contemporary

Cute and Sassy: Printable Paper Doll

Curves: Cute and Sassy

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It’s been a long few days between work and classes, so Curves is a slightly late paper doll today. Her dress is based off one I own and wear all the time. (I never thought I’d love dresses as much as I do. It’s like one step dressing for work.) The tank top is based off an image in Anthropologie, but it was from a few years ago. I do love Anthroplogie’s clothing, but they are so expensive that I just admire from a distance.

Edit: I have removed the PDF file link for the moment, because for some reason the file seems to have a coding problem which is turning out to be too complicated for me to get fixed tonight (’tis late and I am tired). Thanks to Corissia who noticed it. I will get it fixed within the next few days. Until then, you can print from the PNG file.

Edit: The PDF file has been fixed. So good news on that front.

Spring: A Fashion Paper Doll to Print

I drew this paper doll three years ago. I was living with two wonderful roommates in college. It was a wonderful year. It brings back fond memories of my senior year of college. Also, of trying to teach my friend how to cook… or trying. I don’t know how successful I was. I’ve lived by myself for two years now and I find I miss the company.

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Whenever I draw a paper doll that I know is only going to be one page, I find I think carefully about what sorts of clothing she would need. I imagine Spring is a model or at least well enough off to afford beautiful clothing. She has her casual carpi pants, her afternoon dress for lunches or other more formal events and then her long evening gown for when she needs to go to some sort of paper doll black tie event. I like drawing evening gowns, so my paper dolls go to a lot of black tie evening events. My favorite is her evening gown, but what do the rest of you think?

Modern Girl: Marisole Monday Printable Paper Doll

ne of the challenges of drawing clothing for the Marisole paper doll is to make sure things seem to fit together thematically. It’s easy to do when the theme is zombie or fantasy or steampunk, but it is harder when I’m dealing with contemporary clothing. So, I try to do it with color. By making sure I use a consistant set of colors throughout the paper doll, I can make it look like an actual set of clothing that a person might own… if, you know, they were the most color organized person on the planet.

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paperdoll-tailored-miniLiana has written before about how when she is paper dolling everything seems to fall into “paper doll” form. I find the same thing is true for me. When I am in the midst of thinking in terms of paper dolls clothing, everything I see becomes me wondering if I could draw it. I love the fall and spring when the big name fashion houses are putting out their new collections. Magazines are always full of clothing, so I can pick up one or two and sit on my couch looking for ideas.

As with last week’s Marisole paper doll, I ended up playing with the paper doll a little. I shouldn’t make a habit of it, because it just creates more work for me. And more work is not what I need when I’m trying to keep this site up and running. Still, it is fun to play when I have time. I’m fairly excited about this Marisole paper doll, because I think I finally got a caucasian skin tone I like which is fairly exciting. Skin tones are very difficult. I want them to be the same, so the dolls can share shoes among each other, but I also want to like the skin-tones.

White, Black & Red All Over: Fashion Paper Doll Printable

So, I don’t usually play with my paper dolls. I mean, I spend so much time drawing them and coloring them that I don’t often actually play with them. But I have this thing for the red boots in this printable paper doll. I saw them at a shoe store last winter and I wanted them. Of course, I have no idea what I would do with thigh high red patent leather boots except stare at them in awe and then put on my simple pumps. I wanted them anyway. So when I drew them for Marisole, I knew I wanted to see them on the paper doll and then… well…. things just sort of spiraled from there. It was kinda fun though.

Fashionable young black woman in paper doll form with a mix and match red and black wardrobe of 12 mix and match pieces. Free from paperthinpersonas.com

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And of course, I had to share my hard work…
marisole-mini-red-blackMarisole’s hair style comes from my own salon experience. I went to get my own hair cut and spent a while pouring through hair style magazines. I sort of love these hard, sharp spiky bobs that I could never wear in my own hair, but think look really cool.

On a totally unrelated note, I collect links to other paper doll blogs, always with the best of intentions. I tell myself I’m going to write a post about them and then I forget or get busy or have to go grocery shopping or stab myself in the arm with my pen and it never happens. I feel bad about this. Life is full of good intentions, I suppose. It’s just that when I find a new paper doll blog I want to do more then just add it to my links page. I want to actually say something about it. So, I’m going to cover a few paper doll centered blogs over this week.

A.R.T. Taylor’s Paper Doll Blog is a neat, fairly young blog. The paper dolls are very stylized and full color and is worth checking out when a few spare moments can be stolen from the chaos of life. On that pretentious statement, I think I’ll call it a night.

Wings and Petals: A Printable Paper Doll with Curls

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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 try to think about how the paper doll would be played with while I’m coloring in Marisole’s clothing. I know it seems sort of strange, but it seems important that the doll be playable even if I don’t cut her out. The nice thing about these sets of the paper dolls is that they can be layered. It’s important that tops can go over bottoms, though it’s not something I double check with everything even though I should.

I ran a bunch of errands today and it took longer then it should have. I get lost a lot here in Illinois, though I am getting better at finding my way around. I used to hit soybean or corn fields whenever I was truly lost and then I knew I need to go back the other way. I swear that pretty much sums of my entire driving life. Somehow living somewhere flat “on a gird” is way more confusing to me than living in a place with hills and wacky streets. Never the less, it is home for the next few years- than onto something new.

The Third Page of Jessica: City Girl- A Modern Printable Paper Doll

I am a bit belated on this post. I’ve been cleaning my apartment in plans for a visitor coming to stay and it’s been taking up a lot of my time. Today’s paper doll is the last of the Jessica things, so there will be a new short run paper doll starting next Sunday, unless I get too busy to post it which might happen. Life is full of surprises.

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

My favorite thing about this set of paper doll clothes is the orange sweater. It’s SO orange, but I also love the brightness of the color. Plus my Vogue magazine tells me Orange is the color of the season. And would Vogue lie to me? Of course not.

I’m not totally pleased with how the gray dress turned out. I think the trim looks a little flat and should be more curved and I have mixed feelings about her shoes, but I’m trying to stay positive about the paper doll since in general I like it.

Jessica: City Girl The Sequel- Paper Doll Clothing to Print

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As sometimes happens, I can’t think of anything to really say about this paper doll. It’s the second page of the Jessica set and there will be one more. I’m fond of the teal dress, because I still like the bodice. Many of the pieces came directly from fashion magazines- the blue dress is one case- but some don’t and I think over all that weakens the paper doll. I wish I’d done either everything high fashion or kept it all more casual.

Jessica: City Girl

Today’s paper doll is named after a friend in middle school who always said she was going to leave Juneau and head off into the city down south (when you’re in Alaska, the habit is to call anything outside of the state “South”. It’s a matter of perspective I suppose). Eventually, I think she ended up at college in New York, so I suppose it worked out for her, though I lost track of her since then.

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

It’s funny how people we’re close with at one point in our lives drift away from us later. I hadn’t thought about Jessica until I was trying to name this paper doll and then for some reason she came back to me. Odd how the mind works.

Coloring the paper dolls is always a bit of a crap shoot. How they show up after converting them into PNG’s is always a bit of a shock. Colors are always more muted. Sometimes I like it, but it can play havoc on skin tone. I think I managed okay with Jessica’s coloring, but I wish the brightness of the coat had converted better. Oh well, I suppose I’ll just have to keep messing with formats.

She’s also the first paper doll to be posted in a vertical print format, not a landscape print format. Just something to remember when you’re printing out the PDF.

Curves: A Little Rebel

Mostly, these printable paper doll clothes were an excuse to draw spikes. I like spikes. Also, they are good practice for me. They are also a bit late, but I hope I shall be forgiven.

Curves: A Little Bit Rebel Punk Paper Doll

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I’ve been working nearly full time to make up hours lost while I was in classes. It’s been time consuming, exhausting and I just kinda want to curl up and sleep. Still, I promised myself I would do better with paper dolls and the blog. I hope by trying to schedule more and have more things pre-planned that it will smooth some of the rough edges of things.

Anyway, it is late and I am tired. Enjoy the paper doll.

Marisol Monday: Punky Girl Paper Doll

So, I have this fantasy. It involves ice cream and pie, but also having like saved paper doll posts so that they go up automatically and I’m not constantly scrambling to throw something together while trying to sound like I know what I’m doing. Never in my fantasy is it late at night and I’m staring at my computer screen thinking… Oh god, now I have to say something intelligent.

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The sad part is that I’m pretty witty when I’m not staring at a computer screen at 10:00 pm at night.

(In case you’re wondering, I draw my posts the night before they go up, so most of the time they go up at 12:00 am my time- used to be Alaska time, but I am in the mid-west these days with soybeans and corn. Also since I entered grad school, posts going up at midnight is rarer and rarer.)

My best friend in high school was a punky girl. She still may be, though I haven’t seen her in nearly four years, a fact I am saddened by now that I realize it. Besides being one of the inspirations for Curves and one of the smartest people I know, she had the guts to wear punk clothing in a small isolated town before the days of ubiquitous internet shopping.