fantasy Archives • Page 10 of 32 • Paper Thin Personas

Margot of Marisole Monday & Friend’s as an Medieval Princess

October 21, 2019October 9, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Traditional Epic Medieval Inspired Fantasy

It was a wet stormy Sunday this weekend. I usually write the week’s posts in a batch on Sunday. The remnants of tropical storm Nate took out the power for my apartment, so I spent a lot of Sunday sitting by the window with a cat on my lap reading a book. It would have been relaxing, but I kept worrying about the dishes and laundry I needed to do before Monday.

Fortunately, power was restored in the late afternoon. As I write there, there are clothes being washed and the dishwasher is hard at work. (I love dishwashers.)

I felt like drawing a gown. Something medieval and fantasy. My patrons voted at the beginning of the year and asked for more Lord of the Rings inspired fantasy sets. When I think of Lord of the Rings, I tend to think of traditional medieval influenced fantasy. (Also, hairy feet, but I don’t imagine I’ll be drawing those in the future.)

Today’s paper doll is Margot, because I hadn’t posted a paper doll of her in almost a year, I realized. So, I made this paper dolls. She’s got red hair (you all know I love red hair) and two pairs of shoes.

If you think she needs more dresses of a similar style than I would refer you to this post, this post, this post, and this post. I didn’t realize how long it has been since I drew a traditional fantasy gown for the Marisole Monday & Friends paper dolls.

I may need to fix that.

And everything in the medieval inspired section of the site.

On my Patreon page, there’s a different color scheme for you to download. And you don’t have to be a patron to see it or download it. Though if you want to donate to help support the blog, that’s always appreciated and helpful.

Need a more outfits for today’s Marisole Monday & Friends Paper Doll? Find More Clothing Here.

The Sprites And Their Pulpy Fantasy Armor

September 25, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: I always blame these forays into pulpy absurd fantasy armor on Xena: Warrior Princess

Because working full time and going to school is hard, I have been trying to get a whole week’s of blog posts scheduled each weekend. As, I sat down to schedule this next week I was struck by the lack of content.

While I was worrying about how I was going to get through the next two weeks, I stumbled across today’s pulpy fantasy set for the Sprites paper dolls.

I don’t know why I had forgotten about it. It was all done, except for layout. Why I hadn’t done the layout, I don’t know. I drew and colored it at the same time I colored the Regency set and this fantasy set that I posted earlier.

Still, who I am to look a gift horse in the mouth. So, this Monday here’s a new Sprites set. I love pulpy fantasy sets. I blame this on having watched a lot of Xena: Warrior Princess at an impressionable age. I also feel like I draw enough practical paper doll armor, that I can get away with also drawing totally impractical paper doll armor.

As for the rest of the week, on Wednesday there will be a new addition to the Poppets 1920s collection. Friday, you can look forward to the September edition of the 2017 Paper Doll Collaboration.

Love the blog? Become a Patron. It really helps.

Looking for some Sprite paper dolls to wear these outfits? Pick out Sprite paper dolls here.

Mini-Maiden’s Romantic Princess Gown

September 20, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: This Dress from Pinterest

Today’s paper doll dress was very heavily influenced by this dress on Pinterest. It’s not an exact replica, but it is really very close.I really loved the romantic style of the dress. It just felt so fairy tale to me.

The ribbon detailing on the sleeves and the bodice was one of the things that drew me to the dress. I didn’t like how the bodice and the waist seam cut off the lines of the dress, so I changed that for my version.

I sometimes feel a little guilting drawing such close replicas to other’s designs, but I also know that clothing designs can’t be copyrighted, so I refuse to feel too guilty about it.

In my head, this is the sort of paper doll gown that a paper doll wears while lounging on a stone bench in the garden near a fountain playing her stringed instrument and looking super amazing. It is the opposite of these fantasy outfits.

There is no practicality here at all, except perhaps her shoes which I wanted to be simple given the complexity of the dress.

I do regret not doing some pattern on the trimming on the shoes, but I shall survive.

Meanwhile, I am three weeks into my graduate program. So far things are going pretty well. I have more work ahead of me, but I am feeling pretty confident about it.

I will admit that I’ve been struggling to find time to draw. I want to draw, but somehow I can’t seem to quite get into the right mental place to let things go and just relax into the process.

Friday there’s an amazing paper doll dress planned. A 15th century Burgundian gown for the Ms. Mannequin series. It’s glorious.

Also, Rosh Hashanah starts tonight at sunset, so Shana Tova everyone! May your new year be sweet.

A Floral Fantasy Princess Gown for the B&B Paper Doll Series

September 15, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Renaissance Dresses & Princess Gowns

Confession time: I didn’t keep really good notes on this princess gown- I think of it as one even though there is no crown. I usually try to write down where an idea comes from or what images I look at as source material, but in this case, I really don’t have much of an answer. I know I wanted to do something renaissance inspired and fantasy gown, but with a very different aesthetic than the Sorceress Gowns Project.

I think of the Sorceress gowns as being all about layers and flow.

This gown, on the other hand, is very much a renaissance inspired gown, though it’s not historically accurate in anyway.

And I love, love, love the colors.

The colors were inspired by a sunset, but I really wanted to embrace the idea of rich yellows, oranges and greens. The cream blouse and socks are meant to counter the rich color scheme of the rest of the dress. The garters are orange, of course, to march the flowers. I trimmed everything in black to counter balance the bright yellow and orange.

Playing with color is such a fun part of creating paper doll fashions.

Need to get a Bodacious & Buxom paper doll to wear these fabulous clothes? Pick one out here.

A new paper doll for the B&B Sorceress Gowns Project!

December 6, 2020September 1, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Sorceresses and Flowers

Back in April I asked my Patrons what I could do for an ongoing series and they voted on sorceress gowns. So, my goal with the with the Sorceress Gowns Project was to create a series of gowns for a sorceress. That’s probably obvious.

I also thought I should make a few dolls to wear the gowns. So, I designed this one to go with my last one from April. There are plenty of B&B dolls that fit with the theme from before April of this year. I think this doll, this doll, and this doll both have a sorceress feel to them.

I thought about doing another over the top hair style as I did with last doll to go with the gowns. But I decided that the simple long hair was a nice counter-balance to the complex gown.

I had a lot of fun coloring the gown in these muted spring time colors. There’s something very spring feeling to me to this gown. I think it’s the light colors combined with the floral motif that gets me feeling that way.

Of course, she needs gowns to be a sorceress. There are four gowns so far, one for each elements. You can see them all here under the Sorceress Gowns Project tag. I do try to organize these things somewhat. It’s my natural librarian tendencies.

As always, I hope you’ve enjoyed the paper dolls this week and I always love to hear what you think, so leave a comment if you like.

Need to get some more clothing for this Bodacious & Buxom paper doll to wear? Pick out some clothing here

A Fantasy Gown for Marisole Monday

August 28, 2017August 28, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Marchesa Notte Spring 2018 Wedding Dresses Collection

Today’s Marisole Monday fantasy gown is sort of Ancient Greek inspired, but also a bit wedding dress inspired. A dear friend is getting married in November, so I guess wedding gowns have been on my mind. I’ve become particularly smitted with Marchesa Notte’s designs.

I’ve had as soft spot for Marchesa Notte’s work for a while. It’s so delicate and lavish, that I’ve never felt comfortable trying to reproduce it on paper. Her Resort 2018 collection and her Fall 2016 collections are pure eye candy.

(Actually, all her collections are, those are just two of my favorites.)

Boots took on the challenge and drew 2 plates of Marchesa Notte evening gowns (Plate 12 and Plate 14) for her Catwalk Couture Collection. They are glorious.

Anyway, for my fantasy version, I took off the lace (because I hate drawing lace) and added some additional sleeve details and jewelry. I wanted the gown to feel like the sort of thing you could walk on the beach wearing a perfume commercial. You know, the kind filmed with exotic music and soft focus lighting.

Accessory wise, she has a crown and a book, mostly because I love to draw books.

If you’re a patron, there’s a different color version of this gown up there to see. If you’re not a patron, consider joining. It really helps offset the blogs costs.

Need a Marisole Monday & Friends Lady Paper Doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick One Out Here.

The Sprites Get Some Leather Armor and Fantasy Clothing

May 19, 2020August 23, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Pinterest… This image and This image

My addiction to Pinterest is pretty well documented on this blog. Partly, I like it, because it is a storehouse of images I find inspiring. There’s a bit of a myth that inspiration sort of just “appears” and that artistic work can only happen when you are “inspired.”

This is patently false and rather dangerous way to think about things.

Inspiration, or motivation, isn’t some magical force that will come to you if you just wait. Rather, it’s something you seek out by being disciplines and driven about what you’re doing. It doesn’t matter if your goal is to write the a novel or draw paper dolls, waiting until some thing happens to make you want to do something, is pretty much a sure fire way to never do it.

I’m not suggesting torturing yourself through hobbies you don’t enjoy, but I find the most inspiring thing to do is to be doing the thing already. The best ideas come when I’m already drawing, not when I’m thinking about drawing.

So, Pinterest, fashion magazines, my ever growing collection of costume history books, my doddle sketchbook, these are all tools that I use to help me get ideas, but none of them involve sitting about hoping ideas will happen.

Today’s Sprite paper doll clothing set is the first set in a Month. The Sprites are always a little harder than my other sets, because I have to draw a guy outfit to go with my girl outfit. Today, I was inspired by this image of a fantasy dress for the lady Sprites and this image of some armor for the gentlemen Sprites. Both images come from my fantasy armor Pinterest board.

What do you think of today’s paper dolls? Do you use Pinterest? How do you find inspiration? Let me know in a comment.

Looking for some Sprite paper dolls to wear these outfits? Pick out Sprite paper dolls here.

Janette as a Fairy Tale Maiden

August 18, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Fantasy Woodcutter Daughters

It seems to me that many fairy tales have wood cutters daughters involved in them. I’m not sure why, exactly, but there you go.

There’s also a fairy tale about how a bird, a mouse and a sausage are all sharing a house. It is perhaps the weirdest fairy tale I have ever read. I digress.

The point is that I tend to draw fantasy princesses, but not every princess starts out as a princess. There are plenty of cases where people start out as woodcutter’s daughters and then, though a series of strange events, start spitting up gems every time they speak.

Am I the only one to whom this sounds super painful? (This is another weird fairy tale called Diamonds and Toads.)

Anyway, I decided that this is a fairy tale maiden sort of outfit. The kind of outfit that probably never existed in the real world, but that’s never stopped my paper doll creations before.

If you’d like some more “fairy tale maiden” sorts of paper doll clothing for the Mini-Maidens, than I would recommend the Faye in the Woods collection. It’s fairly close in feel to this dress.

I’m super curious which of the paper dolls this week have been people’s favorites, so here’s a poll to help me find out. In case you missed them, Monday’s Janette was contemporary and Wednesday’s Janette was sic-fi.

[poll id=”21″]

As always, I always love to hear from you all in comments. I hope you have a fantastic weekend.

Need a more outfits for today’s Mini-Maiden Paper Doll? Find More Clothing Here.

A Bodacious & Buxom Adventuring Outfit

August 11, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Pathfinder and Adventuring

I play a fair bit of Pathfinder. It’s a d20 based RPG which has so much in common with Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 that people joking refer to it as Dungeons and Dragons 3.75. I started playing when I moved to Alabama, because it was a way to meet new people.

Plus I like spending my evenings killing imaginary monsters (and also sometimes, there’s pie.)

When you start out as a first level character, you get an outfit of clothing. The book is pretty vague on what this clothing actually consists of, but I was thinking about it recently. I always try to decide how my characters dress, because clothing is a physical manifestation of their social and cultural values.

(If you want to see an amazing version of this on screen, watch Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. The costuming is fabulous. The show is super weird and wonderful.)

Today’s paper doll is my version of what a beginning adventurer might wear. This isn’t someone who can really afford a super nice set of armor yet and they’re still kinda just figuring things out. So, we’ve got a tunic with a vest over it, a bit of armor, leggings and boots. There’s no lavish decorations.

There’s also a sword.

I figure any good adventurer probably has some famous sword to carry around, so she’s got one too. Maybe it’s magical?

Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday. Next week, there will be a whole week of Mini-Maiden paper dolls.

Need to get a Bodacious & Buxom paper doll to wear these fabulous clothes? Pick one out here.

A Printable Paper Doll Princess Ball Gown for Marisole Monday & Friends

December 6, 2020August 7, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Fantasy Gowns

Today’s Marisole Monday post is princess paper doll ball gown with a full skirt and double puffed sleeves. It’s pretty over the top, though not the most over the top thing I have ever drawn.

I love drawing what I think of a traditional princess paper doll ball gown. You know the type with big skirts and puffy sleeves. The kind of gowns you imagine being worn only in cartoon movies with musical numbers and never by actual people in the real world who need to get through doorways.

All paper dolls are about fantasy to some degree. After all, much of the armor I draw wouldn’t protect you very well and plenty of the gowns I draw would be hard to walk it or move in, but I still draw them. I do care about some levels of realism. I like the for my paper doll clothing to ‘make sense’ in so much as, I want them to actual be able to exist.

It matters to me that layers layer properly and such. Fabric looks like fabric. You know, those sorts of things.

But practicality belongs somewhere other than in the realm of paper dolls.

This dress went through three color schemes or so, before I decided I like this yellow, blue and orange option.

One of the other color schemes, is up on the Patreon page for my patrons. So, if you’re a patron hop over to see it and if you’re not, consider joining. It’s a fun time.

As always, I love to here what you all think in the comments.

Need a Marisole Monday & Friends Lady Paper Doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick One Out Here.

Marisole Monday In Some Leather Armor and an Announcement

April 28, 2019July 31, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Armor and Things

Today’s paper doll is Marisole in some leather armor over some chainmail. I wanted her hair to both be lady-like, but also practical. Every paper doll needs some weapons as well.

But there’s bigger news today than this paper doll, I gotta say.

When I set a goal, I tend to reach it. I don’t stop until I meet my deadlines. When I say there will be five posts a week, than by gosh there are going to be five posts a week. This can be a great trait, but it also means sometimes I need a swift kick in the rear to realize that I have to set realistic goals.

As some of you know, I am starting a graduate program in the fall while also working full time. Originally, I planned to create 60 paper doll posts for August, September and October.

Except I couldn’t do it. Every time I picked up my pencil, I felt intense stress. What if I didn’t make enough paper dolls? What if I failed? What if I let people down somehow?

I want to enjoy my hobby and be realistic about what I can or can not get promise my readers. I can’t keep up the current pace of production, work full time, be in grad school, and have any time for anything else.

The big news is this: The blog will be switching to a three day a week schedule- Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

There maybe an extra post here and there when I feel like it, but no promises. I am contemplating different changes as well, such as doing a Marisole Monday post every Monday, again, but truthfullly I haven’t decided quite yet what exactly the future will look like.

For now, I hope you enjoy today’s paper doll warrior. There will be a new addition to the 1920s Poppet series on Wednesday.

As always, I love to hear from you all in the comments.

Need a more outfits for today’s Marisole Monday & Friends Paper Doll? Find More Clothing Here.

Mini-Maidens’ In a Medieval Fantasy Paper Doll Dress Coloring Sheet

July 26, 2017

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: 12th Century Clothing, Sort of, but Not Really

When I just feel like “generic fantasy”, I tend to fall back a lot on medieval looks. Sort of Lord of the Rings inspired, really. I think knights, castles, princess, dwarves, and dragons are all things I associate with classic fantasy.

It’s also a style I was asked for more of by several of my Patrons. I like to draw it as well, so I am happy to oblige.

I gave her a book as an accessory, because every paper doll should have a book. Besides, as a rare book librarian, I love drawing historical looking books.

Mini-Maiden paper doll dress coloring sheets I think are more fun if there is some pattern involved. While this might not be the most complex pattern, I really thought it added some beautiful depth.

The shoes are vaguely based on some from the book Stepping Through Time which is a wonderful book on historical footwear. It’s arranged by type of shoe construction which makes it a little confusing, but it is an amazing work.

Anyway, the shoes aren’t from any specific period. I just wanted to mention that book, because books about historical footwear are oddly hard to find.

Tomorrow, there will be some Ms. Mannequin designs and then on Friday, there’s this month’s paper doll collab 2017 outfit. Be prepared for spikes.

Need a Mini-Maiden paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick a Mini-Maiden Paper Doll Here.