black paper dolls

Happy 4th of July: Two 18th Century Paper Dolls

To celebrate the 4th of July, I thought I would check out books from the library, sit down and set to work on drawing some historical costumes for Marisole set in the 18th century since the Revolutionary War (Or, as the Brits call it, the Rebellion of the Colonies) was in the 1770s. I’ve only done one other set of historical costumes for the paper doll and they were regency dresses (One set one in July and one in August in 2010). This is about as far from the Regency aesthetic as you can get- the French Revolution did have a way of changing fashion, also of decapitating an awful lot of people. Those wiley French.

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{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for the rest of this series}

So, I’ll confess that when I have to name my favorite periods of historical fashion the 18th century doesn’t get a lot of attention. I’m just not that huge of a fan, but when I was in England I went to the Fashion Museum in Bath and I saw an actual 18th century gown in person. Despite my tendency to dismiss such costumes as too poofy, too over the top, too absurd for my taste, the actual dress was among the most astonishing pieces of craftsmanship I have seen.


marisole-18th-century-paper-doll-2{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print}{Click Here for the rest of this series}

The frustration of drawing historical costumes for Marisole is that her proportions are so darn strange. While I like how she looks, it means that historical dresses (which rely on a specific silhouette) look off. As I drew these costumes, I realized I was going to a have to allow myself to be a little more liberal then my natural leaning for historical accuracy allows and, besides, I don’t really know enough about the 18th Century to be hyper critical of my own work. I won’t say these costumes are historically accurate, I will say they are historically inspired.

Anyway, if you’d like to read more about 18th century costume, I recommend the excellent 18th Century Blog which is full of beautiful pictures and things, as well as, the exhibit Historic Threads. As for books, I used An Elegant Art, Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Fashion in Detail and, of course, Patterns of Fashion: Englishwomen’s Dresses & Their Construction, even if you never plan on sewing one of her patterns, this book is worth every penny just for the historical information. Someday, I will own all of Janet Arnold‘s books… Someday.

Enjoy the paper dolls and, for those in the United States, have a great 4th of July.

Edit 8/23/13: One of these paper dolls is now available in black and white for coloring.

Curves: Teatime Dresses

Sometimes, paper dolls don’t come out like you wanted.

I had planned to do some Sweet or Gothic Lolita style dresses, maybe with striped stockings and some neat hats. I really think the heavy shadowed style lends itself well to all things gothic and that was what I wanted to tap into that. Sort of a dark Alice in Wonderland vibe.

curves-tea-time-paper-doll

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I like the doll- I love her hair and I think her face is quite pretty. Both dresses failed to be what I had hoped they would be. I should have redrawn them, but I didn’t want too. I suppose this is part of the reason I am working on a series to replace this one when I stop caring enough to really edit my work it tends to be a bad sign.

For more successful forays into the Lolita-look try Marisole’s Sugar and Spice and Sugar and Spice 2.0.

I’ve been thinking a bit about the request to show more work in progress. It is something I have been wanting to do for a while, I just have trouble scanning pencil and I’m not sure I like how it comes out… I need to give it more thought. I haven’t given up on the idea yet, I’m just not sure how to make it work.

Marisole Monday: Beneath the Waves

I was going to call this post Under the Sea, but I called my last mermaid paper doll Under the Sea. I didn’t think I could use the name twice, so I did the best I could with another, basically the same name. Synonyms… wonderful things.

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It took me a long time to decide to do a mermaid version of Marisole. It was requested by a few different people, but I put it off since I wasn’t sure how to make tails work with the paper doll’s leg pose. In the end, I drafted both tails in full size several times, before settling on these designs. I wanted to do one traditional green tail and one more tropical exotic tail in the colors of my pet beta fish, Levi. (His full name is Levithan, but I call him Levi for short.) He has more blue in him then the pink and gold of the tail, but I liked the bright colors and though the pale yellow looked wonderful with the pink.

I strongly recommend taking an exact-o knife, or a pair of scissors, and cutting up along the side of the paper doll’s body between her arm and stomach. That way the tops and tails will both fit much better. The placement of the right arm is one of my major frustrations with Marisole. She needs to be redesigned, but that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

Edit: This paper doll is now available in black and white to be colored.

Pixie & Puck: Gloria

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I was in middle school in the early 90’s and, being stuck in Alaska, I tended to believe the outside world really was like what I saw on Saved by the Bell (for those of you too young to remember Saved by the Bell, you have missed out on some classic high school tv soap action). Anyway, a big part of that was beach life and the belief, however grossly incorrect, that extremely tanned bleach blonds were both A: very beautiful and B: very common.

Since then, I have come to feel that very tan bleach blonds are A: Asking for skin cancer and B: kinda wonky looking.

Despite this, I felt a need to relive my childhood with this post. There is no better excuse.

On the upside there is a towel and a pink drink and lots of swimsuit pieces.

Curves: Fantasy Lady

Two quick things before I crawl into bed and call it a night. The first is that I didn’t forget about your paper doll Monica, it’s just taking a little longer then I planned. It’ll be up on next Monday. Secondly, I have realized it might actually be possible to reformat the site to a standard blog format in a way that won’t take hours upon hours of work. So, that will be happening in the future, but this also means as I play around with format there might be times when links get broken or things seem a little odd.

I promise these things will be fixed as soon as I see them (or more likely), someone else sees them and tells me.

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As for the paper doll post today, um… I’m not totally pleased with this set. I drew these paper doll pieces around the same time I did a few others and this was the last set I drew. I tend to draw paper doll series in clumps, so for a few weeks I draw a lot of Curves or I draw a lot of Marisole or Pixie and then I post them as I clean them and polish them up for the site. These groups of images are always mixed. There are some that I’m really proud of and some that I’m less so.

These guys, I’m less proud of, but I really liked the paper doll herself and wanted to post her. I’m just not a huge fan of the dresses. But maybe other people will like them more then I do. What do people think?

Marisole Monday: Pirate Vs. Ninja- Pirate Edition

Sometimes people make the mistake of asking what my favorite novel. This is a really hard question to answer. Usually, I fall back on Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. I read it as a child and return to it every few years. Each time, I am struck by the detail, the care and the complexity. It is a story full of questions of honor, betrayal, revenge and greed. Its villain is compassionate and compelling. Its hero’s are honorable, but hard. It’s a fascinating story. I recommend it to any adult or child who likes adventure tales. Really, I recommend it to anyone ever.

Also, there are pirates. And who doesn’t like pirates? Plus buried treasure and madmen and betrayal and fight scenes.

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{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for the rest of this series}

These paper doll pieces are more fantasy then reality, but that is the fun of paper dolls after all. I mean, it’s not like I actually bothered doing any real research in this case. I just had some fun with the fantasy. I mean, have you seen the Ninja side of this set? It’s not like I’ve even tried to be vaguely historically accurate.

I’ve been thinking about completely re-formating the site a lot lately… but then sanity prevails and I realize I don’t really have time. Still, I think I would like to convert it back to a more basic blog format, but then I’m worried I’d lose some of the features I like of this format… So, thoughts are ongoing. I could hand-code it, but it would take so much time and lots of trial and error. I shall have to think about my options a bit more before I decide, I think.

So, as some of you know I had a drawing last Monday and I said I would select a winner this Monday. In the end, I had 8 entries. So I just rolled an 8 sided dice, left over from other geeky hobbies I do, and came up with the number 3. That makes Monica the winner of my little drawing. Monica, please email me (paperthinpersonas (at) gmail (dot) com) with what sort of paper doll you would like. 🙂

Also, come back tomorrow and there will be something fun. I promise.

Marisole Monday: Pirate Vs. Ninja- Ninja Edition

So, this paper doll began when I was asking for paper doll ideas and my friend said, “Pirates vs. Ninjas.”

He was joking. I wasn’t.

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{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for the rest of this series}

I actually gave some thought to the matter and decided I could do both a ninja and a pirate version of the paper doll. Today is the ninja and then next week, there will be a pirate paper doll for Marisole. I did a pirate paper doll a while ago, but I was never really pleased with how it turned out. So, I decided I should have another go at it.

In paper dolls, unlike in life, there are plenty of second chances.

On a totally unrelated note, I was looking at my poll results and I noticed that Marisole won as the favorite paper doll by a landslide. While I always thought she would win, I didn’t think she’d win by as much as she did. So I am curious, why Marisole won. To help answer this question, I have developed a contest.

The Contest

The question is: Which paper doll series on the blog is your favorite and what makes it your favorite? A one word answer will not count, the “why” is very important to me.

The Rules:
1) One answer per person.
2) Contest will run for this week.
3) At the end of the week, I will put the names of everyone who answered into a hat, draw one randomly, and announce the winner on next Monday with the Marisole post.

The Prize: A custom paper doll for a series of your choice- Curves, Marisole, Pixie & Puck or Flora (though Flora has to stay in the Regency Era).

All right, I look forward to reading people’s answers.

Puck: Dillon

So, I got to have an epic adventure today. I tried to clean my scanner bed. Recently, I have been getting dust marks on my scans and since I’ve never actually cleaned the scanner bed, I decided I should do so.

This is what I learned: Cleaning a scanner bed is scary.

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Maybe I’m just a coward, but I’ve had the same scanner since freshman year of college and while I love my scanner, it’s fairly cranky. I could probably afford a new one by now, but since it still works I don’t see the point in replacing it. Anyway, I was scared of somehow damaging it. After reading all sorts of horror stories on the internet, I finally got up the nerve to spray a little cleaner on my rag and rub it on the bed and then let the bed dry.

Of course, nothing went wrong and the scans are coming out much clearer now. I wonder what I was so worried about. The mind can be a funny thing sometimes, I think.

Today’s paper doll is another Puck paper doll. Someone remarked that his arms are a bit long which is true or his legs are a bit short, I haven’t decided which yet. Now, of course, I must decide if I want to re-draw him and there fore render useless the several other Punk paper dolls I’ve already drawn and scanner for later use or maybe do some other male paper doll. I haven’t decided what to do yet with him.

Oh, and I have a poll.

Marisole Monday: Superhero/Supervillian

So, we’re up a little late this time and I am sorry for that. This weekend has been nothing short of insane here in the land of the corn. I’ve had classes (yes, weekend classes) which were educational, but time consuming. I finished this paper doll close to midnight and decided to crawl into bed rather then finish the posting.

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{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for the rest of this series}

But that’s okay, we now have a paper doll. Drawing a superhero paper doll was a suggestion of a friend who reads far more superhero comics then I do. The only superhero comic, I’ve ever really enjoyed was Deadpool and Cable. Mostly, because Deadpool is hilarious and extensional and everything I enjoy when reading a comic.

And also, I’ve been trying to get a good “shiny” effect on the clothes. This is the first one I’ve posted like this. I think it came out all right, but what do others think?

Marisole Monday: Autumn Chic

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Picking out color schemes is one of the hardest things I do for my paper dolls, but I think it’s very important to make sure each paper doll makes sense. I want it to be colored in such a way that you can combine as many pieces as possible for as many outfits as possible. After all, that is the point of a paper doll isn’t it? I use some tools like The Color Scheme Designer and the Color Schemer Gallery which provides all sorts of color scheme options. I love looking at different color ideas, but I find I come back to the blue, orange, purple schemes a lot. I wear all those colors fairly often in the real world.

So, I’ve also decided to have a contest. Answer the question right and you get a custom Marisole paper doll. Details below:

What is my favorite holiday?

The Rules:
1) One guess per person per day.
2) If no one guesses right by Monday, I’ll give a hint or pick the closest.
3) Anyone who knows me well enough to make a very informed guess, doesn’t get to enter. Sorry guys.

I think that’s everything. And lest you think this is completely random, I assure everyone that I have mentioned the holiday on the blog before, but not in a very obvious way. The prize is a custom Marisole paper doll, so you tell me the hair color, skin color, hair style and basic theme and I’ll draw the paper doll. Of course, it might take me a while since I’m often slow with finishing things.

Good luck 🙂

Edit: The Contest is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered.

Edit (10/7/2013): I just posted this paper doll set in black and white, so if you want to color her- now you can!

Marisole Monday: Valentines Day

First, quick apology thing… if you emailed me in the last week or so… then I probably haven’t replied, because I forward that account to my other email and my other email was putting those emails into my spam folder. I think I’ve fixed the problem.

Now, onto the paper dolls…

marisole-valentines-brunette-150

{Click Here for a PDF of the dark haired paper doll to Print} {Click Here for a PNG of the dark haired paper doll to Print} {Click Here for the rest of this series}

I did this paper doll originally with tan skin and dark hair, but then I also did a version as a blond. I liked it well both ways, so I decided to post them both. At the top is the dark haired version and then you can click the thumbnail on the left and get the 150 dpi PNG version of the blond paper doll. There’s also a PDF for the blond paper doll. I figured regardless of what skin tone and hair color was desired, there could be a paper doll to fit the bill.

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{Click Here for a PNG of the blond paper doll to Print} {Click Here for a PDF of the blond paper doll to Print} {Click Here for the rest of this series}

I always associate Valentines Day with paper dolls. My grandmother used to send my and my sister Valentines Day cards when we were kids and they usually had a paper doll in them or some other activity. I still remember being excited at getting the cards and I would open them up and play with whatever had been included. Even all these years later, I remember what many of the cards looked like.

Teri Pettit’s Paper Doll Scans is a great site full of scans of paper dolls. She has a fantastic selection of greeting cards with paper dolls. Of course there are Valentine’s Day paper doll cards and paper doll cut outs. I distinctly recall that my sister got this paper doll for Valentine’s Day and I was totally jealous. I also seem to recall one of us (I don’t remember which one) got this paper doll card for something. Oh, the memories…

I think it’s a sad commentary on my mind that I can recall paper doll cards from years ago, but I can seem to keep my Latin declinations straight.

Pixie: Valentina

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day when we celebrate the death of a saint, by buying chocolate and paper hearts. I’ve had a rather bad history of horrible Valentine’s days, but I am trying to not let that get me down this year. Here we have Valentina with her red, white and black attire.

pixie-paper-doll-valentina-150

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series}

In other news, it seems like a contest would be a good idea, so I’ll have to think of something to do which is contest like. I have a few ideas. It will be something casual, believe me. I’m also excited to say there will be something totally new next Sunday and it’s very exciting.

Okay, well, I’m excited. It’s possible no one else cares.

In the mean time, enjoy Valentina and on Monday there will be a Valentines Day themed Marisole. Oh, the hearts and the pink and the bows…. (It’s nearly terrifying.)