I love Victorian clothing. It is one of my favorite eras of fashion, in part because of the dramatic silhouette changes throughout the century. I haven’t drawn much Victorian stuff lately, but I should. It is a fun time period to explore. I really want to do some Victorian dresses for the Jewels and Gemstones, I’m just trying to decide which decade. I’m leaning towards the 1870s, though they don’t have the best pose for the era.
I am working with ta client on a Victorian gentleman paper doll and it’s been great fun. It made me think about all my Victorian paper dolls and how I had never gathered them all up and put them in one place for folks. So, here they all are (as of today anyhow.)
Victorian Printable Paper Dolls: 1830 to 1910
For me, Tom Tierney’s historical paper dolls were, perhaps, the largest influence on my own fascinating with historical clothing. I learned so much from his paper dolls- both history and artistry. Collecting all these together has made me think about how long it has been since I’ve dabbled in all things Victorian. I should do some more in this time period.
A few of my favorite pages from the latest issue of Paper Doll Studio.
As always, issue 125 was a delight. The cover paper doll by Andrea Smith is beautiful. I’d seen her art around, but I wasn’t very familiar with her work. It’s always fun to find a new paper doll artist.
I always adore Larry Bassin’s work. I deeply respect artists who have such a distinct vision and I feel like very time I see his art, I instantly know who drew it. One of these days, I need to buy some of his paper dolls to add to my collection.
My other two favorites were by JM Tolman, an artist I’m not familiar with and Carol Peters. JM Tolman’s paper doll was a lovely tribute to the working women of the 2nd World War. Carol Peter’s pair of dancing couples paper dolls just blew me away. I would never think to take on such a challenging subject and the movement in the dolls and their clothing really brings them to life. It totally deserved the huge full page display it received in the magazine.
My contribution to the OPDAG magazine Paper Doll Studio was inspired by the 1944 Simplicity patterns.
Submitting a paper doll to Paper Doll Studio Magazine is something I’ve wanted to do for ages. For the Green Issue, Jenny Taliadoros asked if she could use some of my paper dolls. I said sure, because why not? And then I thought, you know, I should really submit things and so here I am.
Tomorrow I’ll share the paper doll I created for the magazine and you can download and print her out full size, if you want to dress her up and play with her.
Occasionally, I get an idea that just won’t leave me alone. This was one of those ideas. I wanted to create a series of paper dolls where one item was revealed each day. And I really wanted to do something special for my Patrons who have helped keep the blog on the internet.
Day 6 of my 365 Day Paper Doll Project for my 5 Dollar and Up Patrons
I recently fell back in love with my sprites when I was working on my 1944 paper doll, but I wanted to re-draw them, especially once I realized the issues with their right foot. I love their big heads and slightly sassy pose.
So, I redrew the Sprites pose for my 365 paper doll project. I really don’t enjoy drawing paper doll figures, because I struggle with it so much. Figure drawing and I… have issues, but I do my best. I have a few body poses I feel like I can draw and an I tend to stick with those. I know my limitations.
As with all my paper dolls, these girls start in my sketchbook as pen and ink outlines. Once they are drawn, I scan them, clean them up and make them into paper dolls you can play with.
These gowns in my sketchbook.
This year, these paper dolls are going to be for my patrons over on Patreon. At the end of the project, I’m not 100% sure what I will do with the resulting paper dolls, but I would like to maybe make them available through Etsy as a print product or digital download.
I’ve made Day 6 a public post, so you can see the style of these paper dolls up close and personal. Once each page is completed, I post it, write about it and make the color and coloring page versions available.
If you want to follow along, get a daily paper doll piece, and cheer on my progress, head over to Patreon and join as a 5 dollar or up subscriber. I’d love to have your support while I try to make 365 (okay it’s a leap year, so it really should be 366) pieces of paper doll clothing.
Questions? Comments? Leave me a comment and I’ll reply as soon as I can.
I was inspired by Julie over at Paper Doll School who wrote a really nice post about her 2019 year and I thought, I should do that. I like the idea of doing that.
My most commented on paper doll of 2019 was Lapis in her cybergoth glory.
So, here I am, doing that very thing!
Blog Numbers
93 Paper Dolls were shared on the blog in 2019, which isn’t bad all things considered. Of those 93 paper dolls, 31 were dolls and 62 were clothing posts. The vast majority were Jewels and Gemstones, as I basically abandoned the 2019 Collaborative Paper Doll along the way. More on that in a few paragraphs.
I had an average of 3563 users per month. There’s some difference between the months were I was posting a lot and the months were I was posting less, but not as dramatic of a drop off as I would have anticipated. I need to think about what this means in the long run.
My most commented on post was my Lapis, cybergoth experiment. Beyond that, comments were way down this year on posts in general. I’m not sure what that means, exactly, but I definitely noticed the decrease. I think blogs are just not as strong of a medium as they once were, though I have no intention of giving this one up.
One thing I think is important to remember when I look at my blog stats is that all of my paper dolls are what is known as “evergreen” content. They don’t really go out of date, so this means that the longer a post is on the blog, then it has an advantage over new posts for being popular. I also think its interesting that a lot of my black and white paper dolls are more popular, over the long term, than my color ones.
Remarkably, I didn’t end this year hating the Jewels and Gemstones series with a passion. In fact, I ended it wanting to keep drawing for them. After my less than happy feelings about Dames and Dandies by the end of 2018, I was really happy that I was still enjoying working on the series once 2019 wrapped.
I actually submitted something to the Original Paper Doll Artists Guild this year. This has been a goal for… I have no idea how long, so I am super happy that I finally got my act together enough to complete the project. I’ll share here in more detail soon- maybe next week.
While Patreon didn’t grow massively, I loved doing my Friday Patron Outfits and I finally feel like I’ve found something I can sustain for my patrons. So, I’m super happy about that.
Additionally, on a personal note, after about 18 months of intense job hunting (and a lot of interviews), I landed a position back in my home state of Alaska. That meant leaving Alabama and driving up to Alaska with my partner. The fact that the blog even managed to run during this last half of the year amazes me.
Things That Could Have Gone Better
Shall we talk about the 2019 Collaborative Paper Doll?
The 2019 Collaborative Paper Doll which I never finished.
First off, I have no one to blame on this one but myself. We decided on themes in 2018 and it’s not like I didn’t know what was up coming, but man I did not keep up this year. There were a lot of reasons for that, but mostly I just didn’t have time. At all.
Because of the disaster that was the collaborative paper doll in 2019, I don’t think I’ll be taking on one in 2020.
Additionally, I started a 100 day project, didn’t finish and told myself I would finish before the end of the year. However, my plans ran into a slight snag when… well… did you know that if you store a sketchbook in a dark navy cloth bag in a car and then drive to Alaska, things can happen. One of those thing is if there’s condensation and then… the dark blue ink will transfer onto the pages of the sketchbook?
I didn’t either, but I learned!
So, yeah, most of those drawing got pretty badly ruined in transit and I just didn’t have the heart to continue the project after that. A few were salvageable and will become product on Etsy in 2020.
Goals for 2020
Continue with the Jewels and Gemstones.
Work on my 365 (or should it be 366?) Paper Doll Project for my Patrons
Self Publish a Book/Other Print Product
Continue creating for the OPDAG magazine- Paper Doll Studio
This year I have decided to treat myself to a little winter vacation from the blog! Usually when I go on a hiatus it is because it’s an act of panic, but this year I decided to treat myself to a few weeks off.
I’ll see you all in January! I hope everyone has an amazing end to 2019 and takes good care of themselves. If you have holidays to celebrate, I hope you enjoy them.
PS: My Patrons (join us here!) will still be getting their paper dolls!
As winter comes, I have been thinking a lot about winter fantasy paper dolls. From my steampunk arctic explorer paper doll set to my fantasy princesses with dresses trimmed in fur, it seemed fitting to celebrate winter fantasy paper dolls through the blog’s long history.
I haven’t done any winter fantasy pieces this year yet, so I clearly need to get on that before the winter ends. On the other hand, I live in the interior of Alaska, so the winter tends to last a long time- it starts in October and goes until March/April.
Winter Fantasy Paper Dolls to Print
Stay warm everyone as the cold comes rolling in. Let me know what your favorite elements of the winter season are. Are you a hot chocolate person? Do you love to ski? Personally, I like the crisp cold air and getting to eat lots of warming soup.
November is here! And I wanted to show off some of my autumn themed paper dolls from over the years. Up here in Alaska, it’s already below freezing and there’s snow, but I realize most of the rest of the country is still getting to enjoy autumn.
I’m trying to not be bitter about it.
Anyway, here’s 14 different paper dolls with autumn themed wardrobes or fantasy outfits from the site over the years. Malina was an early foray into short hair on paper dolls and Greta in Autumn reminds me I need to draw more paper dolls with glasses. Color, for me, is often what defines an autumn paper doll from a winter one, so you’ll see a lot of warm and jewel tones here.
First of all, I hereby forbid any debate about what to call the period between 1800 and 1820. It’s got many many names and I just don’t have the tolerance for the debate, y’all.
Anyway, I made 1820 my cut off date, though you could argue that the waistline progressively drops through that decade until it hits the natural waist about 1828-1830 and then the silhouette really changes.
But you know, that’s a level of nuance that I just decided I didn’t care that much about.
Women’s Regency Fashion in Paper Dolls
There’s two more Regency dresses I’ve created for the patrons over on Patreon and, of course, an extra paper doll outfit every Friday.
I think my interest in post-apocalyptic fashion/clothing really started with watching Tank Girl and Mad Max at an early age. There’s probably other B-movies from the 80’s and early 90’s with bombed out towns and questionable clothing choices, but those are the two I most solidly remember. I think Mad Max: Fury Road is a much better movie, by the way, than either of those, but those are the ones I recall from my youth.
I have drawn post-apocalyptic clothing for the Jewels and Gemstones, but it’s a Patreon exclusive. As always, there’s an additional Jewels and Gemstones outfit today over there as well.
One of my favorite projects I did over the years for the blog, was this collection of 1920s children’s clothing I drew for the Poppet paper dolls. I love 1920s clothing and I especially love 1920s children’s clothing.
So in 2017, I drew a whole wardrobe of 1920s outfits for the Poppet’s paper dolls. I thought it would be fun to gather them all up and share them here in a single collection which I’d never done before.
The 1920s Children’s Clothing Printable Paper Dolls
I still love 1920s children’s clothing, but drawing 13 pieces of it over a year did probably get that urge out of my system for a while. I did enjoy the simplicity of just picking up a book and drawing from a reference image which is sometimes very soothing for me. I should do more of that. And the 1920s are nice, because the silhouette is really pretty simple. It’s not like drawing the 18th century or something.
And if you wanted a new stuff for the Jewel and Gemstones today, join us on Patreon.
I’ve been drawing versions of Alice in Wonderland I think forever. Some of these long predate the blog, including one from college. I’ve always loved that novel.
Alice in Wonderland Paper Dolls
Ocassionally, I think about going back to Alice, but then I think- I’ve done so many variations. One the other hand, I’ve also drawn a lot of mermaids and I don’t feel weird going back to that theme.
What do you think? Should I draw more versions of Alice?
And don’t forget, if you want even more paper dolls, check out Patreon.
Happy Friday! One of my favorite kinds of Japanese street fashion is Lolita, which is a style inspired (vaguely) by Victorian Children’s clothing. I do wish it didn’t have such a sexualized name, but then I didn’t name it. So, there’s nothing for that, I suppose.
It’s really a pity that Nabokov’s novel means that I can no longer hear the name Lolita and not feel sort of creeped out by the experience. On the other hand, maybe he deserve props for his skillful writing. (By the way, I think the novel Lolita is among the most amazing works of the 20th century, but it’s not exactly kid friendly.)
Lolita Fashion Paper Dolls
Sailor Lolita
Classic Lolita
Sweet Lolita
Princess Lolita
Princess Lolita
Sailor Lolita
Classic Lolita
Classic Lolita
Country Lolita
Lolita Inspired
Lolita Inspired
Wa and Qi Lolita Inspired
Lolita Inspired
One of the fun things about Lolita fashion is, like any sub-genre of anything, there’s layers upon layers of nuance and sub-categories. So, my Lolita forays have included Sailor Lolita, Gothic Lolita, Country Lolita, Sweet Lolita, Princess Lolita, and Classic Lolita, plus I included in this archives round up a few pieces that while not strictly Lolita were very much influenced by the style. Whatever you Lolita Fashion preference, I should have something that will do. I am missing Pirate Lolita or the sort of Punk Lolita looks which involve plaid. Plaid and I do not get along. There are words when I draw plaid.
As a friendly reminder, there’s a Friday paper doll on Patreon every week. Pledge 2 dollars a month, and you get access to all the past and future Friday paper dolls. One of those was a Qi Lolita set which was really fun to create.
Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
