black paper dolls

Ensemble Electica: Sweat in Style

A sporty fashion paper doll with an 11 piece mix and match wardrobe. She's a coloring page.
A sporty fashion paper doll with an 11 piece mix and match wardrobe. She has a micro-afro and a soft ocean inspired color scheme.

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Around the same time I was working on my tennis paper doll, I found myself thinking- I should draw some work out clothing for the Ensemble Electica paper dolls. Mostly, I was thinking this, because I hadn’t yet and who doesn’t want to draw paper doll leggings? (Probably plenty of people, but they don’t run a paper doll website.)

Personally, my favorite workout is yoga. I love how I feel after I do yoga. So, I included a yoga mat and the kind of clothing I would wear to do yoga if I was the sort of person who had dedicated yoga outfits. Aspirational yoga attire. My actual yoga attire is leggings and an oversized t-shirt with a walrus on it from the Indianapolis zoo, because the walrus is really cute and I like walrus.

So, this isn’t really a yoga paper doll, as much as a sporty fashion paper doll. Maybe she’s old school and going to step aerobics. (I actually also kinda love step aerobics.) Maybe she’s just putting on cute workout clothing to go out and buy a bagel. Who can say?

The dress was an extra piece from my tennis paper doll that I thought I would use here, as it wouldn’t fit on the tennis paper doll as I was doing the layout. Maybe she’s a really good tennis player.

Since I drew my sporty fashion paper doll and was coloring her at the same time I colored my tennis fashion paper doll, the most important thing to me was that the color scheme feel totally different. I didn’t want it to have the same vibe at all. So, the tennis paper doll’s vibe is very bright and fresh. This vibe is more calming and low key.

Ensemble Electica: A 1938 Paper Doll

A fashionable lady 1938 paper doll with a four piece wardrobe to color and play with.
A fashionable black lady 1938 paper doll with a four piece wardrobe to print.

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Today’s creation is a 1938 paper doll with dresses from that year. I did a preview of these 1930s paper dolls a while ago. So, here we are, debuting the first member of that collection. I am super happy with how she came out.

In the late 1930s is the time, you begin to see some hints of what will come in the 1940s. Particularly, the strong shoulders that will be the big trend in the next decade. Skirts are also a bit shorter. It’s a fun time period, though the sleeves aren’t quite as wacky as they were earlier in the decade.

One new to me thing I tried out with these paper dolls was this jacket technique I’ve seen other do. Where the jacket can be a layering piece with the top of the dress as one piece. I’ve not really done that before. One thing I noticed when going through 1930s fashion magazines, was a lot of shrugs and jackets designed to match dresses. Bare arms were either a super casual or super formal- it’s like ballgown or tennis dress, but not afternoon shopping. Social rules are weird.

Most of the fashions in this paper doll were copied from Fashion Service Magazine‘s Summer 1938 Issue. This was the magazine of the Woman’s Institute. I picked up a digital version from Mrs. Depew. This magazines helped a home sewists create the latest fashions for herself or as a home business. I don’t know how popular it was, but it seems less trendy than some of others I have seen. I did use a few books from my own collection for hats and shoes, because the magazine was mostly about things people sew. Shoes not being known for being homemade, even in the 1930s.

Because planning projects fully isn’t really my jam (to the surprise of none of my long time readers), I had a few extra pieces that wouldn’t fit on this page for all my 1930s sets. So, those’ll be a paid patron exclusive while I post this series. My thank you for those folks who help support this little corner of the internet. I’ll probably post it on Friday, if I can (this is never a certainty.)

Cut & Color Couture: A Touch of Steampunk

A steampunk printable paper doll with outfits to color. There are five different clothing pieces.

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Today’s paper doll with outfits to color is the first of two steampunk designs I did for the Cut and Color Couture Series, which are totally interchangeable, should you wake up one morning and want to do that. That other paper doll isn’t quite ready for primetime yet though, so it maybe a few weeks before the steampunk wardrobe gets to expand. I drew these outfits from my Pinterest Board devoted to Steampunk Fashion. As happens often, I did not keep good notes on my sources here.

I have been trying to be more careful when I am designing paper doll with outfits to color. I spent some time coloring with my niece and it was harder than I’d thought to get into some of those tiny spaces. I still had fun, of course, but I was never a big “coloring” kid. I don’t have as much experience with coloring paper dolls as I do drawing them.

For today’s paper doll, I attempted to draw bandu knots (a protective style for natural hair, as I understand it). I think I needed to place the knots more forward on the head to get the right angle… Next time! That’s one of the fun things about paper dolls- I can always try again. Drawing hair is challenging for me (not as hard as hands, but it’s up there) and so I just think you have to keep practicing.

When people ask me how to learn to draw paper dolls, the only advice I have to just draw and then draw more. It’s not very helpful advice, so I usually just keep my mouth shut.

Snowflake Sophistication: Winter Princess Paper Doll

A winter princess paper doll coloring page with two dresses and accessories.
A winter princess paper doll with two dresses and accessories.

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When I think of a winter princess paper doll, I think of elegance, but also quiet and soft colors. I like winter and I love bright colors, but this time of year where I live, everything feels muted. The mountains in the distance look pale blue and white and they seem to melt into the sky.

So, when designed a winter princess paper doll, I went for blues and soft purples and lots of layers.

I was inspired by this Winter Princess Dress from 2018. In my little paper doll world, “big gown” is my mental short hand for these 1860s inspired gowns that have bit skirts with lots of fancy layers. I realize that these gowns don’t have to be for princesses, but I watched a lot of Disney at an impressionable age and therefore I will always associate princesses with these big gowns.

In my head today’s winter princess gowns are the sort of thing a fairy tale princess might wear while wandering through a snow covered landscape. Possibly to meet a prince or possibly just because, she felt like it. Princes need not always be involved. 

In fact, princes never really were involved in my princess games as a child. They were not needed. Princess could do everything they needed to do.

So, I will admit that I had to get pretty close to the edge to fit on these big skirted princess dresses, but since the images I made had a .5 inch border, they should still print just fine onto letter sized paper. I would strongly recommend adding floating tabs to the backs of these skirts to help hold them to the doll.

What do you think? Do you love winter?

Bright Boho With Summer Styles

A trendy paper doll with brown skin and black microbraids with a 12 piece mix and match wardrobe. Her clothing is boho and inspired by dutch wax print colors.
A trendy paper doll printable coloring page with brown skin and black microbraids with a 12 piece mix and match wardrobe. Her clothing is boho.

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I wanted to draw a sort of trendy paper doll. Two trends inspired this paper doll, one from Summer 2023 (boho) and one from fall 2023 (red). However, while I try to keep my paper dolls up to date (as best as I can), the fact is that there’s a bit of lag between when I draw a paper doll and when I actually finish a paper doll. Things move fast in the fashion world.

Fashion is a world that is pretty alien to me, as I live in Alaska and mostly wear hiking boots, cardigans, and hoodies, though the resurgence of grudge means I am marginally in style these days. It’s very weird. I’m not used to that at all.

Most of the paper dolls that I say were inspired by previous work, I think it’s kinda obvious. This one is a little more subtle, because it really took a very different turn than the original set. Wings and Petals, a paper doll set from 2010, inspired this set.

African dutch wax print patterns inspired the colors of today’s trendy paper doll. If you’ve never checked them out, I love dutch wax print fabric. I just adore the color combinations.

Happy Halloween: Here’s a Little Gothic Fashionista

Celebrate the October season with this little printable Halloween dress up doll and her gothic wardrobe. A coloring page, this paper doll has a 14 piece mix and match wardrobe.
Celebrate the October season with this Halloween dress up doll printable. She has a cute modern gothic wardrobe and lots of mix and match clothing options.

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I created today’s gothic themed paper doll for Halloween. So, I hope you enjoy this little paper Halloween dress up doll. Clearly, I’ve been digging into drawing skulls which I did here. One of the wonderful things about digital drawing is that it is so easy to work with reference images and you can resize them with much more ease, so the skulls are a big part of that.

One thing I’ve noticed about most alt fashion scenes is that there are endless nuances. It seems to me that there’s often “formal” alt-fashion and then also sort of street level alt-fashion. Things people wear and then also go onto the train, rather than just get photographed posing beautifully next to a headstone.

Last week’s three Ensemble Eclectica: Gothic Glamor Collection paper dolls were all more over the top and this paper doll is more street level fashion. While I know very little about where someone buys gothic fashion, The brand Fantasmagoria inspired both the paper doll’s cropped red corset top and also her hairstyle. The brand Heavy Red inspired the corset over the t-shirt look

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this little foray into paper dolls and has a safe, happy, slightly spooky Halloween! Or Samhain or Día de Muertos or anything else that’s happening around this time of year.

Rose, Coffee, And Mint Redux

A black and white children's paper doll printable with a mix and match wardrobe. She has two dresses, pants, two skirts, four tops, a pair of shoes and two purses.
A children's paper doll printable of a fashionable black woman with a mix and match wardrobe. She has two dresses, pants, two skirts, four tops, a pair of shoes and two purses.

Download Black and White PDF | Download Color PDF | More Paper Dolls from the Ensemble Eclectica Series

Today’s paper doll really feels like a children’s paper doll to me. Don’t get me wrong, I would give any of my paper dolls to my niece (or nephew, if he showed any interest.) However, occasionally, I have a paper doll that I make that I think… this is super kid friendly. Today’s paper doll is one of those very kid friendly designs.

When I think about what makes a children’s paper doll different from one I’ve drawn for adults, it mostly boils down to how easy it is to play with. I believe this paper doll is very easy to play with, which makes it a lot of fun. All of her clothing is in colors that go well together. You can mix and match her outfits in many different ways. She has either 14 outfits or 28 outfits, depending on how much you like shoes. That’s like having a whole closet full of clothes for this little paper fashionista. Also, she’s pretty easy to cut out. The only tricky part might be the shoulders under her hair or maybe the purses. Still, I managed those when I was a kid, so I thin other kids could too.

Like my floral retro paper doll, an earlier paper doll, Coffee, Strawberry and Cream, inspired today’s paper doll. I drew that one in 2011, over a decade ago. That’s hard to believe, but true. One thing I loved from that paper doll was the rose dress and the striped dress. Both are so fun then and I still like them, years later. I remember being so proud of Coffee, Strawberry and Cream when she came out.

There’s a similarity between this paper doll and Lillian, a paper doll from Paper Doll School.Actually, a lot of Julie’s paper dolls are super kid friendly, particularly her long running Kawaii Kids series. I digress. Enjoy the paper doll!

A Spring or Autmn Little Cottage Core Paper Doll

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So, most of the clothing for this paper doll began it’s life as clothing for the Dark Victoriana themed paper doll, but that was back when I thought I was going to make all these dolls two page sets. I have since decided I just didn’t feel like drawing two page sets. So I drew a few new pieces and then ended up here.

This whole series is heavily inspired by a long running paper doll series Julie Matthews did called Fashion Doll Fridays. Those dolls were vector drawn and ran weekly on her site from around 2012 until 2016. I think this is the first one. (Did I get that right, Julie?) She still occasionally shares a set that matches like these football paper dolls. Now one of the things I realized over the last few months is that the only way I will get better at digital drawing (and I do want to get better) and more skilled with Procreate (which is the program I am using) is to draw in it.

However, I really dislike how it manages color, so that I am still doing in Photoshop.

As for shadows… I dunno. I’m unconvinced I like them. I do want to try some more digital techniques and see where I end up. I’m particularly curious to play around with pattern brushes in Procreate and also with a more painterly look.

But in the meantime, my line-work needs work and the best way to do that is to keep drawing and just keep drawing.

Pastel Winter Printable Paper Doll

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Something about winter and pastel colors makes me really happy. I think it might be that where I grew up in Alaska, there was a very long dusk, especially in winter. The sun would never get very high in the sky and so the snow on the mountains would turn the most brilliant pink color as it reflected the light.

Maybe that’s why I associate pastel colors with winter. They feel softer and somehow more mellow and quiet- all things I also associate with winter.

The truth is, if I maybe honest, I wanted to do this set in pastel, because I had this idea of experimenting with texture and I wanted to see how the texture would look on different color schemes. So, this is the first of several dolls I made for this purpose.

Now, since I don’t think I should call this series “Texture Experiment 2.0”, please let me know if you have a series name suggestion. There will be, at least, three of these ladies.

Edit: For a million reasons involving layout and dresses and other things, I ended up resizing and redoing the layout on these paper dolls, so I’ve updated the PDF files. – Rachel 9/12/2023

Galactic Fashions: Another Printable Paper Doll

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So, I wanted to experiment with texture and style. I wanted to see if I still liked the effect of noise texture if the style was less romantic and more something else.

And well, clearly, that something else should be space princesses.

I’m actually really happy with how it came out. I played around with the texture in a way that I think worked well- a larger scale noise effect in the background, but something more subtle for the doll herself. I’m actually very pleased with that part.

Something about this paper doll keeps making me think of 1980s and 1990s cartoons of my childhood like the X-Men and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and She-ra. I was a huge She-ra fan as a kid. One of my friends had a bunch of the She-ra action figures and we would play with them for hours in her bedroom and on her porch. I have a lot of fond memories of that.

All in all this was an successful experiment. I confess I’ve been frustrated a bit with working in Procreate lately (which I think is 100% normal when trying to learn a new skill), so we’ll see how I feel about everything in a few more days.