Wishing you all the joy, peace, and love that this time of year can bring. Happy holidays!
I’m planning to take, as I often do, a little break going into January. How long?
Probably until the 15th or so.
And what will happen when I come back?
Probably my usual year end round up posts and then I’m not 100% sure. I have signed up for a digital art class and I am super excited to see what will happen and how that might impact the ways I make my paper dolls. So, I guess I want to leave open lots of space for experimentation and growth.
Meanwhile, have a wonderful holiday/wintertime with those you love!
I mentioned in my last 1950s printable paper doll about how important I thought it was to have some 1950s fashions for these paper dolls that include pants and Ruby is getting two pairs of them. She has what was known as a “playsuit”- basically, a romper. There’s something very infantilizing about the terms “playsuit” and “romper”, though I’m not sure I have the energy to really dive into how infantilizing the 1950s was towards women. I mean women couldn’t get mortgages on their own until the 1970s, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
I digress.
The point is that women wore pants in the 1950s and I wanted to illustrate some of those styles for this paper doll.
As November wraps up, we are stumbling into December which is always a hit and miss month for me. I have an idea that I hope I’ll get finished. Then January will come which may be a month off, I’m still debating, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Hope everyone has been having a lovely end of Fall and beginning of winter (though given that it was -27 here yesterday, I think winter is already here in Alaska.)
So, I decided to take a minute this week and highlight some things that are in-progress/in-process for the blog/newsletter/patrons. I like finishing things. I like seeing something and feeling like- yep, that’s done.
However, I do think it’s important to pause occasionally and consider the value of the process. The process has to be fun or why do it at all?
So, in this post, I am going to share some screen shots from a few of the paper dolls I worked on this weekend. None of them are done, all of them are in process, and I am 100% happy with that.
Dolly & Her Dresses
One of my patron exclusive projects has been these 19th century inspired antique doll paper dolls. These two dresses are both from the 1900s- a party dress and a sailor suit (which were super popular). I haven’t decided if I am going to continue these into 2023. I’m struggling to even think of 2023, because 2022 has been such a long year.
Still, I don’t want to face a cliff at the end of December, so I need to think clearly about what 2023 will hold.
1950s J&G Collection
I started this back when I was fill of vim and vigor and somehow decided to draw more for it than I really should have. It’s huge! There’s 5 dolls and at least 20 outfits and a dozen pairs of shoes. I haven’t even thought about how I’m going to break it up for layout or how I am going to actually color all of it. It was not the best planned out project I have ever undertaken which maybe why I am struggling to get momentum up on it- it feels overwhelming.
Anyway, steady progress has been made- tabs are being added, fits are being checked, linework is being cleaned up. Hopefully, it’ll all be done before 2023, though no promises on that front.
Newsletter Paper Dolls
I really love these dolls! I don’t know what it is about them, but they feel so easy to draw for. Probably because the pose is so very delightfully simple. I really have been enjoying these ones a lot. This is my take on some autumnal regencycore styles. The dress is, well, obvious, but the collar of the blouse is also super regency.
My big hope is to take a digital imaging class next semester from the Uni where I work and learn to do more of my work digitally. I love working on pen with paper, but I really want to up my coloring game and the long process of inking, scanning, fixing the inking leaves me a little drained these days. I need to streamline.
Plus, an my first formal art class in almost 20 years sounds like fun.
I am super excited to announce that I finally fin-ished (pun intended) my big mermaid paper doll project that you might recall me mentioning way back in July and previewing as a WIP in August. You can pick it up on Etsy right now!
Sometimes, these projects take a lot longer than I think they will when they start, she said, side-eyeing the 1950s Jewels and Gemstones set that still isn’t done.
Anyway, at long last I am happy to announce that the Mermaids are up on Etsy and you can go grab them if you wish. There’s four dolls and over 60 mix and match pieces, including 11 different mermaid tails.
Anyway, it’s a big 7 page set (plus one page of stands and directions) and I couldn’t be happier with how it all came together. I’m particularly pleased with a few of the tails that were too big to easily fit on a horizontal layout page, but which look great with the vertical layout. Layout is not my strongest suit, but I feel like I’m getting better and learning a lot from examining Julie’s work for paper doll review with care.
The whole set all laid out.
In case you’re wondering- a lot of this content as not appeared on the blog before. One of the dolls is totally new! She’s actually maybe my favorite and it was really hard to resist showing her off before now.
Anyway, if you’d like to add the mermaids to your collection, go get them on Etsy.
Right now the set is only available as coloring pages, as I find that’s what sells best on Etsy. No idea why, but paper dolls in color just don’t seem to sell. If you’d like to see them in color, let me know! I’m curious.
One of my favorite things is taking a historical silhouette and just playing with it. It’s pretty much just a chance to draw pretty dresses for paper dolls. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing variety (like this Cybergoth Set), but I think anyone whose a regular here knows my first loves are the fantasy and historical stuff.
The fantasy stuff is easier than the historical stuff, because there’s no research involved. I simply am unable to call something historical if I haven’t actually done some research to back up that claim. And sometimes, I just don’t wanna do research.
Despite the research free nature of these dresses, they are based on Regency Era styles. In my head, the dress on the left with the yellow skirt is a ballgown, because it is the lowest cut and fanciest. The dresses on the left are a dinner dress (the blue one) and day dress (the one with the vest).
If you want some actual regency dresses, rather than these regency fantasy dresses, I recommend my Regency tag and as I was working on this post, I realized I do have other regency fantasy dresses- enough that maybe I should make a tag for that too, so I did.
I now have a regency inspired tag for all my non-historical forays into this silhouette, including my regencycore modern stuff which I think I’m going to draw more of. I really enjoy drawing romantic dresses. And yes, I am eagerly waiting for season 3 of Bridgerton.
Meanwhile, this is Newsletter week, so if you haven’t, sign up and get an extra paper doll coloring page in your inbox every two weeks.
It’s so exciting to be wrapping up my 2022 Witchtober project with the ever delightful Julie Matthews today with the Merchant and Traveling themed witches.
So, let’s talk concepts- On the left, is the Merchant themed witch. I wanted to go for like an edgy CEO in the 1980s look. Very much a power suit. I had fun playing around with drawing the sharp angles on this one. I decided a traditional hat made the most sense, but I tried to keep it feeling super crisp.
On the right is the Traveling witch. For this one, I went a totally different direction. My first thought was like 19th century traveling suits, but then I was like- Nah, I’ve done that before a lot. So, instead, I thought about adventuring clothing- something a little fantasy, a little practical, with lots of pockets for carrying things, and gathering things. To go with this, I wanted to draw a well worn sort of weather beaten hat. The sort of hat that looked like it had been around the block a few times and seen some things.
Both outfits got boots, but I tried to make them about as different as two pairs of boots could be.
And, of course, I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween today!
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