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Black and White Printable Post Apocalyptic Paper Doll Named Isadora

May 19, 2020June 26, 2014

Meet my new Mini Maiden printable paper doll named Isadora. This is the first Isadora paper doll, though there will, of course, be others. Her name is for Isadora Duncan, the famous dancer who died in a rather horrible car accident. A rather morbid name for a paper doll, perhaps, but Duncan revolutionized dance and I do really love the name Isadora. I loved the name long before I knew of it’s rather dark history.

My Isadora paper doll is not a modern dancer who revolutionized dance culture, but rather she is armed with several machetes and a knife and comes from a post apocalyptic wasteland desert where she fights mutants and scrounges for water.

You know, the usual things one does in bad B-movies from the 80’s with bombed out towns and questionable clothing choices.
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I have been traveling a lot lately, three trips in three months. One of the places I am visiting in Las Vegas. At night, the “strip” is all rather glitzy, but during the day it just feels fake. Never the less, as I flew over the desolate beauty of the desert before coming into the airport, I was struck by the vastness of it all. I was inspired to draw todays paper doll long before flying over the desert, but while I flew over the desert I was reminded that she was done and ready to post.

Paisley Summer, A Printable Paper Doll

May 22, 2020June 16, 2014

Happy Monday everyone. Today’s paper doll is a beachwear set, which has been a very common request. It is modeled by Monica who I’ve felt is rather neglected over the last while. I try to give all of the Marisole Monday and Friends paper doll styles some love. Monica is the newest member of the family and therefore has the fewest doll sets to her name.

So, today’s paper doll has a fair bit of paisley. I wouldn’t have attempted these patterns until I was comfortable using Photoshop to make complex patterns since redrawing the same paisley shape would have been killer. Instead, I drew one of each design and then placed them using photoshop. Paisley is one of the classic patterns, up there with polkadots and plaids. Paisley originally comes out of Persia, but it’s been being used around Europe as well for centuries.

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for More Marisole Monday & Friends Printable Paper Dolls}

I have to confess that while I am happy at how the patterned pieces in this set came out, I am not looking forward to the complexity of coloring those detailed patterns. I wanted the pants to be like the loose patterned pants which seem to be popular this season, but I rather think they came out just looking fairly clownish.

Never the less, it’s not uncommon for me to dislike one or two pieces of any paper doll set. I guess if I have to dislike one piece than this isn’t such a bad piece to dislike. Also, I didn’t give her any heels which is very odd for me. I rather like heels, but I suppose even paper dolls need to be comfortable sometimes.

Lastly, the current contest/drawing for a custom paper doll is open until Midnight Central Time on the 18th. Enter if you like.

Secret Agent Girl: Black and White Paper Doll

December 6, 2020June 2, 2014

Today’s Marisole Monday paper doll is Marisole as a super spy. An idea suggested to me by my Aunt. I confess that I had never thought about drawing a spy paper doll before and there’s nothing realistic about my spy paper doll, but I think action heros are fun subjects for paper dolls.

And on the subject of action hero paper dolls, if you haven’t seen them, Bruce Patrick Jones did a really beautiful set of Action Stars paper dolls. I highly recommend them.

The title is supposed to be a reference to the song Secret Agent Man, but maybe I’m the only one who remembers all the lyrics to that song… Okay, so I only know the lyrics because my mother has the most amazing memory for lyrics and I inherited that trait. It’s not like I actually listen to Johnny Rivers actively.

secret-agent-paper-doll-marisole-black-white

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Like any classic spy, Marisole has catsuits for breaking and entering, a trench coat, fedoras and, of course, weapons. She also has two wigs for covering her short hair and some simple office wear. All in all, I’m quite pleased with how she came out, though I confess that those fedoras took far more drafts than I’d care to normally admit.

I think today’s spy would be good friends with the ninja paper doll that I drew… wow… three years ago.

As always, she’ll be in full color next week. 🙂

Shirin: Steampunk Fashion Paper Doll & Clothing

May 22, 2020March 13, 2014

Things to say about today’s printable paper doll… It is my first Pixie paper doll in a while. She’s two pages and has a distinctly steampunk inspired wardrobe. If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you might remember the sketchbook post back in April of 2013 when I showed off the inked version of this set.

Wow… this was a long time coming, wasn’t it?

Shirin, in my continuing search for names I haven’t used ever, is a Persian name meaning “sweet”. Continuing the theme, her coloring is based on the Iranian actress Nazanin Boniadi, except with really curly hair, because I love curly hair and I’m trying to practice drawing it. You can expect to see more curly hair in the future on the blog.

{Click Here for a PDF of Shirin to Color} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG of Shirin to Color} {Click Here for More Pixie and Puck Printable Paper Dolls}

{Click Here for a PDF of Shirin’s Wardrobe to Color} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG of Shirin’s Wardrobe to Color} {Click Here for More Pixie and Puck Printable Paper Dolls}

Oh, and her clothing has nothing to do with Persia. I tried to think of a connection after I decided to base her coloring on Nazanin Boniadi, but I don’t have one as her clothing is distinctly Western without a hint of influence from the Middle East and is mostly based on the clothing of young men in the early 20th century.

{Click Here for a PDF of Shirin in Color} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG of Shirin in Color} {Click Here for More Pixie and Puck Printable Paper Dolls}

{Click Here for a PDF of Shirin’s Wardrobe in Color} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG of Shirin’s Wardrobe in Color} {Click Here for More Pixie and Puck Printable Paper Dolls}

Oh, and as sometimes happens when I saved these images for the web, Photoshop did odd things to the colors. I recommend looking at the PDF version of Shirin and Shirin’s Wardrobe to see what I really intended the color scheme to look like. Partly this was a challenge to do a steampunkish set without the color brown. Harder than it looks, actually… because the line between goth and steampunk is often one of color, not design. That, however, is a whole different discussion for another day.

Minimalist Fashion Paper Doll in Monochrome

December 6, 2020March 10, 2014

I am both very excited and a little nervous about today’s colored version of last week’s Minimalist fashion paper doll.

Why nervous?

Because color is something I love. I adore color and pattern and surprise and color… well color is something today’s paper doll set lacks.

Minimalism in fashion usually relies on a black and white color palette and is considered to be austere and simple. It has been popular for several years on the runways. I didn’t go as wild as I could have with shape, because I wanted everything to be wearable. This is not, after all, a fantasy paper doll set where I don’t care about realism and/or whether or not a person might actually be able to function in these crazy clothes. I am very pleased with the outcome (and this was the fastest coloring job I think I’ve ever done.)

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for More Marisole Monday & Friends Printable Paper Dolls}

Were I to make a list of things I’d never done before on the blog, I think doing a paper doll set entirely in black, white, and grey would end up on the list. I’m not certain, and I don’t really want to go pouring through over 500 posts to find out, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never done it before.

While I do agree that many of these shapes mirror Seagulls and Seaside, as was pointed out by a reader last week, I think the color really changes the tone of the entire set. I’m most pleased with Mia’s shoes (I love drawing shoes, though I really think one pair came out a little clunky) and the collared blouse.

1920s Fashion Paper Doll Coloring Page to Print

May 22, 2020February 20, 2014

Faye has decided to do a little time traveling and visit the 1920’s. I love drawing 1920s paper dolls and this one was no exception. Inspired by Anna May Wong (the first Asian-American famous film actress), I knew I wanted to use Faye, my Asian Mini-Maiden in this set.

(I did not give Faye Anna May’s wonderful bangs because every time I tried to draw them they looked… off somehow. Bangs and I just don’t always get along.)

Faye has shoes, stockings, a girdle, a house dress, two day dresses and then a swimsuit. She should probably also have a swimming cap, but I didn’t really think about that until after I finished the set and then it was too late. But she’s got a pretty good set of 1920s clothing to print and color, I think.

Oh well…

I really had fun with this set since I just bought a few more books about 1920’s clothing and wanted an excuse to play with them.

Inspired by Asian-American actress Anna May Wong, here's a black and white printable Asian paper doll with a 1920s wardrobe to print and color. She's free from paperthinpersonas.com.

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I’m trying to give more information on where I do my costume research when I say something is historically accurate, so I’m including a sources list, in case anyone else wants to dabble in the 1920s. It’s not exhaustive. There’s some other great books out there, just what I happened to use for this set and have on my own shelves at home.

A Few Sources for 1920’s Fashion History

1920s Fashions from B. Altman & Company. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1999.
Atelier Bachwitz. Classic French Fashions of the Twenties. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2012.
Blum, Stella. Everyday Fashions of the Twenties as Pictured in Sears and Other Catalogs. New York: Dover Publications, 1981.
Lussier, Suzanne. Art Deco Fashion. Boston: Bulfinch/AOL Time Warner Book Group, 2003.
Peacock, John. 20th-century Fashion: The Complete Sourcebook. London: Thames and Hudson, 1993.

Do people find this idea of sources lists useful? I don’t want to do them all the time, but for my historical stuff I thought it might be helpful for folks. Thoughts from my fabulous readers?

Hello! Stella… A New Asian Ms. Mannequin Printable Paper Doll

May 21, 2020December 4, 2013

First of all, Happy Last Night of Hanukkah.

And then… what to say about Stella?

Well… hmmm… I confess I try to avoid talking to much politics on this blog. The truth is that I like paper dolls. My readers like paper dolls. And really… that’s why we’re all here right? To enjoy paper dolls, play with paper dolls and feel guilt free about being in my late twenties and still in love with these tiny ephemeral objects.

Still, I think Stella deserves some commentary. I drew her several years ago, like most of the Mannequin’s while I was reading a book on the history of Asian-American theater, creatively titled, A History of Asian American Theater. I picked it up for a class I couldn’t take and ended up reading it anyway, because I was curious. So, when I sat down to draw my Mannequin heads, as I do when I’m starting a new paper doll series, I was full of thoughts about repression of Asian-Americans and stereotypes of the “oriental”.

I knew I wanted to create diversity in the paper doll series, but I also felt weird drawing an Asian paper doll and not acknowledging that Asia is a very large, very diverse place. Is it fair to simply stick Stella up, note in my tags that she’s Asian and then move on with my life? I just wasn’t and still am not sure.

Which brings us to Stella and what I can say about her. She’s based on no one in particular. I have struggled to draw Asian features, particularly eyes which have epicanthic folds and a single eyelid, for a long time, so I don’t trust myself to do them very well. I think she looks good though. She’s based, very vaguely, off a very kind Korean student I knew and also some Chinese girls who rode the same bus I did in the afternoons and with whom I struck up conversations sometimes. They were both law students.

{Click Here for a PDF in Color} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG in Color}{Click Here for a PDF of Black and White} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG in Black and White}{Click Here for Clothes for Her}{Click Here for Friends for Her}

Personally, I think Stella is Asian-American, perhaps Chinese or Korean in descent (in honor of my various models), I think she is going to university and studying to become a historian. That’s all I’ve decided about her. Perhaps other people have other ideas?

Vivid Victoriana Printable Steampunk Paper Doll in Color

May 21, 2020November 4, 2013

Something about the fall makes me introspective. Maybe it’s the grey days or the excuse to pull out my favorite tweed trousers again or the fact that I can feel the end of the year looming, but even here in Alabama where it’s hardly cool enough to feel like fall- I can see the leaves changing colors and I know that fall has arrived.

Fall introspection takes different forms for different people, but for me it usually focuses on the blog. It’s a little terrifying to think the blog might be turning four in January. If it was a child, it would be in pre-school.

Meanwhile… here’s a new printable paper doll. And who doesn’t want that?

Last week, we got to see today’s paper doll in black and white and here she is now in color. I wanted to go with a shabby chic color scheme and a break from the usual “Steampunk=Brown” mentality. As I always say when I post a paper doll like this, I’m not really sure how one decides if something is steampunk. Never the less, I’m very pleased with how she came out. She’s a Margot paper doll, because I thought Margot needed some love.

vivid-victoriana-marisole-monday-steampunk-paper-doll

{Down the PDF Here} {View a 150 DPI PNG} {Find More Marisole Monday & Friends Printable Paper Dolls} {Vivid Victoriana Paper Doll to Color}

Thoughts on where the blog is? Where the blog is going? How it should get there? Please let me know. I know I don’t always respond to comments as quickly as I would like, but I do read every one and I love getting them.

Happy Halloween! A Vampire Printable Paper Doll!

May 21, 2020October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween!

So, confession time: I’m totally excited at the prospect of getting to sit at home tonight and possibly give candy to trick or treaters. I don’t know if there will be any, but I’m hopeful there might be. I have a small bag of candy at the ready. I know I won’t get very many, but I do love tricker treaters.

Little kids are so cute dressed up in costume and I have fond memories of my own tricker treating days.

To go along with the holiday spirit, we have a possitively fablous, if somewhat skanky, vampiress paper doll. She’s got her black dress, her miniskirt and her corsets. All very 1980s gothic.

There’s something very sexual about vampires. I could get into the sexual imagery rampant in Dracula or Carmilla, but I never got a graduate degree in English for a good reason and it had a lot to do with having low patience for analyzing literature, but I digress.

{Download a PDF to Print and Color} {Download a PNG to Print and Color}

I’ve done vampire paper dolls before.

In 2010, Marisole got to be a vampire with a questionable hairstyle. My only other foray into the world of the undead was a zombie paper doll which I drew as a joke after abandoning the blog for a while. I still feel bad when I leave the blog, but I don’t usually draw zombie apology paper dolls.

{Download a PDF to Print in Color} {Download a PNG to Print in Color} {Click Here for More Pixie and Puck Paper Dolls}

By the way, if you want your vampire paper doll to wear something a little more… lady like, shall we say… than remember she can share the clothes of all the other Pixie paper dolls or find a ~~victim~~ friend among the Pucks. Unless we take a page out of Carmilla, and then she’ll be getting her victim from the Pixies.

In the meantime, enjoy the paper doll and have a wonderful Halloween. 🙂

The 27th Shadow and Light Printable Paper Doll

May 19, 2020October 25, 2013

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Wow, it has been a long time since I’ve done one of these paper dolls and I have missed them.

I developed drawing in this style in college, because I admired the work of many wonderful comic book artists. As I got more concerned with the playability of the paper dolls rather than what I thought was artistic merit, I largely abandoned it for paper doll work and went back to my more cartoony style.

Still… I love the idea of black and white paper dolls that aren’t meant to be colored and can stand alone as pieces of work without needing color.

Today’s Shadow & Light printable paper doll has a 1930’s noir sensibility that I think the heavily shadowed medium really illustrates well and I adore her side glancing eyes.

One of the other reasons I love doing Shadow and Light paper dolls is that they come together very quickly. Well… not the inking and drawing parts (those take more time with all the shadow), but the actualy formatting is quick since they don’t need to be colored and usually I draw the taps right on the paper doll clothing rather than adding them later.

By the way, I have a new poll. I have done this poll once, several years ago. That time, the Marisol Monday won out, by a landslide. I’m curious of that would happen again. I suppose we’ll see.

A New Paper Doll Series… Sort of….

December 11, 2017August 28, 2013

{Click Here for a PDF in Color} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG in Color}{Click Here for a PDF of Black and White} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG in Black and White}

So… sometimes, I end up with stuff and I don’t know what to do with it.

Originally, this paper doll was concieved at the first of a series of paper dolls in full color that would use my skintone color pallette which I had just created and was fine tuning (this was about a year before I actually posted the skintone color pallette) and it would be really neat.

And I drew some pages of clothing for them and then…

Well…

Then I lost interest.

But recently, I stumbled across the folder full of them and I thought… I’ll organize them all together and do a little stand alone paper doll set.

And then since I was working with them, I started drawing for them again and suddenly I remembered why I liked them.

So…. I have no idea how long this series will last. I have no idea how often it will update or what will become of it, but here it is, at least, a start with a paper doll named Tanya.

Oh… and I’m calling it Ms. Mannequin, because something about the stiffness of the pose makes me think of mannequins.

Marisole Monday & Friends: Late Summer Flowers in Full Color

January 27, 2016August 5, 2013

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Full color version of last week’s paper doll. I wanted the colors to be a little unexpected and I really like how the patterned shorts came out.

I don’t do very many blond paper dolls, so here is one, though in hindsight, I think she’d be cuter as a brunette. I could change her, but we all know that won’t be happening, because I hate re-doing old work.

Speaking of redoing old work, there might be some black and white versions of old Marisole’s showing up on the blog in the next few weeks. It’s related to a project that’s in the works. If anyone has requests, drop me a comment. This might be the only time I ever do this.

I find I tend to work in spurts. I realized I hadn’t done a paper doll with glasses in a really long time and now I’ve done two in a row. Chances are that I won’t do another one for six months now. Funny how that works.

By the way, the summer heat of Alabama is pretty bad. I sort of wish I was living somewhere colder, like my home of Alaska, but I’m learning to survive the 90 degree weather.