Of all the paper doll series I’ve ever done, there’s something about these steampunk coloring pages I did for two years creating different pieces for a neo-Victorian fantasy trousseau that I still adore. It was just so much fun to create and tapped into my love of trousseaux.
But I’d never rounded up all this set and put it together before, I thought I would today. If you have a chance, I would urge you to visit each post, because there are detailed explanations of the outfits in these steampunk coloring pages and where they came from. Many of them were inspired by actual Victorian clothing and I often link to the sources.
Greta’s Trousseau: A Collection of Steampunk Coloring Pages
Now, I will openly admit that I have a lot more steampunk paper doll stuff that you can see under the steampunk and Victorian inspired paper doll tags, but I still have a soft place in my heart for these pages.
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll When I was a kid the mother of a good friend’s cousin (talk about strange connections, huh?) was a belly dancer. When I was eight or nine, we had a sleep over at their house and tried on a bunch of her mom’s belly dancing stuff.
I was a chubby kid and I remember being so surprised that this older woman (who was not skinny by any means) would be willing to put on a bra and skirt and dance at all.
It was a strange idea- that there was a sort of dancing that didn’t have to be done only by skinny people. At the time it felt empowering, though as an adult, I realize that empowerment is complicated by institutionalized racism, sexualization of Middle Eastern women, and a whole lot of Victorian orientalist baggage.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll I don’t know much about actual belly dancing costumes and I’m not an expert on their history. I looked up belly dancing costume sites like Belly Dance.com and Belly Dance Digs. I did want to include finger cymbals which are also called “zill”.
Why? Because my rule has always been not to post anything with sacred religious meaning. None of my research suggested that there was religious meaning in belly dance costumes, unlike, for example, Native American regalia (which often includes holy symbols) or Catholic nun habits.
In case you’ve ever wondered why I don’t have any nun paper dolls, now you know.
Tomorrow on Patreon there will be a medieval inspired princess paper doll for my Patrons. Join now and you can check her out too!
I want to do more dance costumes. Any suggestions? I’m thinking maybe Irish step or a classic tutu.
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll The first paper doll outfits I drew for the Jewels and Gemstones were fantasy gowns. This was one of them. The other, I’ll be sharing on Friday for my Patrons.
I tend to return to these sorts of medieval inspired fantasy gowns when I don’t know what to draw. I don’t know why, exactly, but it’s a style I like and a style that doesn’t take a lot of thought for me. I think?
I’m not sure.
There are things like these sorts of gowns (another example, and another, and another) that are simple and I can draw without having to look at lots of source images or worry about historical accuracy.
The paper doll equivalent of that recipe you make over and over again, because you know it will come out. Maybe not super innovative, but comforting. The pumpkin bread of paper doll clothing.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll Today’s paper doll gown lacks a real specific inspiration. Medieval clothing, I suppose, but only in a fantasy universe sort of way.
Specific Source Images: I haven’t got any this time.
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll It endlessly fascinates me that in my Etsy store, my second best selling paper doll clothing are my contemporary designs, but on the blog and social media, these styles get the least feedback or attention. I don’t know why the difference exists, exactly, but I am intriqued that it does.
Anyway, the contemporary paper dolls are fun to draw for me, because I’m always interested in what is happening in the fashion world. Today’s fashionable paper doll is a pretty simple outfit, but also one I think is very work appropriate.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll I wanted to draw pants. I am not kidding. In my early sketching for the Jewels and Gemstones, I noticed that I had drawn nothing but skirts to start with. I thought to myself, “I need pants.”
Specific Source Images: The shoes were based on an add I saw in Instyle Magazine. I don’t have the issue anymore and don’t recall the brand.
Last Thoughts It occurred to me as I writing this blog post, that while I drew this paper doll in her work chic clothing, I don’t actually know a lot of plus-sized work brands. I know Eloquii, but I don’t know any others. I’m sure there are others out there. Some people recommend Torrid, but I find their clothing a little too casual for work (or at least my work) most of the time. I don’t wear plus sizes, so it’s not a problem I’ve had to tackle much.
Readers, are there great brands of plus sized work clothing that I’m missing? Let me know!
As I often do, I want to make sure that I thank my Patrons, their support makes this possible. I know that it isn’t possible for everyone to support the blog financially, so you can always share on social media, follow me on social media or tell a friend about it.
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll On some level, I draw the sorts of paper dolls I wanted as a child. I wanted hundreds of outfits. I didn’t want 100s of dolls, but one doll with a huge wardrobe. Well, now a days I also recognize the importance of doll variety (being that I am no longer 12) and I have too much fun drawing different dolls to just have one.
Beyond all that, I draw things that I feel like drawing. This isn’t great for the sites stats, but it does make me happy. Sometimes, that means I draw a Viking woman warrior in the form of a paper doll outfit. I firmly believe anything can become paper doll clothing. (Not anything SHOULD become paper doll clothing, but that’s a whole different issue, you know?)
Now, I admit things get a little random around here. This week they certainly will, but I hope everyone has as much fun as I do with the random.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll In my head, I sort of organize my fantasy paper dolls in to several categories based on their general aesthetic. There’s Asia inspired or Renaissance inspired or Russia inspired. Today’s set was Viking inspired, but I mean… it’s a fantasy outfit, but it feels Viking to me.
Specific Source Images:This Viking Woman Warrior which I found on Pinterest and couldn’t find a source for, sadly. It’s lovely digital art. Let me know if you know the artist.
Last Thoughts Today’s Viking inspired fantasy outfit will be followed by some professional wear tomorrow. See, I said this week would be random.
This week’s random collection would have gone up last week, but cybergoth won the poll I gave those who support me on Patreon. If you want some input into those things, you can join us there.
Now, I know I will always sometimes have random weeks, because I don’t always want to draw a bunch of the same thing, but I am curious. Do you prefer weeks with themes or weeks of random? I feel a little divided. I think theme weeks are great if you like the theme, but maybe little dull if you happen to hate cybergoth or something. What do you think? Let me know in a comment.
Maybe it’s because I’m a cardigan wearing librarian in the real world (seriously, I wear a cardigan to work nearly very day), but people are always shocked to find me listening to the Sex Pistols and the Ramones in my car.
I don’t know why. I love 1970s classic punk music and so today I thought I’d feature the paper dolls I’ve drawn embracing punk fashion. I think this is all of them, but this collection wasn’t was easy to put together as some of my other archives dives might be.
Most of the Punk Paper Dolls of Paper Thin Personas
I know it might have been more apropos to do a cybergoth round up today, since that was this week’s theme, but as I’ve only ever drawn one cybergoth paper doll- Circuits and Fishnet– before this week I didn’t feel like that was really enough for an archives dive when a simple link would do.
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll And today is the last day for cybergoth week on the blog (but there is a Friday additional post on Patreon for my backers).
One thing I noticed in my cybergoth research was a real prevalence of black with a strong accent color and an aesthetic that emphasized matching clothing pieces. So, for example, if the accent color was pink than I wasn’t seeing a lot of deviation from that pink. That meant, that I stuck to just five colors- black, white, pink, blue and green for this whole week.
All of those colors are in the Lapis’s cyberlox if you’re wondering. I did think about that.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll As I often do, I cobbled together several different outfits and pieces to make today’s outfit. Since I used pretty much the same sources for this whole week (because it was a project drawn all at once), I seem to be linking to the same things every time. But that’s okay, because who knows how people will view these posts in the future.
Last Thoughts I know striped tights are kinda of a 90s/2000s thing, but I still love them. Probably because I was in high school back then. Well… early 2000s really. I graduated in 2003.
Over on Patreon there will be an exclusive cybergoth outfit for my Patrons. It’s maybe my favorite one for this whole week.
If you’re ever wondering what my sketchbook looks like or seeing little videos of me inking, than follow me on Instagram. That’s where I tend to share that stuff… Well, Instagram and Patreon.
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll As we continue cybergoth fashion week, today’s outfit is one of less traditional. I noticed some cybergoth images used white as the neutral color rather than black. I didn’t want to do a solid white outfit, because I wasn’t sure how well it would mix and match with the rest of the clothing designs. So, I settled on a white and black combination.
I titled this set “blue bones” because the piece over the shirt looks like ribs and a spine to me.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll I loved the original body suit this top is based on, but I had no idea how to make it a viable paper doll outfit!
Specific Source Images: This Fierce Fashionista (her body suit) and these Pants found on Pinterest
Last Thoughts I always try to remember to thank my supporters on Patreon, because they make the blog possible. So, thank you all!
There must be a term in linguistics for creating new words by combining other words like cyberpunk + goth = cybergoth. I have no idea what it is though. Too long since I took a linguistics class in college. Anyone know?
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll As we continue our cybergoth theme, I thought it would be fun to share a little fact that I don’t know how many of my readers know. My first cybergoth paper doll, Circuits and Fishnet, remains to this day the only paper doll I’ve ever had someone tell me was not appropriate for children.
As I said that the time, if you don’t think the paper doll is appropriate for children than might I suggest not giving it to any? That’ll solve the problem.
Seriously though, I’m fascinated that a paper doll (of all things) got an angry email from a reader.
I guess you never can tell what will set someone off.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll I didn’t have a lot of specific reference images. The dress was based on my own design, though I did use a lot of source images for aesthetic reasons. I’ve linked two below.
Last Thoughts One of the challenges of cybergoth fashion for me is the styles love of pvc which is very shiny. So, this whole set was a great challenge for me in my “shiny” reflection skills. I love to challenge myself.
This week would have been random stuff, but my patrons voted for cybergoth. Supporting the blog through Patreon keeps it on the interwebs.
Also, when ever I see those furry leg warmers, my thought is- “Omg, someone skinned a Muppet.”
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll This week every post on the blog (and the Friday post for my patrons) will be cybergoth themed. I’m sort of excited, because I haven’t done cybergoth paper dolls in a long time- the last one was in 2012.
So, based on my limited understanding, Cybergoth is largely a European fashion style. It’s basically what might happen if rave fashion and goth fashion had a love child with an obsession with crazy hair pieces. Think a lot of torn fishnet and pvc, plus gas masks and googles. It’s not a style I would ever wear (but like, neither are 99% of my paper dolls) and that’s okay!
The hair pieces are really important to the style, so I knew I needed to make sure I had one.
Inspiration for Today’s Paper Doll A lot of cybergoth clothing style is very close to being cyberpunk or rave fashion. The hairpieces are a big differentiator, so I spent a fair bit of time researching what are often called “cyberlox” which is a combination of the words cyber and dreadlocks. Some of them are even made of fiberoptic materials or rubber.
I rarely put a NSFW disclaimer on anything, because I draw paper dolls and they’re hardly X rated, but I will openly state that some of the Tumblrs I have linked too, while I didn’t see any nudity, there’s a fair bit of fetish fashion and sexy content. So, don’t be surprised by that.
When I was a kid, my neighbor had a book of illustrations of flower fairies. There was one for every letter of the alphabet and I coveted that book so badly as a kid. Today I thought I would offer a round-up of fairy paper dolls I’ve done over the years. Each image leads to original post where you can download the printable fairy paper dolls.
A Gallery Of Printable Fairy Paper Dolls
Remember: Just Because the main post image is a color paper doll, doesn’t mean there isn’t a black and white version linked to in the post.
Just so you all know, this is my plan for Friday posts for the future. Every Friday, I’ll put up a roundup of things from the archives. If you want an extra paper doll outfit or doll, join up on my Patreon page.
Thoughts on Today’s Paper Doll One of the quirky thing about creating a long term project like Paper Thin Personas is that I tend to think “Oh, everyone reads every post” and then reality is that most people don’t read every post. I probably shouldn’t worry so much about repeating myself when I write these posts.
So, at the danger of repeating myself, I should say that today’s paper doll is a theme I have done many times before. I do love pulpy improbable fantasy armor.
I get that this armor caters to the “male gaze.” I understand it wouldn’t work to possibly defend yourself. And I know it’s completely illogical, sexualized, and ridiculous.
And I really don’t care- I still like it.
I believe that the best thing you can do when you like something is to draw it, because you like it. No one else has to be pleased or satisfied with my paper dolls, but me.
Well, me and my Patrons, but they’re a pretty supportive lot.
Last Thoughts Tomorrow will be the first Archives post featuring fairy paper dolls. It should be super fun. I didn’t realize how many fairies I had drawn over the years.
Over on Patreon there will be an exclusive snow princess paper doll for my Patrons. Join and you can see her, too.
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