When I was looking at the all the B Pose dolls, I realized that I’d not really done one that was “steampunk” inspired. So, it wasn’t hard to decide to make the third version of Batari as a steampunk dress up doll that you can print. I mean, she could also just be a girl with a red bob. I suppose the difference is not exactly extensive.
Also, she has navy toenail polish which I think is super fun.
It’s been so long since I designed this paper doll, I really can’t recall what my inspirations were. If you head over to my Steampunk Pinterest Board, you’ll find plenty of steampunk fashion inspiration.
Right now, I am doing a poll about what I should create in 2019, if you have a moment, please hop over to the Patreon page to vote. Also, I’d love to hear if you have a comment, so feel free to let me know there or here.
I did my first version of Batari back in August, so I am happy to get to post a second version. This version of Batari has lots of shoes (a super important paper doll garment, because they are the least versatile) and a short hair style. Both of the first two Bartari versions had longer hair, so I wanted to do one with short hair.
As I mentioned before, Batari is an Indonesian name that means Goddess. It was voted on by my Patrons. I like to give them the opportunity to choose paper doll names whenever I can.
(Sometimes, I have a name in mind.)
So, some may remember that I was drawing a paper doll for Inktober. My goal was to draw ten paper doll outfits over the course of the month and post them on Instagram. It was a rough month, but I managed to get all ten done. You can see them over at the #ptpinktober2018
If you want to help keep the blog up on the internet and see more behind the scenes stuff, think of becoming a Patron. Also, you get to vote on things there.
Today, there are two new versions of Akiko, my Asian A pose lady paper doll, to be dressed up. A pair of dress up dolls, if you will.
For me, a paper doll you can’t dress up has no interest. Don’t get me wrong, there are some beautiful jointed dolls made from paper out there. I’m in awe of the engineering that goes into these creations, but for me the whole point of paper dolls is that you can dress them up. It’s the ease at which a doll goes from being a princess to a ninja to a post-apocalyptic warrior that engages me.
I mention this, because I regularly sacrifice variety for versatility. I chose, when I began the Dames and Dandies, that I would focus on four skin tones for each pose and three poses to begin with. That’s not the end, of course, but I made that choice knowing I was limiting the whole glorious spectrum of human beings to 12 skintones, two genders and three bodies.
Sounds pretty limited when I put it that way, doesn’t it?
But within those limitations (chosen in part for my own sanity as much as anything else) I wanted to create as much versatility as I could. By choosing just three bodies, I thought I would be able to create a variety of roles for those bodies to take on from steampunk to goth to flapper.
And within the limitations of those three bodies, I wanted variety as well. So Akiko has gotten to visit the 1920s and wear Lolita street fashion. And here are two more versions of her to be dressed up. There’s a blond version and a glasses wearing brunette. My second paper doll recently with glasses.
If I have one major regret about my three bodies, it is that none of them are plus-sized. As a curvy woman, I regret that I didn’t start with a curvy figure as well. However, I’ve been on a curvy figure drawing kick lately and I have three curvy paper dolls in the works. One will be my model for Inktober. The other two… I’m not sure yet. None of them are to scale with the Dames and Dandies, so they won’t be part of that series. What will happen to them, I don’t yet know.
My patrons are usually the first to know about my activities, but I have been posting some to Instagram Stories when I’m sketching and inking. So, join Patreon or follow me on Instagram if you want the latest.
Meanwhile, let me know what you think of today’s Akiko paper dolls in a comment if you have a moment. Love to hear from you.
Today’s paper dolls are a double set of Benedita paper dolls, part of the series of sets I created with two dolls each.
I struggle with setting limits. I am the kind of person who doesn’t bake one cookie recipe when I feel like baking cookies. I make two or three. And while my coworkers appreciate my baking spasms, it occasionally creates problems in my creative life.
So, when I started the Dames and Dandies I knew from the start that I needed to set a few limits or would I end up completely overwhelmed. One of those limits was to start with four dolls of four different skin-tones in each pose. Another limit was to start with just three poses.
I regret the second one occasionally, because I think- what if I had a curvy set of poses or a taller or shorter set of poses or a pose in a wheel chair or…
You see how these things spiral for me very quickly. Paper doll diversity is super important to me in both theme, skin-tone and body shape, but I am a one woman show.
Anyway, the Double-Sets like today’s two Benedita paper dolls were a way of tackling a problem I knew existed. I wanted there to be more versions of each paper doll and I wanted them quickly. So, by fitting two dolls onto each page I could get to a more robust collection of options a bit quicker than if I did one doll per page. Plus, I didn’t have to come up with themes beyond different hair styles.
With Benedita, I wanted to do hair styles and colors I hadn’t used for her before. So, I did a lighter brown bob and blond waves. She also has two different eye colors, but it’s so subtle that I don’t think anyone can tell.
I have more double set to share, so fear not the rest of the dames will get their versions.
I’ve always preferred clothing to dolls. So, I would rather have a smaller number of dolls and lots of clothing options. It occurs to me that you all might not feel the same, so let me know in a comment. Do you prefer lots of dolls or lots of clothing?
And, of course, if you like the blog than follow it on Instagram or Facebook and consider becoming a Patron.
I think of these paper dolls as the- No-Nonsense Hair Aisha (left) and the Cotton Candy Retro Aisha (right). I went back and forth and back and forth about the color of Cotton Candy Retro Aisha (right) eyebrows. I mean, most people don’t dye their eyebrows to match their hair, but the black eyebrows just didn’t look right with the pink hair and brown eyebrows didn’t have enough contrast and… so, I went with pink eyebrows. Maybe she’s from some sci-fi universe and genetically engineered to have pink eyebrows.
I have some retro-space suits I have been working on, so maybe that’s the cause of her pink eyebrows.
Meanwhile, I designed two different pairs of shoes to go with these paper dolls. The blue shoes are scalloped which is a really popular design feature right now and the black and white sandals are dressed up flip-flops. I love slip on sandals in the summer time. I’d like to say because I go to the beach or something else “fun,” but really because it’s easier to slip into them when checking my mail or taking out the trash.
My life is not that exciting.
Meanwhile, enjoy the paper dolls! We’ll be back to outfits next week (with a Collaboration 2018 Paper Doll on Friday) and then it’ll be September. Don’t worry about other Dames. They have double sets too! I’m just feeling like I want to go back to some clothing for a few posts. All the new dolls need things to wear after all, but the rest of the girls will get up here soon.
Time has flown this year! Meanwhile, if you’re feeling clothing design neglected, hop over to Instagram where I’m on dress 93 of the #100dressesproject. I’m so close to the end! I have no idea what I’ll post to Instagram when it’s all over. I need to come up with something… Thoughts? Let me know in a comment or let me know what you think of today’s paper doll!
Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Â Science-Fiction Television Once I decided I was going to devote the whole week to Janette, I knew I needed to draw three really different versions of her. The first set on Monday was Janette: Contemporary Edition and now I’ve got Janette: Science Fiction Edition, or as I have nicknamed her- Janette in Space!!!
(Yes, all three exclamation points are needed.)
I love sci-fi tv, especially if it isn’t too heavy. I think I’ve mentioned before that I am super enjoying watching Dark Matter on Netflix. I just finished Season One (No spoilers please) and I am going to dive into Season Two soon. I also binged Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency recently. I’m also watching Midnight, Texas which I can’t decide if I like or if I think is sorta dumb.
The Midnight, Texas books are pretty good, if you like Charlene Harris‘s brand of goofy absurdist paranormal fiction, which I always have. She also has a great blog that I read for her book recs.
Anyway, to get back to the paper doll, today’s Janette has a ray-gun, or regular gun, it’s really up to you. I like that some of the latest sci-fi shows are just showing normal guns in space, rather than focusing on laser guns. I think it makes the violence feel more authentic, in a good way. Disintegrating people makes it too easy to pretend that wasn’t a person who just got killed on television and softens the danger in a way I often dislike.
I have no idea if that last paragraph made a lick of sense to anyone whose not me, so let me know in a comment.
Meanwhile, I hope everyone enjoy’s today’s Janette Mini-Maiden paper doll and there will a third Janette posting Friday. If you like her style, but aren’t sure about her specifically, I have a bunch more sci-fi and cyberpunk paper dolls to choose from.
Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Â Fashion Magazines and My Patrons A few months ago, I asked my Patrons to vote on a name for a new Mini-Maiden paper doll. A lot happened and I just didn’t get around to finishing her until recently, but I am super excited to present Janette. There will be a Janette paper doll every day this week to get her off to a solid start as an addition to the Mini-Maiden family.
Janette can, of course, wear any of the already created Mini-Maiden clothing and share shoes with Faye, Greta, Hazel and Isadora.
(As it happens, I name the Mini-Maiden‘s in alphabetical order, because… I dunno. It seemed like a good idea at the time?)
The first of the three Janette’s that will be posting this week is a contemporary Janette. I thought it was a nice place to start.
She has a sundress based on designs from my fashion magazine obsession, as are her sandals.
I wanted to give her a short contemporary looking hair cut, as this it the “contemporary” Janette.
On Wednesday, Janette will go to Space!
As always, a big thank you to my Patrons for helping me pick out her name.
Well, what do you think of Janette? Let me know in a comment. I always love to hear from you all.
Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Chambray Summer Dresses and Sandals
Sometimes, I draw paper dolls and I have wonderful detailed ideas of what I want to say about them. Sometimes, I draw paper dolls and I have really nothing to say about them. Today’s paper doll falls into the later category. I just don’t really have much meaningful to say about her.
I like her, don’t get me wrong, but she’s not as full of complex inspiration as some of my other work.
She was a case of drawing the dress and then drawing a doll to go with the dress. I wanted to draw a short chambray dress. One of the big trends this summer is chambray dresses. I mostly use chambray for sewing doll jeans. It’s super useful for that, but it also works really well as a sundress material.
My plan was to make two sundresses and use them as a clothing post. I hated the other sundress so much that I scribbled it out of my sketchbook, so that didn’t work out.
To salvage the dress that I had, I decided to draw a doll do go with it. Drawing her hair gave me a chance to practice short hair. I need to practice short hair more. Also, I am sort of in love with her eyebrows and I can’t explain why.
I designed her shoes to be basics. I wanted them to go with pretty much anything else she might decide to wear.
So, what do you think? Cute? Looking slightly pissed off? Let me know in a comment. I always love to hear from you all.
Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Â New Skin-tones, Asian Paper Dolls and the Three Kingdom Period of Chinese History
So, today’s paper doll was born out of a few different things. The first was that I wanted to create a paper Miss Mannequin doll with Asian features, since I hadn’t since 2015.
It also seemed past time to introduce another Ms. Mannequin paper doll skin-tone. This one is a bit redder than the skin-tone I use for the paper dolls with the orange bases (like Zola) and a bit darker then the tone I use for the paper dolls with the green bases (like Sunitha).
A few other little bookkeeping things, I’m in the midst of updating my tags and working on my Printable Paper Doll Index, so just be aware there maybe some updates and changes there.
Goals for this month include getting some new stuff into the Etsy Story. And since it is the end of the second quarter of the year, putting together a blog income report for the second quarter. Stay tuned for that.
Lastly, I want to thank everyone for their kind wishes last week. I’m feeling much better. While I’m still not 100% (Alabama is the WORST state for allergies, I swear), I don’t expect there to be any blog disruption this week.
Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Really old files that I find on my computer
Today’s paper doll is the result of cleaning out some old files, plus last week I posted dolls for most of the series except Poppets (I don’t have a Poppet doll in my stash at the moment) and Ms. Mannequin, because I only have 5 days in a week.
So, it seemed fitting to start this week with a Ms. Mannequin paper doll. It has been a long time since I posted a a Ms Mannequinn doll with this dark of a skintone. My last one was back in 2015. That’s almost two years ago.
Ebele is a Igbo name which means “mercy, kindness.” Igbo is one of the languages spoken in Nigeria. Ebele can share clothing with Shayna and Kira.
This is why I got to give her such colorful shoes. I figured Shayna has brown and black shoes and Ebele can wear them, so she’s got summery fun shoes.
It’s funny to me. When I first created the Ms. Mannequin series, I was certain I wouldn’t keep updating it, but I actually have really enjoyed getting to draw modern clothing for a doll series designed for wearing modern clothing.
That’s actually something I want to get back too. More contemporary fashion for the Ms. Mannequin is in the future, I think. What do y’all think? Let me know in a comment.
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