steampunk

Vivid Victoriana Steampunk Printable Paper Doll

logo-vivid-victoriana-marisole-monday-steampunk-paper-doll-bwWell… I can say what this isn’t pretty quickly. This isn’t a Halloween printable paper doll. I wanted it to be, but sometimes life doesn’t cooperate.

Instead of a Halloween printable paper doll and her clothes, we’ve got a steampunk inspired neo-victorian Margot paper doll and her clothes. I think the paper doll is just as nice as something more themeatic, but it always seems to me like I should try to follow the seasons on the blog, even though I rarely succeed.

This year nothing really Halloween oriented has happened on the blog. I do hope to get a vampire Pixie paper doll I drew an embarrassingly long time ago finally finished and posted, but the truth is that September was such an insane month for me (wedding & flooded apartment) that I didn’t get any of my Halloween plans finished.

However, if you want a Halloween Marisole Monday & Friends paper doll, I have done several.. I did a vampire one year, a Gothic Mia paper doll, and then a Marisole with costumes. Last year, I teamed up with Liana, Toria and Boots and we created a collaborative paper doll and clothes.

That paper doll collaboration was so much fun that I keep telling myself I’ll get up the energy to organize another one. I just haven’t seemed to have the time. Hmm… this post got a bit more whiny than it started. I do apologize.

Still… part of me is kicking myself for not finishing the flower fairy paper doll I was working on. I’ve had a lot of requests for that and I wanted to have it done for Halloween.


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And you might have noticed a new format with this post. It’s something I’m trying out, because I was feeling like the posts on the first page of the blog were all getting a little bit too long. I’m not sure I am going to stick with it. As always, I’d love to hear what you think. Speaking of what people think… there’s a new poll in the sidebar.

Snow-White and Rose-Red: Magnetic Paper Dolls

Snow-White and Rose-Red (Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brother’s Grimm. It’s not the same as Snow White (Schneewittchen), though a lot of comics and stories do connect the two, like Fables (which is wonderful, by the way, if you like comics).

I know Snow White and Rose Red is not the most well known story, but basically it’s your standard girls meet bear, girls meet evil dwarf, girls cut off evil dwarf’s beard, bear kills dwarf, bear becomes prince sort of affair.

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The moral of the story probably has something to do with being nice to bears and/or dwarfs, but that all seems rather unimportant.

I decided to draw a new Flock doll to go along with Dove for this story, so everyone can meet Swan. Swan, here with blond hair in ringlet curls, is the latest member of the Flock family and the second Asian doll (or at least my attempt at it). I was going to do a fairytale from the Asian continent, but I don’t know much about Asian fairy tales (and even sticking and entire continent’s culture into one block is totally painful to me, but I digress).

Before someone suggests Mulan, I should say that Mulan is not, technically, a fairy tale, but rather it is a legend. Fairy tales, generally, are defined by folklorists as containing magic, mystical creatures and generally not being perceived by the tellers as being true. In other words, no one ever through Rose-Red and Snow-White actually happened.

Legends, generally, at some point in their history, were perceived to be true. King Arthur and the Holy Grail is a legend.

Anyway, enjoy Snow White and Rose Red. I certainly had fun drawing them.

 

Fairytale Flock: Dove & Swan as Rose Red & Snow White Set PDF Downloads
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Swan as Snow White PDF Download Dove as Rose Red PDF Download Snow White & Rose Red Clothing PDF Download

 

Marisole Monday & Friends: Mia Goes to the Bathing Place… and gets some colors…

So, as I mentioned last time, I always liked the idea of multiple costumes for various activities that was such a part of the Victorian way of dressing. Personally, I think it would be rather fun to have a special outfit I wore while visiting or yachting, but jeans and a t-shirt seem to see me through nearly all of my social engagements. I suppose that says something, perhaps not flattering, about the nature of my social engagements.

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The outfits today, are, as I mentioned last week, a grey and teal skirt which can be paired with either the corset, jacket, and top hat to make a traveling or promenade suit or can be worn with the bodice trimmed in pleats for a dinner toilette. The yellow and white yachting costume is sort of practical (barely) and the bathing dress (a swimsuit to most of us) has matching slippers. All things considered I think Mia would do quite well for herself with this set on vacation. Of course, she can share her dresses with Marisole and Margot.

Personally, I just got back from gallivanting around Alabama for work and then finishing up my taxes (I hate doing taxes) and now I can consider all of my obligations for filled for the moment. As always, enjoy the paper doll and, as always, feel free to let me know what you think. Next week, there will be elves.

Marisole Monday & Friends: Mia at the Bathing Place…

Let me be clear: When it comes to Victorians, the coolest thing to me is the idea of changing your clothing for several times a day. Also, getting to put together a trousseau before you get married. Is it wrong that I love the idea of not having to think too hard about what I would wear for a year?

Anyway, today’s paper doll is a riff on that whole concept. I love reading through old fashion magazines to find out what was proper to wear for a carriage ride or afternoon tea. As a child, I loved the idea of having special outfits for riding or hiking or going for a walk. It felt exotic and fancy.

A jaunty collection of neo-victorian fashions for Mia. her mix and match wardrobe includes 18 pieces for a lady-like day at the seaside,. Free to print and color.

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My original idea was to do a bride and her trousseau inspired by the Victorian inspired styled I love so much. I always think of this as a chance to draw Victorian inspired fantasy clothing with no guilt about lack of historical authenticity. I realized, after I started that I wasn’t sure I wanted to draw that many items, so instead focused on a smaller set of “bathing place” costumes for Mia. Basically, Mia’s off to the coast for a vacation and she’s gotta be dressed appropriately.

So, there’s a yachting costume, a traveling suit with an alternate dinner bodice and a swim suit with slippers to match. All in all, she can handle a weekend in on the coast rather well, I think.

Mariana… A Steampunk Paper Doll

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First Pixie paper doll of the new year. That deserves some excitement, I think.

Maybe not for anyone but me.

She’s rocking a steampunk/neo-victorian paper doll theme. I think she hangs out with Jian, my steam punk male paper doll and probably makes trouble. Since I’ve had such a positive response to doing Marisole in black and white and in color, I decided to do this paper doll the same way and I might start doing this for all the Pixie and Pucks, we’ll see.

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Also, the poll is up until the end of the month and people should vote. I do actually pay attention to the poll.

I also pay attention to repeated requests (eventually) and I have had two ideas which more than one person has suggested. One is a cowgirl paper doll which has been stalled lately because I wanted to draw a horse and, frankly, drawing animals is not my thing. But last night I managed to sketch out a decent looking horse, so… a cowgirl may yet appear. The second thing I’ve been working on, and I expect this to make some peeps happy, is a male paper doll properly proportioned to hang out with Marisole.

So, depending on what wins the poll this time will depend on what I work on next year.

My point is this, if you want to see one of these things, vote for it, or if you want to see something else, drop me a comment.

Shadow & Light… Steampunk Paper Doll

Here we are at nearly the end of December and here is another Shadow and Light paper dolls. Today’s paper doll is a bit steampunk-ish (though lacks the gears and goggles that seem to be required), still I hope no one will hold that against her. Truth be told, I can’t draw a gear to save my life, though I have tried on occasion to mixed success.

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I forgot, living in Alabama, how pretty the snow is, but I also forgot how annoying it is to sweep off your car in the morning in the cold wearing black ankle boots. Toes freezing and fingers freezing and snow sticking to eyelashes under a grey sky with lights from the buildings flickering through, there’s nothing like winter in Southeast Alaska.

It’s a beautiful place up here.

Oh and by the way, there’s a poll on the sidebar. Please fill it out. I do actually pay attention to what people vote for and I use it to decide what I will do in the coming year. If there’s something you’d like to see and it’s not on the list, please comment.

Dictionary Girls Go all Neo-Victorian…

Today’s Dictionary girl is a take on neo-Victorian things. I’m not entirely pleased with the drape on the skirt… but I decided to go for it. I do really like the hair and the boots. I think I’ve mentioned I have a thing for boots.

So, onto the drawing… The random number generator informed me the winner of my drawing was number four- D Garrett who has her own wonderful blog on black doll collecting. Email me, please, at paperthinpersonas (at) gmail (dot) com and let me know what sort of paper doll you would like. 🙂

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Since she won, it seems only fitting to answer her question.

D. Garrett asked, Have you determined if any one of your paper dolls is more popular than the others?

Yes, I have. My most popular paper doll is Marisole Boldly Going which has had nearly four times the number of hits of any other paper doll I’ve ever drawn. Closely following Marisole Boldly Going is my first Marisole in black and white Modern Girl in Black and White which I drew in response to requests for a black and white Marisole paper doll. In general, Marisole is my most popular paper doll.

I don’t really know why she’s so appealing to people. I find her pose a little problematic unless you slit up along the side of her body to free her right arm from her side and I confess that when I see her a part of me sees a style of paper doll I wouldn’t draw today. I may have to redraw her face one day… her faceted eyes kinda freak me out. (They didn’t when I drew her, but now…)

That’s all neither here nor there.

I hope that answers your question, dgb. Let me know what sorta paper doll you’d like. 🙂

Neapolitan Ice Cream: Steampunk Printable Paper Doll

I don’t normally start with a color scheme. I normally start with an idea and then worry about how to color it, but with this paper doll set I started with a color scheme. I knew I wanted to do something with browns and creams. The pink came from the desire to pick a contrasting color that was warm rather then cool.

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I decided to name this paper doll set after that ice cream with the vanilla, chocolate and strawberry stripes that I always used to think was called Napoleon Ice Cream, but I realized later that it actually had nothing to do with short militaristic Frenchmen and was actually called Neapolitan Ice Cream after the city of Naples. So, I’m glad I found that out before I wrote this post and sounded like a total ditz. I take some pride in only being a partial ditz.

I’m actually quite pleased with how this paper doll came out. I really like the contrast of the red hair with the brown and pink color scheme, though I confess I originally tried her out with every other hair color since I felt like I have done a lot of redheads and then I gave up and decided didn’t care. I’ve likes redheads ever since I saw Anne of Green Gables on TV as a child.

Dark & Steamy: Gothic Steampunk Printable Paper Doll

Today’s paper doll is a little gothic and a little steampunk. That’s okay right? It’s not like mixing oil and water or something.

Erin, who won my little Trivia contest from last Monday, wrote me the following description of what she wanted for her custom Marisole paper doll.

I know that I want my doll to be very pale with brown hair… As for style of clothes and what not, I know that I love Victorian and Steampunk style. Belts, buckles, zippers, lace, keys, and corsets. That kind of stuff. I have included a few links as inspiration I guess, but feel free to disregard them. I dislike the color yellow, LOVE red, black and purple, but other than that… I’m not overly picky.

I asked for a little clarification on shades of brown (she said red brown) and exactly what sort of colors for metals she liked and then set to work. Like a deadline, it was oddly liberating to be paper dolling based on someone else’s guidelines. I’ve done other steampunk sets, but this one quickly got a gothic steampunk paper doll flare- I think the color scheme is what pushed it into gothic territory for me. I’ll always think of those as a gothic colors. I do hope she’s pale enough, because outside of doing another vampire paper doll, I couldn’t imagine going paler than this color. I think it reads as “pale” rather than reading as “corpus.”

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Since one of my favorite features of Victorian dresses was the fact that women got to wear all sorts of different clothing for different activities, I decided to treat the paper doll as though she was an actual Victorian lady- all be it in an alternative steampunk universe- in need of costumes for the range of standard Victorian lady activities.

Here we go.

The Morning Dress: Morning dresses were always more casual then other costumes. Erin sent me a reference link to this beautiful costume. I loved the colors and the drape. To make it a little more Victorian feeling, I added sleeves. Though technically a morning dress would never be worn outside the house, I added a hat since the reference costume featured one. Also, I like hats.

The Walking Costume: The other set of reference images I got was for a beautiful 1880’s reproduction bustled suit and I confess the early 1880’s when skirts were tight, before the huge bustle emerged is one of my favorite times in Victorian fashion. I made the suit purple (to match the purple/red color scheme), created a totally non-period hat and added some accents in silver and brass.

The Afternoon Dress: Mostly an excuse to draw a wild leather corset (well, I imagine its in leather, I suppose technically it could be any fabric you like), the afternoon dress was inspired by the corsets of 1910. The net/lace overlay was my attempt at lace, though I have mixed feelings about how it turned out. Afternoon dresses were also often visiting costumes, so she had to have a hat.

The Ball Gown: No costume set could be complete with out a ballgown and as I love drawing corsets, no ballgown couldn’t not have a corset top. The far left costume of this fashiion plate inspired the oddly bondage-esque skirt. I got a little carried away with my lock and key motif I think, but I had fun doing it.

As regular readers know, I’m a wee bit obsessed with Victorian inspired costumes. I’ve done two other steampunk/neo-Victorian Marisole paper dolls. There was the slightly candy like one (a lesson in how colors don’t look so bright before I process the images for Web and then seem to get brighter) and a more traditional color scheme.

I will probably do another trivia contest thing next week. So, keep your eyes open for that.

Puck: Jian

It’s a MAN! Well…sort of. The following conversation may have occurred.

Me: Look. I’m trying a guy paper doll.
My Male Friend: That’s a guy?
Me: Yes.
My Male Friend: He’s kinda girly.
Me glaring.
My Male Friend: But his clothing is cool…
Me: Uhuh… keep back peddling. Then we’ll talk.

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So, I redrew him, edited him and gave him manly strong man arms. He might not be like… the ultimate in masculinity, but considering I haven’t even tried to draw a guy paper doll in… um… seven years? Since high school anyway, I’m fairly okay with how he turned out. I agree his pose doesn’t scream MALE, but I wanted him to go with the Pixie dolls and match them to some degree. He’s like a male Pixie paper doll.

And my critical guy friend made up for his criticisms by suggesting the name Puck for the series.

This all began because I got a very sweet email asking for a paper doll for her son who wanted a boy paper doll. And since this year is about be trying new things with my paper dolls, I decided to go for it. My plan is to do one per month for the year, though I have to confess that most guys I know just wear jeans and t-shirts. It’s making for really boring paper doll clothing drawing, hence the steampunk paper doll.