So, some of you might be wondering what I was drawing while I was not updating and here’s a little look at some of the things that are sitting in my sketchbooks. Normally, I try not to post things that won’t someday become part of this site, but here I’m making no promises.
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As I mentioned before, I am focusing on clothing for the Curves 2.0 for the next few weeks. I figure my five girls need some dresses to wear, or else they shall be poor cold paper dolls. As much as a paper doll can be cold, I suppose. I always did like drawing clothing far more then I liked drawing dolls, to tell you the truth. I just feel like I should have a nice set of dolls before I start drawing lots of clothing, even if clothing is more fun. It’s rather like eating veggies before the deserts.
Speaking of eating my veggies, during my absence from the blog, I did some drawing of paper dolls, though not related to my usual serial dolls. After some debate, I thought I would ask how people felt about seeing things from my sketchbook that might never make it onto the blog.
I love her braids. I am less pleased with the title of this set. I am running out of things to call these darn sets. So, I just sort of pick words out of the air. I’m not sure that they are that informative for people, but what the heck? It’s a paper doll.
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I have been working on creating a new pallet of skin tones based on photographs of supermodels/actresses of various elasticities. It is slow going. I tend to think of skintones in terms of color- light brown, dark brown, brown with a little red in it, brown with grey undertones, peach with yellow undertones, peach with red undertones… I rarely think in terms of ethnicity, so I find myself skipping around looking for various “colors” to adopt. It’s been educational and I like the colors I am getting out of it.
Also, I know I owe a Puck paper doll to Kat the winner of my drawing. Fear not, Kat, it is nearly done and will be up this coming Sunday. I have not forgotten, I just didn’t get it quite finished last week.
Edit 8/10/2013: There is now a a black and white version of this paper doll for coloring. You’ll need to scroll down a bit in the post to see her.
I know some people have been waiting on this paper doll, so I hope she doesn’t disappoint. I’m not totally pleased with her skin tone. I based her coloring of a young girl who rides the bus with me, but I think she looks a little too grey-toned. I’ve been debating about the skin tone for the whole day and finally decided to go for it. I think it’s a nice color, if a little less warm then I’d intended. My frustration, if I have one, is that.
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The weather is getting into fall here. The weather it turning cold and crisp. I’ve been walking to work and from work and I can feel the cold on my skin. Fall is fully here in the land of corn, so I suspect that soon it will be winter. Meanwhile, I’m doing my class work and working through my school stuff. Mid-terms just passed, so now it’s the long slow fight to the finish line. I always have trouble this time of the semester, but I’m in classes I enjoy.
So, I think I’m done with dolls for the Dictionary Girl’s for a while. I’d like to focus on clothing for them.
Sometimes, this blog feels a bit like albatross around my neck, only with fewer feathers. It’s gets heavy and awkward and then I don’t update for a few days and I feel guilty for not updating.
And I tell myself, “No one reads it” (which I know to not be true, but it’s a good line) or “I don’t have anything to post” (which is also usually false) or “There’s no point in posting something when I know I don’t have a weeks worth of posts” (also not true, but it’s an excuse) and, of course, “I’m too busy” (which of all my excuses is actually sometimes true).
None of these excuses really keep me from feeling guilty about the whole thing, but they make the guilt slightly easier to deal with.
I wonder if other paper doll bloggers feel this way. I don’t know. We’re not exactly a massive community.
Wow, this might be the most melodramatic post I’ve ever put up on this blog and I almost didn’t post it, but I’m struggling to be more personal on the blog. The irony is that I have been drawing, but none of it has been blog related and I have tons penciled, but am having a hard time getting around to inking, scanning and coloring. But I buckled down this weekend and got some done, so I have high hopes for at least getting back to some updating.
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Starting that trend is today’s Marisole flapper paper doll rocking some roaring 1920s fashions. She’s wearing a wardrobe taken from fashion plates and magazines of the twenties. While I love 1920’s fashion, I don’t know if Marisole wears it very well. She has pretty serious hips and this was a time when long and lean was the name of the game. So, I have some mixed feelings about how they all look. Still, I have enjoyed getting to do some historical stuff with Marisole and I do think she makes a pretty cute “flapper”.
I’m also playing around with this new “related” posts feature which I think might be totally useless. I’ll give it a few more weeks.
Edit 8/23/13: This paper doll is now available in black and white for coloring, scroll down a bit on the post and you should see her.
{Printable Full Set PDF} {PNG of Page 1} {PNG of Page 2}
In the epic history of college paper dolls, this one was the result of playing a lot of Shadowrun and drawing while I did it. My memories of the game are fond, though when I look at this paper doll now I see a lot of flaws. Still, I think she’s pretty cute and she’s a little different, so I thought I’d post her up, since I haven’t got anything else to go up.
I am so happy to announce that Kat’s comment, number seven was the number which random.org decided was to be the winner of my drawing. Congratulations Kat and please email me [paperthinpersonas (at) gmail (dot) com] with a description and reference photos of what sort of paper doll you would like. And your paper doll doesn’t have to be a Marisole, it can be any of the paper doll series I draw (Pixie, Dictionary Girls, or Shadow and Light.)
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Today’s Marisole paper doll has what I think of as my medium brown with cool undertones skin color and orange hair. It seemed like a good idea at the time… (mind you, “the time” was nearly midnight). I do love her muted, spring soft color palette, I’m just unsure about her hair/skintone combo. What do other people think?
In other news, I have had so much fun reading people’s comments and they have all made me smile. I thought I would post my favorite ten (okay, eleven) Marisole paper dolls in reverse chronological order. If you’re interested keep reading below. If you’re Kat, please email me. Otherwise, have a fantastic Monday and enjoy the paper doll.
I am really in love with this paper dolls hair and I like her ruched skirted outfit. She was heavily influenced by Japanese fashion dolls like Nippon. When I talk about things that inspire me, I don’t usually mention actual dolls- the three-dimensional kind, but they are a pretty strong influence, largely because an artist can create a whole “personality” with just changing the facial screening and the outfit and that interests me.
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While I don’t collect fashion dolls or ball-jointed dolls, I love to look at the pictures and I follow a few blogs devoted to them even though I’ll probably never own one. Even as a child, I never wanted a lot of dolls, but I always wanted a lot of clothing. I think that is part of the reason I liked paper dolls- they could have thousand piece wardrobes with nothing but a piece of paper and some crayons. And my favorite paper dolls as a kid were those based on dolls, not based on people.
Collecting Fashion Dolls by Terri Gold features lots of news about the doll world, but also the most beautiful doll photographs. Doll Epic features more photos of beautiful dolls and a lot of whimsy. I love her fascination with tiny doll weapons (and I think I would share that fascination if I actually collected). I have just recently begun reading Black Doll Collecting. I have always been interested in the issue of racial diversity in toys and I really enjoy reading about issues and concerns of a black doll collector (though I’m never sure what to say… is it black or African American when it comes to dolls?).
Fashion Doll Review has, you guessed it, more beautiful photographs and announcements about what is going on in the doll world. I use it to find out if Tonner or Wilde Imagination or Integrity Toys have anything new I should go stare at. Of the three, some might be interested to know that Wilde Imagination’s Ellowyne doll was one of the things that inspired Marisole.
Speaking of Marisole, I am having a little drawing in honor of my 65th Marisole paper doll, so check out this post for all the details on how to enter. The winner with be announced Monday and will get a custom paper doll.
I recently received several very kind emails. Whenever people email me about my paper dolls, it always makes my day. It’s also a great way to get me to do things I’ve been sort of being lazy about, like updating the Dictionary Girls. I feel bad about neglecting them for a few weeks (especially since I had two things done and colored and absolutely no excuse for not putting them up except laziness).
To beg forgiveness for my lax ways, and because I got a very sweet email from a woman telling me how much she liked the Dictionary Girls, I make sure to get one up tonight even if it is almost Thursday here in the Midwest.
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On a semi-unrelated note, I am having a little drawing in the post below. If you wish to win a free custom paper doll, just answer my drawing question. The Winner will be announced next Monday. I’d like to thank everyone whose already answered- it’s really interesting to see what of my work is people’s favorites. Usually, I judge success by the number of comments, so I’ve had a few surprises for people’s favorites (and a few I expected.)
When I was the child, one of my favorite dolls was a Rapunzael doll who had blond hair and a lavender and purple empire princess dress with slit sleeves. I still own the doll and the dress, though she’d gotten a hair cut since then. When I think of a “classic” princess, I don’t think of huge skirted dresses, I think of dresses like these.
And when I’m tried and I’m not sure what to draw, I tend to fall back on dresses like these. Ideas can, at times, be hard to come by.
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On an unrelated note, I noticed that this is my 65th Marisole Paper doll which I am fairly proud of. I suppose I should wait for the 75th before celebrating, but that would be in two and a half months and I doubt I would notice. Therefore, I have decided to do a drawing. Answer the question below in the comments of this post to enter.
The question: Which Marisole paper doll is your favorite? (And you can give a one word answer like “Zombie” or the full title.)
The Rules:
1) One answer per person.
2) Contest will run for this week.
3) At the end of the week, I will put the names of everyone who answered into a hat, draw one randomly, and announce the winner on next Monday with the Marisole post.
4) If you have won once this year, you’re not eligible to win, but feel free to answer my question.
The Prize: A custom paper doll (Marisole or otherwise) drawn to your request. This one or this one are examples from past drawings and contests.
Today’s paper doll is another one of my forays into steampunk or neo-victorian or a gross misapplication of my knowledge of 1900’s costume, pick your term. I am not convinced that steampunk isn’t just what happens with goths discovered brown and gears, but I am trying to be open minded about it. I do like pseudo-victorian costume and I always have, so I guess I can’t judge. Though gears when they don’t seem to do anything sort of annoy me, I mean… they should have a purpose. Do I sound like an old man growling about children on his porch? I rather think I do…
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So, I know I promised to get back to normal this week, but it just didn’t seem to quite happen. I have some Curves 2.0 things drawn and colored, so I have no excuse. Would a double post for those paper dolls perhaps help make up for my lack of clothing? I feel so bad for the girls running around in their unmentionables.
For some reason I can not fathom, I have gotten less sleep with week then last week which is odd, since I spent last week house sitting four cats and four snakes, one of which bit me (a snake, not the cats). Since snakes can carry bacteria, I soaked my hand, band-aided it and checked it regularly. It’s healing just fine, but the speed at which a snake can move is shocking. Makes me wonder why anyone would want to keep poisonous ones. Even if the snakes were ill tempered, the cats were mostly sweethearts, with the exception of one which I am convinced is secretly a super-villain. That’s over now and I’m just back to classes and work, so I have no excuse for not getting plenty of rest or keeping up with the blog.
So, I barely got this done on time. It’s nearly midnight on Monday and my brain is a little fried. I spent the day cleaning and doing some homework. I have nearly fiftly library books piled on my table and I think I need to sort through them and maybe return a few, but that’s a project for another night.
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Today Marisole has gone out hiking. Being from Alaska, long walks in the woods were always a big part of my life. There’s a bottle of sunscreen for her and a water bottle, based on the one I carried all through college. I have no idea what happened to that water bottle. She also has a practical pair of hiking shoes and pants with lots of pockets. The thing I am most pleased with is how the colors came out, I think they feel softer and less intense then computer color often looks. It adds the right “organic” feel to the clothing.
Edit 4/6/2014: This set is now available here in black and white for coloring. Yay!
