. Though I keep trying to get through the later seasons, the show gets so darn depressing.

As with many of my fantasy paper dolls, I try to think about “setting” when I designed these outfits. I have decided both of these elves (Xavier and Willow) are warriors, so Willow has armor to go under her silken tunics and a bow as well. I was also thinking about Ancient Grecian tunics when designing these paper doll pieces. Sure, they’re not really practical, but we all know how I feel about practicality and paper dolls. (Never the two shall meet.)

{Download a PDF to Print and Color} {Download a PNG to Print and Color}{More Sprite Printable Paper Dolls}

So, I drew this elven paper doll set and then I colored it and then I was like, “Man, she kinda looks like that elf chick from the new Hobbit movies.” (The character is named Tauriel, but I had to look that up.)

So, then I nearly re-colored the whole set feeling like I wasn’t trying to make my elf look like someone else’s elf and then I decided that I had wanted to make her a redhead ever since I named her in honor of Willow Rosenberg from Buffy:The Vampire Slayer and no random elf chick from a rather bad movie was going to stop me.

{Download a PDF to Print and Color} {Download a PNG to Print and Color}{More Sprite Printable Paper Dolls}

So, as I mentioned with Xavier last week, Willow is the third doll in the Sprite paper doll series. She can, fo course, share clothing with Yumiko and any future female Sprite paper dolls.

There will be other Willow paper dolls, so they won’t all be elves, but that’s what I’ve started with.

I have realized there are five Friday’s in January. So, should I end January with a non-Sprite or should I have a Sprite in the beginning of February? Since they always come in pairs. Let me know thoughts in the comments.

Xavier: Elven Archer Paper Doll

May 19, 2020January 15, 2016

Xavier is the third paper doll in the Sprite paper doll series. Xavier is getting to be an elf paper doll today, though he won’t always be an elf. And since he can share clothing with Zachary, should you decide he needs to be a cyberpunk elf (Shadowrun, anyone?) that’s totally an option too.

Like any good elven archer, our elf paper doll has a back up plan in the form of a sword. Since, sometimes you need to fight people up close and personal. I chose a bird and leaf motif for the weapons and the armor which I thought would seem suitably nature oriented. I always thinks of elves as being nature oriented which might be a horrible stereotype. (Is it possible to stereotype a fantasy creature?)

I think the bird and feather motif his more obvious with the female elf which I shall be posting next Friday as we continue January Sprites! (Yeah, I totally just decided to call it that.)

{Download a PDF to Print and Color} {Download a PNG to Print and Color}{More Sprite Printable Paper Dolls}

So, I like the Lord of the Rings movies, I really do, but it’s tough to not feel like one has to interact with them when designing elven stuff. My main goal was to create two outfits- one casual and one military. After all, you can’t just walk around in armor. Well, I suppose you can… but it wouldn’t be very comfortable.

I wanted to chose colors that were not too bright, but also felt organic and natural- colors from nature, I guess you might say.

{Download a PDF to Print and Color} {Download a PNG to Print and Color}{More Sprite Printable Paper Dolls}

I’m gonna be honest here now. I have been really struggling with artist’s block the last few weeks or, as I like to call it, “the wheel is spinning, but the gerbil is dead”. In short, I just have no urge to do anything blog related, let alone actually draw new content.

But I’m trying to stay on track and stick to my guns about getting two paper dolls up a week. I do have a tiny bit of backlog waiting, so I think I’ll be okay.

As always, comments are appreciated. Thoughts on other themes I should explore with the Sprites?

Yumiko- Digital Girl: A Cyberpunk Paper Doll

December 6, 2020January 8, 2016

One of the rules of long term blogging (or anything really) is build with the assumption of growth. So, while I feel kinda absurd referring to the Sprites as a series, because this is only the second one and so it’s more like a sequel situation, I also recognize that in two years when I look back on this post (or more likely, when someone else does), it still needs to have all the links and make sense.

Speaking of building with the assumption of growth, I am currently converting from using my server to host my image files to using WordPress’ native image management tools. This is prep for a larger shift in the blog infrastructure. If I do my job right, y’all shouldn’t notice a thing; however, if you do find some posts those images are screwy, just drop me a note and I’ll look at it.

There are over 756 posts on this blog, so converting all those images over is going to take a bit of time and I wouldn’t be surprised if I miss something accidentally.

All right, so about today’s paper doll. Yumiko is a Japanese name. Again, there aren’t a lot of names for women that start with Y. I almost went with Yasmine, before I remember I already have a Yasmine paper doll. One of the problems of having drawn over 500 paper dolls for this blog is that at some point, you kinda run low on names.

{Download a PDF to Print and Color} {Download a PNG to Print and Color}{More Sprite Printable Paper Dolls}

Anyway, Yumiko is the first Asian Sprite paper doll, though I confess that’s a little meaningless. I mean, there’s only two Sprite paper dolls right now. I also started the Pixie series off with an Asian paper doll named Zoe. I’d say there was something intentional with my starting series off with Asian paper dolls, but I’ll be darned if I know what it is.

Yumiko’s theme this week is cyberpunk, just like Zachary’s cyberpunk set last week.

{Download a PDF to Print and Color} {Download a PNG to Print and Color}{More Sprite Printable Paper Dolls}

I chose a very different color scheme for Yumiko-Digital Girl. I knew from the start that I wanted to give her pink hair and black lips (it felt sufficiently cyberpunk), so than it was a matter of selecting colors that I thought would coordinate with those two colors. I really like how she came out.

Thoughts on the new series? Feel free to drop me a comment.

And if you’d like to support the blog in 2016, consider becoming a patron.

Zachary Goes Cyber: Printable Paper Doll

May 19, 2020January 1, 2016

Happy 2016!

I thought it would be fun to start the new year off with my new printable paper doll series- The Sprites. So, for the whole month of January, every Friday will be a new Sprite paper doll. The Sprites are really close to being Pixie & Puck 2.0, but I wanted to give them a whole new name since they absolutely can not share clothing with Pixie and Puck..

Unlike Pixie and Puck, the Sprite printable paper dolls will feature the same faces over and over again, much like Marisole Monday & Friends and the Mini-Maidens. Unlike Marisole Monday & Friends, all Sprite paper dolls will be in paired themes. So, today we have Zachary, a male cyberpunk paper doll and the next Sprite post (which will be next week) will be a female cyberpunk paper doll.

There will not always been two Sprite paper dolls in a row, just to clear that one up. I mean, I suspect there usually will be, but I also suspect that me promising there will be will only end in a stressed out Rachel. No one wants that, right?

{Download a PDF to Print and Color} {Download a PNG to Print and Color}{More Sprite Printable Paper Dolls}

So, after some debate, I decided to name my Sprite base paper dolls in reverse alphabetical order. Why? Because it seemed like a good idea at the time. I’d love to claim I’m starting with a male paper doll to appease my readers who love male paper dolls, but in reality it was because there aren’t a lot of names that start with Z. I was thinking of using Zoe, but then I was reminded I already had a Zoe paper doll. Therefore, Zachary it was. Plus I have known several different Zacharies and they have all been delightful.

{Download a PDF to Print and Color} {Download a PNG to Print and Color}{More Sprite Printable Paper Dolls}

So, I went pretty traditional with my cyberpunk color scheme- black, white, yellow and red. I knew I wanted to do a two toned hair style and so I liked the idea of a bleached/non-bleached look.

I imagine, in my head, that his neon green eyes are actually cybernetic, but hey- you can decide if they’re natural. (Though I don’t think anyone has neon green eyes naturally.)

Thoughts on the new series? Ideas for the New Year? Drop me a comment and, as always, if you like the blog, I always appreciate support through Patreon.

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