Oh, my poor neglected blog. The real world has been very busy (and I was really really ill), and so I don’t think I’ve pulled out my pens in a long time. Fortunately, I had some time last night and I got some work done. It seems a pity April has come and gone so fast.
The challenge with mix and match pieces is not to repeat myself too often. I tend to draw the same sorts of things a lot. I realized I was drawing yet another pair of ankle boots and I made myself stop, though not soon enough to not have them in this set. I love shoes in the real world, but I hate drawing them for paper dolls. They never seem to come out right. So, I’ve been trying, also, to do more fantasy and I think these are pretty darn fantasy. but I had fun coloring and drawing them and that is the important bit.
This is not the most coherent post ever, so just enjoy the pretty paper doll. 🙂
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.
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.
Today’s paper doll is a little gothic and a little steampunk. That’s okay right? It’s not like mixing oil and water or something.
Erin, who won my little Trivia contest from last Monday, wrote me the following description of what she wanted for her custom Marisole paper doll.
I know that I want my doll to be very pale with brown hair… As for style of clothes and what not, I know that I love Victorian and Steampunk style. Belts, buckles, zippers, lace, keys, and corsets. That kind of stuff. I have included a few links as inspiration I guess, but feel free to disregard them. I dislike the color yellow, LOVE red, black and purple, but other than that… I’m not overly picky.
I asked for a little clarification on shades of brown (she said red brown) and exactly what sort of colors for metals she liked and then set to work. Like a deadline, it was oddly liberating to be paper dolling based on someone else’s guidelines. I’ve done other steampunk sets, but this one quickly got a gothic steampunk paper doll flare- I think the color scheme is what pushed it into gothic territory for me. I’ll always think of those as a gothic colors. I do hope she’s pale enough, because outside of doing another vampire paper doll, I couldn’t imagine going paler than this color. I think it reads as “pale” rather than reading as “corpus.”
Since one of my favorite features of Victorian dresses was the fact that women got to wear all sorts of different clothing for different activities, I decided to treat the paper doll as though she was an actual Victorian lady- all be it in an alternative steampunk universe- in need of costumes for the range of standard Victorian lady activities.
Here we go.
The Morning Dress: Morning dresses were always more casual then other costumes. Erin sent me a reference link to this beautiful costume. I loved the colors and the drape. To make it a little more Victorian feeling, I added sleeves. Though technically a morning dress would never be worn outside the house, I added a hat since the reference costume featured one. Also, I like hats.
The Walking Costume: The other set of reference images I got was for a beautiful 1880’s reproduction bustled suit and I confess the early 1880’s when skirts were tight, before the huge bustle emerged is one of my favorite times in Victorian fashion. I made the suit purple (to match the purple/red color scheme), created a totally non-period hat and added some accents in silver and brass.
The Afternoon Dress: Mostly an excuse to draw a wild leather corset (well, I imagine its in leather, I suppose technically it could be any fabric you like), the afternoon dress was inspired by the corsets of 1910. The net/lace overlay was my attempt at lace, though I have mixed feelings about how it turned out. Afternoon dresses were also often visiting costumes, so she had to have a hat.
The Ball Gown: No costume set could be complete with out a ballgown and as I love drawing corsets, no ballgown couldn’t not have a corset top. The far left costume of this fashiion plate inspired the oddly bondage-esque skirt. I got a little carried away with my lock and key motif I think, but I had fun doing it.
As regular readers know, I’m a wee bit obsessed with Victorian inspired costumes. I’ve done two other steampunk/neo-Victorian Marisole paper dolls. There was the slightly candy like one (a lesson in how colors don’t look so bright before I process the images for Web and then seem to get brighter) and a more traditional color scheme.
I will probably do another trivia contest thing next week. So, keep your eyes open for that.
So, confession time: I actually had this done on time, but I put the wrong date into as the date to post. So, my template posted rather then my post and then I just noticed it like two minutes ago and now I am fixing it.
Yeah, I feel like a bit of a space cadet.
Still, here’s the paper doll which should have gone up at midnight and since it’s still the right day, I am not technically late.
I have mixed feelings about this paper doll. I like the lacing, the corset and the hair. I’m less sold on her eyes and face. I try not to be to down on my own work when it doesn’t turn out like I want it too. I draw all the time and it’s not like every paper doll is going to be perfect. The trick is to get back to the pad and do it again. I really do like some things about this set for Curves and I don’t like other things. This is okay.
I don’t think you should ever apologize for your art. Not that this stops me from doing it anyway.
I know people have expressed some interest in seeing the process I go through to draw a paper doll. I never know how to show people what I do, but I scanned the dress on the far left with the blue in it during some of it’s stages of creation.
First of all, the dress was a simple pencil outline. And then I drew a detailed pencil version which had some pattern and folds and other things added. The version you see above is after it’s been inked and colored. As you might notice, the inked version is a little different then the final penciled version. Sometimes, I mess up while inking and just sort of go with it.
So, there’s a little look into some of the stages the paper dolls I draw go through.
Edit 3/28/2016: There is now a black and white version of this paper doll. Find it here.
