Today’s Marisole is brought to you by the illustrations of Ivan Bilibin and Russian fairy tales and this random blog post I found of some fairy tale fashions from 2009. Also, the letter F.
I’ve also posted three new pages of clothing for the magnetic Marisole paper dolls. One is a page of fantasy clothing and the other two are historical sets of clothing. I will be posting a new magnetic paper doll set later this week which should be exciting. 🙂 If anyone wants to print out the magnetic paper dolls, this is a great time of the year to find cheap tins all over the place. I’ve seen them at Walgreens and the Dollar Store.
I showed this paper doll as a sketch about a month ago, the reality is that it can take a long time before a paper doll goes from sketch book to blog. Largely, because I tend to draw a lot for one doll, lose interest and move onto another, so the drawing always happens in fits and starts.
I post on a schedule since I think it should be more even for the dolls and since it helps me not have long gaps in my posting. Plus inking is really boring, so I tend to do it in while I’m hanging out with people (who don’t mind chatting with me while I’m bent over a sketch book), watching TV or have an extra half an hour between classes and no homework to get caught up on. I have learned though that if I don’t keep up with my inking, I suddenly find myself with 15 pages to do and that always seems utterly overwhelming.
While these dresses have no real relation to historical costume, I did do a lot of reading up on the 18th Century for my Marisole paper dolls for the 4th of July and I used those books here too. Below I’ll talk about the books I used and why I used them and what I thought was helpful and not helpful about them- for paper dolling, I mean. This isn’t about academic costume research (though many of these books are good for that too).
I might have an addiction to exhibit catalogs. An Elegant Art: Fashion and Fantasy in the Eighteenth Century is older from an exhibition catalog produced by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for an exhibition in 1983 on 18th century costume. The number of lovely full color photos show off the costumes and a full listing of the exhibit in the back allows you date everything. Close up of fabric and shoes and particularly nice. Shoe research is really important to me, so I’m always looking for good photos of historical footwear. The text has several essays on 18th century life, including one on movement which I found fascinating.
Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Fashion in Detail is part of a series of books from the Victoria and Albert Museum costume collection. The upside of the books is that each garment has a clear line drawing of the front and (sometimes) the back. The downside is that the only photos are of detailed sections giving you a clear beautiful photograph of a button hole or embroidery, but not of the entire garment. I wouldn’t recommend this book on its own, but with other books that give clear all over photographs, it’s a great text and the line drawings are wonderfully clear and easy to work from. If I was going to give a numerical score, I would say eight out of ten. It also covers the 1600’s as well as the 1700’s which is useful (1600’s costume books can be hard to find).
Despite some really catty reviews on Amazon.com, Corsets: Historical Patterns & Techniques is a pretty good book about corsets. There are patterns, flats (which are useful since they show the backs of the corsets) and one full color photo each of the corsets in question. The text isn’t written to be an academic study, so don’t even go looking for that- it’s a book written by a costumer about corsets, with photos, a bibliography and a really nice range. The regency corsets are what made me pleased with it, but it also shows several different sets of stays from the 18th century. Good as a supplement to other books on this list. I do wish she’d given the full citations for her museum examples though… but that’s just the librarian in me.
Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the Eighteenth Century is the catalog from a show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Each room of the exhibit depicted an aspect of aristocratic life, with costumed figures talking, getting dressed, making music, and other activities. The scenes follow the plot of the novel Dangerous Liaisons, but you don’t need to know the story to enjoy the images. What is delightful about the book is that it places the often over the top dresses of the era within their context in period settings. The posed figures sometimes make seeing the costumes clearly a little difficult, so I don’t consider it an ideal book for paper dolling, but it’s a lot of fun to look at and there are some nice essays included on the culture of leisure in the 18th century. It’s not the first book I go too when I need source material, but the full color photos put it in the top few.
Patterns of Fashion 1: Englishwomen’s Dresses & Their Construction C. 1660-1860 is not just a book of patterns, though it includes patterns for all of the garments shown. It is a wonderful book about historical costume with beautiful pencil drawings, lots of black and white photos of primary sources and excellent text. It doesn’t have the visual appeal of some of the other books on this list, but it does have some really useful images and each item shown comes with a detailed description. I used to avoid Janet Arnold’s books because I thought they were nothing but patterns. In reality, the patterns are only a part of the great material. It has no color photos though, so look elsewhere for eye-candy. If I could only own one book on 18th century dress, I might just pick Revolution in Fashion: European Clothing, 1715-1815 from the Kyoto Costume Institute. The text I can take or leave, but the photos are outstanding. Despite the title, the clothing is really more from about 1750 to 1815, there isn’t anything shown from really early in the 17th century. The costumes shown include formal, informal, underwear, accessories and, my favorite, shoes. I also love this book for the regency period costumes it shows. Because it’s from 1990 and because it was a short print run to start with, the book is really expensive on the secondary market. I have not cross compared, but I believe the same photos were used in Fashion from the The Kyoto Costume Institute which is not insanely overpriced on the secondary market. In fact, it is still in print.
Lastly, I’d like to mention one of my favorite books about 18th century costume that has very few photos and isn’t useful at all for paper dolling, but it is a lot fun and that is Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution. The subtitle alone makes me really happy, but the book is a wonderful non-fiction work about the history of costume in the 18th century, French politics and Marie Antoinette, who was more sympathetic then I ever thought she would be.
And this was a really much longer post then I had intended… I suppose that is what happens when you let a book lover talk about favorite fashion books. I hope it is helpful to anyone who wants to do a little research into what they used to wear in the 17th century.
From a kingdom high in the mountains, Marisole has come. It’s a harsh, rocky landscape and its princess is a practical oriented woman with a love of sword fighting and literatre. Her mother insists she still practice her stitching for when she is married, but would rather be out riding her horse. Someday, she will marry and rule this hard beautiful land, but until then she must study and wait.
I don’t usually think about characters when I’m drawing Marisole, but after the Yellow Princess set, I wanted to do a more practical princess and I began to wonder what sort of world would spawn such a logical and down to earth member of the royalty. I choose cool calm colors for her clothing and decided to rely on gray rather then brown as my neutral. My favorite of her costumes is her grey leather jumper over her purple skirt. I imagine this is a fencing outfit to go with her sword and her practical boots.
I have done quite a few “princesses” over the years, often based on color. Princess In Pink was one of my first with a very pink and blue based color scheme. I love her hair style, but the color is redder then I think it should be. Before her, there was Green Princess who had a unique crown and only two dresses, because I forgot to draw a left sleeve onto the other dress and didn’t notice until I’d scanned and colored it. Opps… And then in June of last year, there was the Elven Princess who had pointy ears, purple eyes and one of my favorite sets of clothing. Lastly, there was the Yellow Princess who went up just a few weeks ago.
So, Marisole has been a princess quite a few times, though this is the first Marisole with Asian features to be a princess. I wanted her to resemble Filipino coloring, but I’m not sure I liked how her skin tone turned out. I think she looks a little sickly.
I’ve never really liked roses as a flower. I don’t buy them when I’m buying flowers, I’d rather have poppies or foxglove or tulips. But my grandfather grew roses and I remember learning how to prune them, so I have a certain soft spot for roses and I always will. I wanted to draw a formal paper doll, something fantasy based and a little over the top and roses seemed to fit the bill.
I am trying to get better at writing things for this blog. I’m a rather private person by nature and I don’t really like to expose myself even to people in the real world. Adding to that is the feeling that I really shouldn’t talk about my job (at which I spend about 20% of my waking life) and I can’t imagine my classes would be that thrilling and the only other thing I do a lot is play board games which also doesn’t seem ripe for discussion. Winning at Settlers of Catan four times in a row is hardly the stuff of interesting blog reading. (Though I do tend to build entire empires based on sheep and sheep alone, I am the queen of sheep.)
In short, I never know what to say. I am trying to get better and more comfortable and not put off writing something to the last minute. I am getting better at it. It’s just not my strength.
Adalind was in the same vein as Blossom and, at least some ways related to, Tones and Shades,Tokyo Meets Georgia and Inspired by Africa of Marisole. I know a lot about historical costume in the western world. I’ve read up on it, I understand it and to tell you the truth I really enjoy it.
Despite that, or perhaps because of it, I have found myself drawn to the costumes of other groups. I’ve been reading up on Africa and Asia and the Middle East, but as I did my reading I stumbled across the traditional dress of Sweden and Austria and became interested in it as well. So, Adalind was born out of that interest.
It is funny the complicated routes paper dolls can take from idea to creation.
The best thing about the Shadow and Light paper dolls is that I decided to number them rather then title them. Perfect solution to my natural problem of coming up with titles.
I’m always excited when I stumble across paper dolls in while I’m not actually looking for them. Final Fashion is a great fashion illustrators blog which features lots of beautiful fashion paper dolls. They are available for purchase, but every one can also be seen to just gaze longingly at. One of my pet peeves is when people have paper dolls for sale, but you can’t really see each page of the paper doll or the clothing. There’s a few artists I will buy on faith, but generally I like to see what I am getting. My favorite is her Vionnet paper dolls. Madame Vionnet is a somewhat under appreciated designer from the early 20th century who introduced the world to the bias cut dress. Unfortunately, her style was very much of its time and hasn’t really survived to be present which is a pity.
On a semi-related note to the Madame Vionnet ramble, I am curious if people would be interested in knowing which fashion books I use when I’m doing research. I’ve been on this Japanese kimono book kick for a few weeks (literally, my table is covered in them) and I’m trying to decide if fashion/costume book reviews are something people would like to see. Thoughts from the masses?
When I was a child, I always wanted one of those cakes which had a doll inside of it, but I didn’t like Barbie dolls, so I don’t know what I would have done with one if I had gotten it. I was reminded of them as I worked on this set of paper dolls. Marisole doesn’t have a lot of huge skirted dresses. I think because I more often take my inspiration from the Regency then from the Antebellum eras of costume. Never the less, I knew I wanted to draw some things that were utterly over the top and I think these qualify.
I don’t usually start knowing a color scheme, but in the case of these dresses I was pretty sure I wanted them to be yellow from the beginning. Because the dresses were going to be yellow, I chose a warm pale brown color for Marisole’s skintone and a dark color for her hair. I was really concerned with her skin clashing with her costumes. I don’t think it does, but I was worried it might.
I have, as I sometimes do, left this to the last minute. So, now that its posted, I am going to crawl into bed and sleep for I have work and homework to finish in the morning.
There is a myth that women gave up corsets in the early 1800’s and that’s just not true. A corset, or stays if you prefer, provides a fair bit of support for women, just like a modern bra. They did, however, alter the look of their undergarments. The long corset on the left is from about 1810, though I have seen similar things cited with later dates. I’m afraid I don’t know enough about women’s underwear in the early 1800’s to be sure.
Flora’s other dress is a basic house dress- something worn for work as much as anything else. I based it off of this dress though I simplified the skirt. I’d like to draw a few shawls, since they were such a standard garment of the day, but I haven’t decided how to do them yet.
So, this is a stupidly titled paper doll, but her sleeves are fuzzy, so that should be worth something. 🙂
Curves is a complicated series for me, in part because it fore fills two goals. I began it when I did all my paper dolls for the blog in the heavily shadowed style of Curves, but I wanted to do a full figured paper doll since the ones I had seen online were not very attractive and I thought I could do better.
Two years later, Curves is my only regularly updating paper doll in the heavily shadowed style I developed in college and still often use for non-paper doll drawing. I like the style, because I believe it doesn’t need to be colored, it has a strong enough graphic presence without adding color. A lot of people color them, and that’s fine with me, but my goal was to make a black and white paper doll that didn’t need to be colored.
There were some side effects of this. The heavy shadows, strongly influenced by Frank Miller’s graphic novels, make for a fairly “dark” paper doll. In several ways, the details are often obscured and lost while the tone is also distinctly heavy. Being a bit of a noir movie lover, I don’t mind the tonal shift, but I do think it lends its self to some styles better then others. Gothic, vintage, and somefantasyclothing comes out looking wonderful, but the average jeans and t-shirt leave something to be desired.
I don’t want to give up my heavily shadowed dolls, because I do like them. I also don’t want to stop drawing a full figured paper doll since I think its important. Unfortunately, I also getting somewhat bored with Curves after two years. I think there needs to be a Curves 2.0. I just haven’t figured out yet how to pull that off or what it’ll look like when I do.
Progress reports and thoughts on the subject will be forth coming. Until then, enjoy the furry Gothic costumes for this new Curves doll and anyone’s thoughts on the matter are welcome.
So… Yeah. I spent my weekend not working on paper dolls. I have many things sketched, but not many things any further along the process. The choice was between posting a black and white Marisole or posting a doodle.
I settled on the black and white Marisole, a version of the Gypsy Rose paper doll, because at least it’s a paper doll- even if its not in color. And I know I have some readers who really like to color. Late posts like this make me wonder about the point of keeping a schedule when I continually fail to keep it. Does it help people? Do people care?
I suppose it rather helps me in so much as it gives me times when I should have things done, but I’m not sure how helpful that really is.
I will have to give the matter more thought. I have been thinking a lot about the site’s structure and layout recently. And even wondering if a blog is the right format for what I want to do with this site in the future… Considerations, considerations. But that’s thoughts for another day, I think.
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. 🙂
Obviously, I have been playing around with shiny a bit lately. I did it for the Marisole Superhero post. I have another shiny post in the early stages of work. I rather like the shiny effect, though there should be a more effective way of doing it then what I have been doing. I just don’t know what that might be at the moment.
I am really lucky to have supportive friends. When I sit around while we watch movies or hang out and draw paper dolls their reactions are usually, “That’s neat.” Rather than making fun of me for being a mid-twenties graduate student whose drawing paper dolls.
When I was in high school and through most of college and I drew paper dolls, it was a tightly kept secret I shared with only a few people. I did say I collected, but it was always- because I have since I was a child… I never wanted to confess I really did still enjoy paper dolls.
I’ve gotten over it. Maybe it’s time or maturity or something else, but I no longer get nervous telling people about my weird hobby… most of the time. It’s still not something I advertise.
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