Talia Tuesday is Having Adventures

Inspired by the high fantasy medieval gowns from movies like LoTR, this two page free printable paper doll coloring set has a wardrobe of elegant gowns and practical adventuring clothing.
Inspired by the high fantasy medieval gowns from movies like LoTR, this two page free printable paper doll has a wardrobe of elegant gowns and practical adventuring clothing.

Download the 2 Page Black and White PDF | Download the 2 Page Color PDF | More Talia Tuesday & Friends Dolls

Last week was a lot of “housekeeping” sorts of posts- announcing changes to Patreon, letting people know about the new 1960s paper doll set– and I don’t mind those posts. They have to happen. Plus, I am proud of what I put on Etsy and I like getting to share it with you all.

But my Etsy products are always a a little higher stakes for me. Does everything fit? Do all the instruction make sense? Will someone who doesn’t know me really love the printable paper dolls as much as I hope they will?

I figure you are all my fans and will likely forgive me a foible for two.

So, I’m excited to return to a week of just sharing some printable paper dolls. It’s nice to get back to basic. Starting off with this fantasy set for Talia Tuesday feels right to me. Sometimes I do fantasy paper doll sets and I 100% know the narrative, but it’s not very common. It’s much more common for me to chose an element (in this case the scalloped sleeve detail) and think- how do I apply this across several things. You’ll see it in the sleeves of the gowns, but also repeated in the tunic trims.

I drew this paper doll at the same time as I drew my Tanya Elegant Empress paper doll. My original plan was to do a set that was all gowns and a set that was all pants. However, once I got down to the nitty-gritty of layout, I had too many gowns and not enough pants. Oops. I decided to call this printable paper doll “Having Adventures,” because the combination of nice gowns and more casual tunics made sense for someone who goes out and has an adventure. So, there’s a bow and arrows, but also an elegant gown. At least, that’s my justification after the fact.

Don’t forget to cut between the doll’s shoulders and her hair for best results when trying to dress her up.

New Set on Etsy- Ladies of the 1960s

As some of you may remember from when I did my Ladies of the 1940s set, I’ve been trying to learn to work smarter, not harder. I’ve never felt comfortable releasing the exculsive patron sets for free on the blog, but I also felt like it wasn’t fair that folks couldn’t enjoy them who weren’t patrons.

So, I’ve decided to round up some of them and some of my blog content and reformat all of it and now I’m offering it for sale on Etsy in a new format (though the same sizing) for people who want to see and play with the full collection. This is the whole of the 1960s ladies wear I drew last year.

So, if you want to hop over to Etsy, this listing is Ladies of the 1960s.

It’s about 50% unseen content and 50% recycled content with three dolls and about 32 clothing pieces. There’s everything from beach clothing to evening gowns. While mod fashions of the 1960s might be most identified with the era, there’s actually a lot of ladylike 1950s styles that shine in this period. I’ve arranged the clothing roughly chronologically, but everything is dated if you want a more precise look at the looks!

For my patrons, there’s an exclusive discount code you can use. Find that code here.

For everyone else, I hope you enjoy this little foray into the styles of the 1960s. And yes, I’m planning to adding the 1930s and 1970s to these collections, but I’ll need to do more drawing before the 1950s can join in the fun and I’m not sure if my forays into the 1980s are cohesive enough… I’ll need to think on that one.

Big Update to How I’m Running Patreon

First off, I want to start by thanking everyone whose ever supported me on Patreon, past and present. You’re all the best! Because those funds to make a big difference in this site (nothing is free to maintain) and I can’t express how much I appreciate your support.

Here’s how it will work for anyone who signs up to Patreon going forward:

Button to click to log into Patreon or sign up to unlock posts.

You get to pay whatever you feel is fair with a suggested donation of 5 dollars per month. If you want to pay more than 5 dollars, you 100% can. If you want to pay less, you can do that too. It’s totally up to you what you feel comfortable with.

You may have noticed there are now a few posts on this site that are Patreon only. There are going to be more of those. I have a secret goal per month, but I am not sharing it, because this is all about reducing pressure on me and once I say something out loud it becomes a THING.

And now to answer questions you might have:

What is Patreon? Patreon is a service that helps people support creators, like me. Basically, you pay what you’re comfortable with every month and you get some more paper dolls (and my thanks). Plus, you get to know your pledge keeps Paper Thin Personas available for everyone. (Patreon FAQ has a lot more information about the details for you.)

What if I am already a Patron and I want to keep my current support? You don’t need to do anything! I appreciate it. Thank you! This will keep your access to all the content on the Patreon site you currently have access to and get you access to everything on the blog as it gets added.

What if I am a Patron and I want to stop supporting you? I 100% understand and wish you the best. So, you will need to cancel your pledge. Instructions on how to make that happen here. Thank you for all the support up to now. If you want to just reduce your amount of support, you’ll need to cancel and resubscribe, I believe.

What about current Patreon projects? These will continue! For those who don’t know, I have two- Vivian, whose a beautiful paper doll slowly getting a steampunk/Victorian inspired trousseau. My other current project is sets of paper dolls based on antique dolls called Dolly and Her Dresses. So, those will continue and there maybe more Patreon projects.

What about past Patreon projects? Well, some of these will eventually migrate to the blog, but it might be a long time and it may not be all of them.

What other Patreon content will there be? Polls, behind the scenes posts and requests will be open to Patrons as they have in the past. I’m actually super excited about these. Additionally, there will also be posts for the Jewels and Gemstones, Talia Tuesday and DDJ that’ll be Patron only.

What if I want to support you and not become a patron? Consider my Etsy store! A lot of my Patreon projects end up on Etsy later as a single purchase.

What if you didn’t answer my question? Please ask! Comments are open!

If you want to start supporting PTP, hop over to Patreon and sign up. If you don’t want to, you can totally ignore this post and continue on your merry way.

Or, if you want to support PTP with less commitment, consider grabbing something from my Etsy store.

Here’s Some Paper Doll Printables in Purple!

To me, purple feels magical, royal, and a little mysterious. I’d say this was because it was a secondary color, but I sure don’t feel this way about orange or green.

Back in the ancient world, purple dye came from a rare sea snail in the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre (Lebanon). Tyrian purple, as it was known, was so costly that basically you had to be a king to wear cloth dyed purple. Hence the long and fascinating association of purple with all thing royal. There are other ways to get purple without the use of sea snails, generally by dying fabric red or blue and then over dyeing it in purple.

I think it is neat that purple can be sweet like this paper doll or sexy and gothic like this paper doll.

As with all my other paper doll color collections my selection criteria was simple- does it seem purple to me?

20 Paper Dolls Wearing Purple

Anyway, when I do my paper dolls, I have a long affection for purple. As, I was working on these color based paper doll collections, I knew it would be fun to look at all my purple paper dolls. There’s a real variety of purple things in here from evening gowns to princess dresses. I don’t really know if I have a favorite here, but I do love that there are so many shades of purple from this blue-violet color to this mavue-ish pink.

I hope you like all these fun purple paper dolls!

Opal is a Mermaid!

A mermaid paper doll coloring page with many different fun mix and match pieces.
A mermaid paper doll to print with two tails and several other pieces of clothing.

Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Jewels & Gemstones 2.0

Whenever I draw mermaids, I end up thinking of Liana of Liana’s Paper Dolls. This sadly defunct site is an amazing ode to all the things you can do with mermaids and paper dolls. (Seriously, if you haven’t ever spent anytime in her archives, it is well worth a gander.) I don’t think my mermaids even get close to hers. Liana had a fascinating entire world around her mermaids and I just don’t think that way. Creating stories around my paper dolls is not my natural tendency, though I am in awe of folks who can do that.

Today’s mermaid set is part of a larger mermaid project. The set got created, because I was somehow inspired to draw mermaids. My long term plan is that collection of drawings will become into something for Etsy. In the meantime, I’m sharing some parts of the set here as smaller creations.

When I design mermaids, I like it when the tails go up over the doll’s bust, so it feels more like an entire outfit, because I can not figure-out why mermaids would wear clothing (seems totally impractical in you’re underwater). Also, I don’t know if they would need to nurse young. Are mermaids mammals? Fish certainly aren’t.

Generally, I don’t base my mermaids on actual fish (questions about mermaid’s mammal status aside). However, clownfish inspired the tail on the left.

Fun Fact: Mermaid tails are one of the only things that usually get a full sized first draft. I need to make sure the curve of the tail makes sense. The tail usually ends up taking several tries on separate paper before I transfer them into my sketchbook for final penciling and inking. This maybe why I don’t do mermaids that often. Years ago, Julie Matthews did a centaur paper doll and I am still in awe over it. I can not even imagine trying to draw that.

Unrelated, Julie’s Nora and Nellie paper dolls from Paper Doll Review are not mermaids, but are delightful.

Any how, if you want some more mermaid tails for Opal here, there’s been other mermaid paper dolls. Might I direct you to this one with Amethyst and this patron only one with Citrine. Stay tuned, because someday I will get that Etsy set done and there are some really neat mermaid tails in there that I am very proud of. I’ll let you all know when that happens, promise.

Happy 4th of July with Paper Dolls

A 4th of July paper doll coloring page and her vintage styles with a nine piece wardrobe. Fun kid's activity for the 4th of July holiday.
A 4th of July paper doll and her vintage styles with a nine piece wardrobe. Fun kid's activity for the 4th of July holiday. Blue hair and stars abound here.

Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Dolls Du Jour Paper Dolls

Creating a 4th of July paper doll was hard this year, but I have been wanting to try to get a paper doll done for all the major holidays I can. The thing about these holiday paper dolls is that they are super handy to have around (like instant social media content) and easy to draw (theme’s kind of done for you). However, I confess that I’ve been pretty angry and depressed about the current state of affairs in the United States. So, it was harder to build up enthusiasm to draw Americana then usual.

Still, I have so many fond memories of the 4th of July. It’s a big holiday in my hometown. There’s two parades, fireworks at midnight on the 3rd (the sun doesn’t go down until 10pm) and huge bonfire organized by our family friends. I do mean huge- it’s like several stories high and designed by architects and engineers made from pallets. There’s usually a theme for the bonfire- it’s been a T-rex, the throne of swords from Game of Thrones, and many other structures.

We make our own fun up here in the Northland.

Anyway, today’s paper doll is a riff on my Valentine’s Day vintage themed paper doll. She originally had different hair, but it did not look good. I didn’t have time to redraw it, so I borrowed the hair from the Valentine’s doll. Of course, I made a few little changes in photoshop, but it’s basically the same . I’m still trying to hit my 10 DDJ paper dolls in 2022 goal and this gets me a little closer!

By the way, there are some changes coming to Patreon (more on that later). So, just an early heads up for folks. You might start seeing posts on the site like these which are blocked unless you’re a Patron. Basically, I’m slowly adding old Patreon content to the blog in the months when it appeared on Patreon. Just so no one is super confused as to what is happening.

Taking a Vacation for June!

I’m taking a vacation in June from the blog. I hope everyone has an amazing June!

I had thought I would have time to load up a bunch of preplanned content before I left town to get married and you know what? I didn’t, because planning a wedding is super complicated even when you have amazing support. But there will be newsletters! Those I got done.

So be sure to sign up for the newsletter below and you can still get some fun new paper doll coloring pages during the month of June.

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I’ll see you all in July!

Dolly & Her Dresses for June 2022

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Citrine is a Mermaid

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Creative Lulls, Revisiting Old Projects & A New Set is Up On Etsy

When it comes to creativity, I’m a sprinter, not a long distance runner. When people talk about doing one thing very day for ten minutes for a year or two years or ten years, I get twitchy. I don’t work that way. I like to work intensely for short periods and recoup with something else for a while. As I said, it’s a sprinter sort of mentality.

The new Etsy coloring pages with vintage 1940s fashions.

The downside is that I sometimes have ideas and I work on them intensely and then I stop when I lose interest, get distracted, have other things to do, or whatever. One thing I’ve been planning for years has been to do a better job of repackaging my Patreon content for Etsy. I want people to get to engage with the stuff I’ve made there, but also not have to sign up to be a patron if that doesn’t seem appealing. It’s not for everyone and that’s 100% cool with me.

Back when I drew my 1940s, 1930s, and 1960s sets, I intentionally drew more clothing than I knew would fit in my usual paper doll format with plans to use that extra content for some Etsy sets. (Okay, the first time I did it, it was 100% an accident, but like after that it seemed like a good idea.)

Lately, I’ve been having a big of a creative lull. I don’t really feel like drawing and I thought I’d turn to these older pieces and see what I could do with them. After all, sometimes working something that isn’t creative in the same way that drawing is creative helps me get through minor blocks. So, I thought- I’ll focus on layout and some older things I’m proud of and give my brain a little break. Never under estimate the value of brain breaks.

Long story short- there’s a new Etsy coloring page set of 4 pages of 1940s clothing! It’s 50% exclusive and new content and 50% recycled content from the site which has been reformatted. Some of the new and exclusive pieces include an additional doll, overalls, dresses, hats, and a very 1940s evening gown.

(If you’re a Patron, there’s a big discount coupon over here, if you want to nab it for the new stuff.)

Anyway, if you nab one, leave a review, because that always helps. If you don’t want to nab one, 100% cool- enjoy all the free 1940s paper doll content on this blog (there’s a fair bit). If you’d like to join Patreon then you can do that here, there’s a lot of more paper doll stuff over there waiting for a second lease on life.

The other good news is that this did help with my creative lull and I am now working away on a big mermaid collection (probably also destined for Etsy and Patreon) and a dog paper doll for the next issue of Paper Doll Review. Yes, a dog paper doll. No, I’m not 100% certain it was a good idea, but I’m too far along to turn back now!