I try not to have favorites among my paper dolls, but I do have favorites. And these are two of my favorite of Cybergirl’s costumes. They feature all the things I sort of love- straps, tweed, crazy hair, a little bit Victorian, wacky jewelry, absurdly impossible to wear…
The joys of fantasy dressing through paper dolls.
So, I got a couple good responses about Fashion Doll Friday and what I should do about my apathy towards Florence. Since I have a few dresses already penciled, scanned or ready to post for her, things won’t be changing for a while, I assure you. I spent last night drawing and inking and working away on paper doll things, so Marisole will get some cute Ancient Greek inspired duds tomorrow. I also put some time in on a new paper doll, possibly a serial one. I wish I knew where my digital camera was so I could preview her. Maybe another time.
Until then, enjoy the future of fashion in this set of paper doll dresses.
So, if this paper doll seems vaguely familiar, that’s likely because I have done steampunk things before for Marisole and for Curves. I openly admit I think William Gibson’sDifference Engine is among the boringest books I have ever tried to read; however, I do love anything which lets me play with Victorian fashion and not have my natural need to research to overwhelm me. There might be better steampunk books out there. Suggestions anyone?
So, if this paper doll seems vaguely familiar, that’s likely because I have done steampunk things before for Marisole and for Curves. I openly admit I think William Gibson’sDifference Engine is among the boringest books I have ever tried to read; however, I do love anything which lets me play with Victorian fashion and not have my natural need to research to overwhelm me. There might be better steampunk books out there. Suggestions anyone?
I feel I should add, I love many of Gibson’s other books including the fantastic art work Agrippa which the librarian in me both loves and hates. Seriously, a mind-blowing piece of artistic work.
Okay, I’m done gushing now about digital poetics which technically have no place on this blog. This blog is about more important things like paper dolls.
So, speaking of paper dolls, today’s Marisole is considerably more brightly colored then my last foray into Steampunk. I like the brighter colors and though I tend to think of the Victorian era as sepia toned, I know the reality is that it was a horribly gaudy era of fashion since chemical dyes had just been invented.
And I thought, but I don’t know what a skypirate is, except perhaps a pirate who rides around the sky. I decided that skypirates would need flying ships, obviously, and so I turned to an old Russian folkstory called The Fool and The Flying Ship where in a fool gains a ship which will fly and proceeds to win the hand of a princess. I really loved the book of it we had when I was a kid.
The result is a little less pirate-ish and a little more Eastern European nobleman-esque. The outfit on the left is based on a vest from the Serbiadating about second half of the 19th century which lives in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The pants are from traditional Cassock uniforms and the boots are based on those worn by hot air ballooners in the Victorian era. How’s that for an eleclectic collection of sources?
The outfit on the right’s jacket comes from Albania, also thanks to the V&A Museum. The trousers are based on those worn by sailors and young boys in VIctorian England and the shoes are just a pair of riding boots.
I don’t usually name my Curves paper dolls, but then I don’t usually need too. In this case it seems necessary, because how could I present the famous Adele without an introduction? Who else has fought for truth, justice and all other noble things while also being a smart young lady with an innate sense of style? With her glasses firmly over her eyes, her walking stick in hand and her gloves loaded, Adele faces off with the Mars Men, the strange otherworldly beings from the next dimension and still manages to lay a proper table for tea. Truly a lady to be admired by us all.
Is it obvious I’ve been spending a lot of time with Victorian three volume novels?
On an unrelated note, one of my goals for the last few days of drawing has been to stretch myself a bit with the paper dolls, so expect to see more pattern and more detail. The plaid on the vest is an example. I’ve always been scared of plaid, but I think it turned out okay.
So, yesterday, I had a Sweet Lolita paper doll and today we have a Gothic Lolita version of the same doll. Once again, you’ll want to slit along the dotted line on her hair, so she can wear the bows and hat and other hair accessories. Hair accessories seem to be very important in the whole Lolita thing. I openly confess to not being an expert, but I did my best. You can check out the Sweet Lolita paper doll for the list of sources I used.
While I was researching Lolita fashion, I did find this cute paper doll by Ninipowwaa on Deviant Art. She also has her own blog which I can’t read, cause I think it’s in French. In high school, when most people I knew were failing to learn French, I was busy failing to learn Spanish. I love how she colored the paper doll. Someday, I might actually try to shade Marisole. I mean… not in the near future, but it could happen.
And, I should say, doing two different color schemes was really actually difficult. Don’t expect it to become a theme, but by the time I realized how long it was taking me to recolor the whole set, I’d already gotten so far along that I wasn’t stopping. I don’t think I’ll be doing Lolita fashion again in the future for the paper dolls unless I get lots of requests and start to feel guilty. I have a very well developed sense of guilt.
So, I’m a bit late with Marisole Monday, but I think it was worth the wait. I may have gotten a little carried away with these Lolita style paper doll clothes. Just, you know… A bit. See, I got this new paper which is designed for pen and ink (it’s a hot press smooth Bristol with lots of sizing in it) and the result is that the inking goes so smooth and so I sort of was having a lot of fun and kinda forgot that I had to fit everything onto a certain amount of space.
On the list of other confessions to be made about today’s printable paper doll include that I really don’t know anything about Japanese street fashion. I don’t speak/read/understand any Japanese and so most of my information came from the Wikipedia article on Lolita style and a dozen Japanese clothing brand websites like Angelic Pretty and Baby, The Stars Shine Bright. Navigating them while not speaking Japanese was an adventure to say the least. American stores like Candy Violet and Sweet Rococo.
I think I’ve mentioned before, I’m trying to work on improving my art by doing things that scare me and what scared me about these paper doll dresses was the ruffles and the ribbons and the general high level of detail. I didn’t draw any patterns because I didn’t know if I wanted Sweet Lolita (full of pinks, ruffles and floral patterns) or Gothic Lolita (full of black, ruffles and a distinct lack of floral patterns). In the end I settled on Sweet for today’s paper dolls, but there will be an Extra Special Not on Monday, Marisole Monday post tomorrow which the darker Gothic version of the paper doll and her clothing.
On one last note, cut along the dotted line in Marisole’s hair, so that she can wear her bows and hat.
Despite my inability to get through any modern version of the genre, I do enjoy the old scientific romances such as Time Machine and Tono-Bungay which is not a scientific romance, but I have been reading and enjoying at the recommendation of a friend. Though lesser known then others of Well’s novels, I’m enjoying it as much as I did Time Machine.
Anyway, this paper doll post is dedicated to a few friends who are very into Steampunk and without this flicker group, it just wouldn’t have happened. Thank goodness for that. Of course, knowing a fair bit about Victorian costume, it was hard to not want to draw everything to be actually period and that’s not the point. I did my best, but expect another post like this whenever I feel inspired again.
Oh, and you might want to cut along the sleeves of the blouses next to the dolls body to make it easier to layer her clothing with this set. The more I draw for Marisole, the more her arm placement annoys me. A perfect paper doll pose is such an impossible goal.
