As some of you may recall, I’ve been doing a whole collection of these big skirted fantasy gowns since last year. I knew I wanted to continue the series in 2020, so I have been resizing the dresses for the Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 while also drawing some princesses with amazing hair to get to wear the dresses. I’m calling this the Princess and Their Gowns Collection and this is the second one.
Of course, any of the paper dolls can wear the dresses, as long as they aren’t in historical underwear which will likely show under some of these gowns. Re-posting some of my historical dolls in the new 2.0 format is definitely on the to-do list.
There’s two gowns here- one is a ball gown with a truly impressive skirt. The other is a music dress which could be any type of dress, but comes with a random instrument. The ballgown was originally a Patron design from last year.
The first of these princesses and their gowns was Opal and her princess gowns who I shared back in March. Now, this is the second and I’ve also got a version with Lapis finished. I’ll hopefully share that version soon.
Do you have a favorite of these two gowns? I think I like the music dress, myself. Let me know in a comment! I love to hear from you.
And remember that if you want to get more paper doll clothing, head over to Patreon where I share an extra paper doll or dress on Fridays. There’s other fun projects as well, including my 365 day project where I’m sharing some of the results of my foray into Idea Roulette.
The pollen count in this part of Alaska is worse than Alabama. I am constantly taking allergy medication and sniffling. As if the world isn’t hard enough right now, I also need sinus headaches and itchy eyes. Most of the time, my allergy medication keeps it under control, but I am not enjoying spring.
On the upside, it’s not over 100 degrees outside. So, I guess I need to look at benefits of Alaska.
Meanwhile, let’s talk paper dolls. Today’s creation is an elf paper doll. I will confess my images of elves were probably forever changed because of watching the Lord of the Rings movies a lot in high school and college. My friends and I in college binged those movies on several occasions. Except binge watching wasn’t a term yet, so we called it having a marathon. I digress. The pioinis that when I design an elf paper doll I always end up thinking of those costumes, for better or for worse.
I like to think for better.
Today’s paper doll was also an experiment in how many gowns I can fit in on one set and what the best way to arrange them is. I am pretty happy with this layout, I think. It’s not perfect, but I am still getting back into the grove of drawing sets, not individual pieces.
I decided for Diamond to show off these. Her cheekbones feel elf-like to me. I don’t know, but I think elves probably have great cheekbones.
I’m trying to have each of the Jewels and Gemstones dolls have their own new Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 version. I haven’t gotten all of them yet. Amethyst, Pearl and Lapis still need their sets, I think. Pearl’s set is in progress- it’s some 1980s inspired fashions. Fingers crossed, I will get some drawing done this weekend.
I think the bow is a short bow and I measured the arrows against her arm. I think they are close to the right length, but I’m not 100% sure. Listen- I know very little about archery, except this- Never ask about bow hunting in Alabama around deer season unless you really really want to know. Bow hunters are passionate folks.
When I think elves, I think monstrous creatures that you bribe with milk so they don’t kill your cattle. Wait… that’s fairies. Sorry.
Elves, in a Tolkien sense, are sort of peaceful and wise. (Hopefully, as I don’t have that much milk on hand.) So, I decided to go with what I thought was a really calm color scheme. I somehow can’t imagine fantasy elves in day-glow orange, though as I write that I wonder if I should try to draw one anyway. Just to stretch myself.
What about you? What colors make you think of elves? Also, is it elven? Or Elfen? I have no idea and my computer tells me both are not words. Let me know in a comment if you have an opinion on that one or the color scheme or anything else.
And so I thought it would be fun today to celebrate alien paper dolls! Not just scifi, but specifically aliens. That means lots of blue skin, colorful hair and impractical space suits!
15 Alien Paper Dolls to Print
I haven’t done an alien paper doll in a while, I realized after I put this collection together. Maybe I need a “meteorite” member of the Jewels and Gemstones family. Until then, I hope you enjoy these paper dolls from my archives.
Any themes you’d like to see me gather up? I’d love to know in a comment.
It’s tough to write about paper dolls right now. There’s a lot going on in the world- protests, some violent, a pandemic, economic uncertainty… It’s a lot, but it would be disingenuous of me to just post another paper doll, because to do so would be to suggest that this tiny niche hobby I participate in (I sometimes call it the niche-ist of niche hobbies) is somehow insulated from the structural white supremacy that pervades the rest of the culture of the United States. It is not and that is what I am going to talk about today.
To demonstrate it’s insidious presence even in paper dolls, I am going to discuss something I have never spoken about publicly before. I want to talk about three things I have been told in regards to paper doll skin-tone and how I see these things perpetuating white supremacy.
I have heard all of these more than once, both in conversations, comments and through emails. Let me begin by saying that I am a cis white woman. I know that I do things and think things that perpetuate racism. I try very hard to fight this tendency, but I know it is there. This is not an attempt to suggest my experiences are in anyway comparable to those of a people of color. Benefiting from the system of white supremacy means I am insulated from many harsher realities. Having said that, I hope sharing this will help illustrate how insidious this is.
1. That I should do more white paper dolls, because I have fewer white paper dolls and it should be even.
What this highlights is a tendency of people to lump diversity into a binary- white folks, all other folks. That’s really not accurate. Why should a person who has red-brown skin have to play with a paper doll that has yellow-brown skin? Why does society treat those as the “same”? They aren’t. There are hundreds of skin tones. All deserve to be depicted. Two white dolls, one black doll and one asian doll isn’t equality of depiction. White supremacy teaches that white is the logical default skin tone and other skin tones should be grouped together as one. This in turn creates an normal vs abnormal mentality which reinforces structural racism.
2. That my historical paper dolls aren’t accurate if they aren’t white.
This highlights the tendency of people to perceive the historical past as white. This isn’t true. There have been people of African descent in Europe since Roman times. History is a lot more diverse than school taught most of us. It feels off to many to see a brown paper doll in Regency dress, because structural racism tells people that history was white. Anything which violates the narrative of white skin being the historical default is automatically suspect.
3. That it’s nice that I draw so many brown paper dolls, but maybe I should stop for my own good.
This is usually phrased as a helpful suggestion. “Have you considered how much more popular your site would be if you did more white paper dolls?” Or “It’s great that you value diversity, but have you thought about how much better your work would sell if you made X paper doll white?” The message is- if you want to be popular, make more white paper dolls. White skin is the gateway to gains and benefits.
I do want to note that the vast majority of the feedback I get is from happy people who are over joyed to have found a paper doll that looked like their grandchild/niece/daughter/friend. Those comments are lovely, but today I wanted to speak about these. I doubt anyone who has written to me in the last ten years was intentionally perpetuating white supremacy. That’s what makes it scary and that’s what makes it hard to fight- internally and externally. It’s so insidious.
So, let me close with this, I can do better. I am trying to do better. I believe anyone can learn and do better. Below are some of resources I have found really useful. Maybe some of you will find them useful, too.
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo which I haven’t read all of, but what I have read is great. I wish this book had existed when I first was trying to work out these issues in my head, because it is such a useful roadmap. And each chapter is very digestible.
I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood by Tiana Clark is an amazing book of poetry, much of which deals with race. For pleasure, I read a lot of poetry. I decided last year to try to read mostly books published within the last two years written by women of color. This one is my favorite of them, so far.
Am I perfect about all this? Nope, not at all. Am I working on it? I am trying.
And if you want to follow some amazing black illustrators doing wonderful work who deserve attention, I would recommend the following on Instagram (where I get most of my art these days): @renaldo_barnette (he also does paper dolls!) ; @asieybarbie; @melmadedooks; @gdbee and @artofedge.
Lastly, I know these are scary times. I’ll still be creating and sharing my paper dolls and I’ll still be thinking about these topics as I go through my life. I believe society can get better, but the first step is identifying and speaking openly about the problem.
I have neither the skill or mental capacity right now to moderate a discussion on this very complicated topic, so I am closing the comments. Stay safe everyone!
The last time I did a Tudor clothing paper doll, many years ago, I focused on Henrician gowns. You can see that paper doll here. This time, however, I wanted draw a few other styles from that period. So, along with the Henrician gowns I drew several later styles which were popular in second part of the 1500s, but don’t have easy names (or if they do, I don’t know them.)
Her underwear is a shift, which has been extremely simplified to deal with the sleeves of gowns (the sleeves would have been much fuller and ended in a ruffle/cuff.) Her pair of bodies are a combination of a set from an effigy of Queen Elizabeth in 1603 and those in a famous portrait of Elizabeth Vernon circa 1600. A well cited article about Queen Elizabeth I’s effigy bodies is Sarah Bendall’s Elizabeth I Effigy Bodies Reconstruction. The paper doll has a Spanish farthingale- cone shaped hoops to support skirts that is separate. Spanish Farthingale’s gave dresses their distinct triangular look.
For much of Europe’s history, women covered their hair. In the Tudor era, women wore headdresses called “hoods”. As far I can tell from my reading, the popularity of hood styles switched in and out depending on the current Queen. With Henry the 8th, that’s a lot of queens. While the French Hood was worn before (and after) Anne Boleyn, it is definitely most closely associated with her. I chose go with the French Hood, but there was also the English (or Gable) Hood and several other styles.
Her hat is a taffeta pipkin- a narrow brimmed cap made of paper and covered in thin silk taffeta. To cover the hair a jeweled cap was worn, which is a style that was also common in Germany.
Black was one of the most expensive colors to dye fabric (in part because it look a lot of dye). Crimson and scarlet were also popular colors.I made one of her dresses primarily black and the other a very deep dark red, but it looks black depending on the computer screen settings I realized after I finished.
So, why a Tudor clothing paper doll, you might ask? Because my Patrons voted for it! The poll I shared with my patrons had a three way tie- Tudor, 1970s and 1890s. I’m still working on the 1890s and the 1970s.
I finished the Tudor clothing paper dolls first, because I had already been working on her underwear. Next up will either be 1970s or 1890s… I haven’t decided which one yet. Both are in progress.
If you’d like to get to vote on things like which paper dolls I draw, join us over on Patreon.
Choosing favorite printable princess paper dolls was really hard! But I knew if I did a gallery of all my princess paper dolls than that would be huge and unwieldy.
So, what makes a printable princess paper doll? I have no idea, but I think it’s a fantasy lady sort of thing.
Printable Princess Paper Dolls I Love
Wa and Qi Lolita Inspired
Do you remember all these? Did I miss one of your favorites? Let me know in a comment. I love to hear from you.
On my short list of favorite paper dolls are evening gowns. When it comes to printable kids activities, I know not all my paper dolls are super kid designed. However, when I was a kid my favorite paper dolls were the ones with fancy gowns and historical ones. So, I think of today’s paper dolls as being a printable kids activity.
Dusk is only my second Doll Du Jour design. She’s joining Dawn from a few weeks ago.
I knew I wanted to do a set of fancy evening gowns. I wasn’t planning to draw as many purses as I did, but then as I was doing layout, there was a lot of empty space. So, I thought, I’ll fill up this space with clutch purses!
Listen, I don’t judge how your brain works.
One of the fun things about the Dolls Du Jour pose that is that is is really good for showing off trains on dresses. I’m not great at drawing trains, but I do love the idea of them. In practice, I think actually having to deal with one would be super annoying.
I went back and forth about the colors for her dresses, but in the end I decided I wanted to focus on some less typical shades for women’s evening wear. I tend to do a lot of red and blue evening gowns, so I decided on yellow and coral. These colors feel fresh to me. Plus, warm and summery.
The sources on the dresses I honestly can’t remember. I suspect they were also David’s Bridal or some other website. I confess that with the disruption to my life from the Covid-19 thing has sort of blurred my brain.
Anyway, what were your favorite paper dolls when you were a child? Let me know in a comment.
I know I’ve told this story before on this blog, but for those of you who are new, I shall tell it again. When I was a child, my grandmother sent a space princess paper doll card to either me or my sister. Our birthdays are within just a few days of each other. Anyway, I don’t remember much about that era, but I darn well remember that card.
In honor of that, I have a history of creating space princess original paper dolls from this one to this one to today’s, which is made up of my favorite gowns from my Space Princess Week last year. Like most of my Friday paper dolls these days, this paper doll is a “reboot” of older materials, except I’m posting her on Monday, because she’s finished.
Back in 2019, my patrons voted for this space princess paper doll over many other options. I seem to recall I was a little surprised that this was the winner. Space princesses not being typical paper doll topics, but I like letting my patrons have input.
Designing my original paper dolls is always fun, but this one was particularly joyful. Guo Pei’s collections were a big influence on all these gowns. She has a wonderful, almost fantastical style with a strong traditional Chinese influence. A nice article on her work- Guo Pei: Couture Beyond.
A few more inspirations this hair, this gown, this gown both from Dior 2006. Space princess paper dolls need over the top clothing. I recently bought this book on Star Trek Costumes. I keep thinking about what makes something feel futuristic.
I associate purples and gold with futuristic space clothing. So, they made sense as the color scheme for the space princess and her space princess gowns. I don’t entirely know why purple always feels futuristic to me. It’s a very old dye color.
What do you think of today’s space princess? Are you into sci-fi paper dolls? I love them, but they aren’t very common. Let me know what you think in a comment.
I have attempted to complete the 100 Day Project every year for the last 3 years, maybe 4? One year, I succeeded and have not finished every other year that I have attempted the activity. Most years, I enjoy the attempt, but eventually I lose interest, life gets busy, and I fall so far behind that I feel overwhelmed and give up. Inevitably, I end the year feeling like a failure for having not finished.
Not like in a horrible way, just in that nagging “I wish I’d done that” way.
Lately though, I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of choosing things proactively, rather than reactively. In deciding to do X rather than Y, even when I’m sort of embarrassed about Y. So, one of the things I have decided is that I am not going to continue the 100 Day Project. This year it is going to be a choice, rather than a failure. I am deciding to stop.
Why am I not finishing the 100 day project?
Well, a few reasons.
The biggest reason is that I was dreading picking up my notebook. Just dreading it. I use a smaller sketchbook for this project. Sometimes, I can work through this feeling and come out the other side. This is the ideal. However, given the number of the times, I’ve put the sketchbook down and then ignored it for days while feeling bad about ignoring and dreading picking it up again- I don’t think that’s happening this time.
My Last piece from the 100 Day Project 2020
I’d rather focus instead on my 365 Day Patreon Project (which is humming along happily) and continuing to work on Jewels and Gemstones 2.0, along with the Doll Du Jour series. Plus, I am working on some needed backend blog stuff which should improve site performance.
Lastly, though not least, I am taking a creative writing class for the next 3 months. It’s weekly and I’m super excited about it, but I want to give it my best effort. That means taking time to really dedicate to it and between Patreon and the Blog, time is sometimes in short supply.
Right now, other things are more important to me. And I am okay with that.
I love reading the fashion magazines in March when they publish the big spring fashion reports. It’s probably my second favorite time to buy fashion magazines. September is my other favorite time. So, one of the things I look for in those magazines are the trends for inspiration when drawing paper dolls with clothes.
One of the trends of 2020 it polka-dots. I knew I wanted to draw some! I love polka-dots. They’re whimsical and playful which is the best way to create paper dolls. There should be something playful about them, don’t you think?
Each of the clothing items I drew for this paper doll was a bit girly-ruffles for sleeves, pleats and such. The grey and coral is a color combination I love and there’s something feminine about polka-dots. Hence the pinks and ruffles.
I also wanted to repeat the circular shape in the dolls hair and her purse. I thought the afro would be a fun match to the polka-dots. Plus, while I have drawn a fair number of black paper dolls, not very many of them have afros.
I also used polka-dots when I was showing how I put patterns on my paper doll clothes. So, if you’re wondering how this paper doll with clothes got her polka-dots, read this tutorial. I still use this method.
What do you think of polka-dots? Are you a fan? I confess I love them, but I rarely wear them.
By the way, you might notice there’s some new layout things around here. I’m trying out a new theme to try to speed up the sites load time- which tends towards the awful. Let me know if anyone notices the change!
I have been really debating what to do about the pandemic. On one hand, I am not in anyway qualified to give anyone medical advice. (I’m qualified to maybe give archives/library/paper doll advice.) On the other hand, I wanted to respond to the current crisis somehow. It felt weird to pretend it wasn’t happening out in the outside world beyond my small isolated corner of it.
So, I decided to respond in paper doll fashion, plus I figure people need kids activity ideas right now. You need to occupy children at home and while I don’t have kids, I have a lot of empathy for folks who do.
When Alaska mandated facemasks a few weeks ago, I pulled out my trusty fabric stash and sewed up a few for me, my partner and some friends who didn’t sew. I’ll openly confess I’m not a great seamstress and mostly I work in doll clothing creation, but the mask pattern was easy enough. I used the New York Times pattern for the pleated mask. Now the mandate is lifted, but I still wear my mask when grocery shopping, as the CDC recommends.
Originally, I had planned to make the face masks for the paper dolls removable, but my prototypes did not work. So, instead, they are permanently attached to each doll. I thought about doing extra heads- the way Dolly Dingle sometimes does- but frankly that kind freaks me out. Paper doll decapitation feels weird for a kids activity idea.
I’ve done all the Jewels and Gemstones paper dolls here, so each page has three dolls and there are 9 dolls in total- Sapphire, Ruby, Pearl, Diamond, Opal, Topaz, Amethyst, Lapis, and Jade. I try not to have favorites, but I really like how Opal’s bangs came out in this set.
I also wanted to do a variety of mask styles. None of these are N-95, but rather the sorts of masks you might wear to the store. There seem to be two major styles- the curved one and the pleated one. I have a pleated mask, but I have seem lots of patterns for curved masks and those seem more popular among the folks I see during my rare grocery forays.
Sharing a new paper doll series is always a little stressful. When I design paper dolls to dress, I think about body poses and I think a lot about how many different styles I think I can get from a single body pose. A few perks of this pose are the 3/4 view and the spread legs, which open up some design options.
She will be hard to make into a mermaid though…
Anyway, the first version of this paper doll showed up on Instagram back in 2018. I had to do some extensive redrawing, because the sketchbook was ruined while traveling to Alaska.
Fixing her right foot was also a priority.
A huge thanks you to my Patrons! Sheryl helped me name the series and had the amazing idea to name the dolls after temporal themes. I love this! Because I tend to like giving my paper dolls names that are not really names. I mean, you can find people named Dawn, but like there aren’t a lot of Dusk or Evening named folks running around.
I like to test out new series with sets that show me how many clothing pieces I can fit on a page. After all, the whole point of paper dolls to dress is that you want to dress them. Otherwise, why have the clothing at all?
Denim is the base of most modern wardrobes. Knowing that I have denim done, so to speak, allows for more variety in later sets. Every person (or paper doll) needs a good pair of jeans after all.
What do you think of this new series? Let me know in a comments! And head over to join us on Patreon if you want to someday help name a paper doll series.
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.
