Paper Doll FAQ: Printing, Sizes and Using My Paper Doll

Welcome to the FAQ where I try to answer questions that I get regularly both about this site and paper dolls. If you don’t see your question answered here, feel free to email me directly.

Frequently Asked Questions

General

How do I contact you?

You can contact me through email. Since sometimes people have trouble with email links, the address is- paperthinpersonas (at) gmail (dot) com. I do try to respond to every email I receive, but it can take me a while. If you haven’t heard from me in a week, feel free to send me a nudge. I won’t be offended.

How often does the site update?

Once a month. My goal is one new paper doll set on the website each month, plus one for my Patrons. Some months run a little late, but I’ll get there.

What is the history of Paper Thin Personas?

Paper Thin Personas began in 2008, had a total site collapse in 2009, and came back from the ashes. Rachel Cohen has been creating paper dolls since she was about nine years old. Her first paper doll website was called Darkened Shards, hand-coded in the very early 2000s on Angelfire.

Paper Thin Personas grew out of that much earlier obsession with making paper dolls, clothing, and accessories that people could actually print, cut out, and play with. The site has changed considerably over the years, but the basic idea hasn’t: these are printable paper dolls made to be used, not just looked at.

And Rachel is very uncomfortable writing about herself in the third person.

Do you accept donations?

Yes, absolutely. Currently, I accept donations is through Patreon. Any amount helps keep this blog up and running. You can join as a free member, but some things require being a paid member. Paying members get an extra printable paper doll monthly or whenever I feel like it. It’s a very casual system, because that keeps me from stressing out too much about it.

I can not express how amazed I am that people support PTP and how grateful I am they continue to do so.

May I use your paper dolls for my non-personal or commercial use?

My paper dolls are available for licensing for use in commercial or non-personal applications. It really depends on what your use is and whether or not it is commercial in nature. Please email me with any questions.

My terms of use does address this issue, but emailing me might be the easiest way to answer your questions.

My policy generally is that if there is a fee charged to attend an event, then I will ask for my work to be formally licensed regardless of the non-profit or profit status of the organization. Classroom use by teachers is fine, as it generally falls under the Fair Use Guidelines.

Again, if you’re not sure, just email me.

I drew some dresses for one of your paper dolls, can I post them on a website?

Of course, but please do not post the paper dolls (as they are my intellectual property) and a link back to my site (https://paperthinpersonas.com/). I always love to see people’s designs for my paper dolls, so feel free to email me. It’s fun to see what people had done. I try to get back to everyone who emails me their work in a timely fashion, but there is just one of me, so be patient if you haven’t heard from me.

I don’t see my question on here, what should I do?

Feel free to email me or ask a question in a comment. I try to respond to the questions that I get as quickly as possible. If you absolutely need a question answered, email is the best way to be sure that I’ll reply. I check my email several times a week, but it can take a bit for me to get back to people. I am a one woman operation here.

Paper Dolls

What is a printable paper doll?

A printable paper doll is a paper doll you download as a PDF or other image file, print at home, and cut out. Most Paper Thin Personas sets include a doll and a wardrobe of clothing with folding tabs that hold the clothes on the doll. Many also come in black-and-white versions for coloring.

Are Paper Thin Personas paper dolls AI-generated?

Nope. The paper dolls of Paper Thin Personas are hand drawn by Rachel L. Cohen (that’s me). I do use computer assisted drawing on occasion, where I mirror things or rotate things, etc, but basically, the art is mine. I have no desire to get into an AI debate on this site. The fun of drawing paper dolls for me is the drawing and making of the paper dolls. I don’t or can’t imagine giving that process up. It makes me very happy.

Would you draw ____ for the Marisole paper dolls? When will the Marisole paper dolls next update?

The Marisole Monday series has been retired since 2017 and I have no intentions to add to the series. However, I might someday change my mind, because I am fickle like that. Until then, you can enjoy the hundreds of paper dolls I did draw when the series was active.

Will you make ______ paper doll in black and white?

Nope.

If you want to know more, I wrote a whole post about it and you can read that here.

I have also found a lot of people ask this when there is actually a black and white version of the paper doll available, so be sure to check carefully before you give up hope there might be one around. They are scattered throughout the blog.

Could you draw _____ set for a different paper doll series?

Maybe? I’ve been doing more re-drawing lately, since I moved to digital work. However, I rarely take or follow requests, so I like to warn people about that ahead of time. It’s just my brain latches onto whatever it decides it wants.

Do you take suggestions or requests for paper dolls?

I mean, you can ask… but that doesn’t mean I’ll draw it. Now, if you’re a paying patron, contact me on Patreon and there’s a much higher chance I’ll give it go within the limitations of intellectual property law and my own personal ethics. There are some things I simply will not ever draw. However, I like doing Patron requests as a thank you to those folks who donate to help keep this little corner of the internet on the internet.

The truth is: I am very slow. And because I am very slow, I rarely get back to people or around to things promptly enough for it to make sense for me to take on the commitment.

Do you do custom work or commissions?

Generally, no, but email me and we can discuss. I am most likely to say yes, if it is historical and you’re a museum. I have yet to turn down a museum. I have a very long lead time these days for this sort of thing.

Can Paper Thin Personas be used to train AI?

Please don’t use my paper dolls, art, or writing to train AI models. I’m happy for search tools and AI assistants to cite and summarize my work, as long as they link back to the original post and give me (Rachel L Cohen) and Paper Thin Personas credit. Citations matter!

How To

What size are the Paper Thin Personas paper dolls?

Most Paper Thin Personas printable paper dolls are designed to print on either US Letter or A4 paper. Most PDFs are approximately 8 × 10 inches, with some approximately 8 × 10.5 inches. The sizes of the dolls will be based on the printer settings, hair styles and other factors.

Paper Doll Series Sizes Once Printed:

Poppets are about 5.33 inches tall.
Ms. Mannequin dolls are about 8.6 inches tall.
Mini-Maidens are about 5.5 inches tall.
Buxom & Bodacious dolls are about 6.75 inches tall.
The Sprites ladies are 6.5 inches tall and the Sprites gents are about 7 inches tall.
Marisole Monday and Friends ladies are 6.33 inches tall and the guys are 7 inches tall.
Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 paper dolls are about 6.5 inches tall.
Dolls Ju Jour are about 6.25 inches tall.
Ensemble Eclectica dolls are about 7.5 inches tall.
Cut and Color Corture Dolls are about 7.5 inches tall.
Cuties are about 8.25 inches tall.

What do you use to draw and color your paper dolls?

So, I used to use black micron pens, black ball point pens, black brush pens (a lot of black, obviously) and do my coloring with a combination of Photoshop and a plug-in called the Bpelt filter which is designed for flatting in comic strips. I find it speeds up my coloring a lot (which is good, because color is time consuming). I have written a longer explanation about how I color here.

However, as of 2022, I have moved to mostly working on an i-pad and using Procreate. I still do my coloring with Bpelt Filter. Everything is handrawn. Most of my work is my own, though I do use licensed borders or other elements I’ve purchased from other creators. There is no AI in my art that I’m aware of.

What advice do you have about printing printable paper dolls?

Always print the dolls from the PDF files. Select “Do Not Resize” for the pages to print at the right size. Alternatively, you may need to de-select “Fit to Page”. Do not print from the PNG files.
Either print them on card-stock or paste the dolls to card stock before cutting them out. Cutting diagrams may be helpful for cutting out the dolls.
Making sure your printing settings are consistent across all the pages will assure relatively stable color matching, so if you print one set in “best” than print the other pages in “best”.
You can save ink by printing out the dolls on “economy” settings on your printer, but do a test sheet since different printers treat this setting in different ways.
While you might think that the best idea is to print on super thick card stock, that can sometimes cause issues with tabs on paper doll clothing which need to fold, so printing clothing on paper and the dolls on cardstock can be a really smart compromise.

How do I attach the wigs and hats to the doll when there are no tabs?

I’ve written up some detailed instructions with diagrams on how to do this.

How do I make a stand for the paper dolls?

Directions for making a stand for any of the paper dolls can be found here with, fairly bad, very old iPhone photos. I have some skills. Photography is clearly not one of them.