The Eclectic Wardrobe of Jospehine - Page 3

Thanks for all the love around Josephine! This might be my favorite project ever...which I've been saying about a lot of things lately.  And thank you for the suggestions.  Keep them coming!

If you're wondering where to get the Josephine paper doll, grab it here.

Today's page is not a mix and match set. I wanted to create a historical set and I settled on something from the 1920s.  I wanted to avoid the classic black & gold that seems to pop up in '20s fashion. Instead, I went with pastels.

Right-click to download and print

I have one day look and one evening look. I love how the hair came out! The hat isn't perfect but I think it's ok.  The dress on the right has some quirky perspective stuff but again, I can live with it. The fringe came out way better than I expected!

Keep sending me suggestions. I *try* to get to them but I miss some occasionally.... Next week is something completely different. Again!

Paper Doll Collaboration 2017 - The Year I was Born

Instead of your regularly scheduled mix & match tween paper doll, we have the next installment of the Paper Doll Collaboration Project. (Need the doll? Grab it here.) You'll have to wait til February for more after this week...

The theme for this month is the Year You Were Born.  So yeah, you're all going to learn how old we are! Rachel and Boots have outfits, too, and I'll update the links when they're live. In theory, the outfits can mix & match.  Hats/hair probably won't.

Download the PDF for Fashion from 1980 here

So I was born in 1980.  My mother LOVED Princess Diana.  When I went to London for the first time, I made it a point to go to Harrod's and pick out something Princess Diana related for my mother.  This was late 1999, so not terribly long after the princess's death.

Anyway, my mother watched the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. The earliest paper doll I ever remember owning was a Princess Di set.  Loved it.

Naturally, I thought Princess Di would be a perfect representation of the 1980s.  She was a style icon! This set is based on an outfit she wore in 1980, prior to her marriage. I wanted something sort of elegant. There's so much awful fashion from the 80s, but there's some good, too. And the hair! That flipped hair was everywhere!

Check out Paper Thin Personas and Pop Culture Paper Dolls for their installments, too.  And come back in February for a new theme!

EDIT: We're also added Melissa of Miss Missy Paper Dolls. Check out her contribution! 

The Eclectic Wardrobe of Josephine - Page 2

Did you like last week's new paper doll?! I know I did! Today I have another page for Josephine. I've created a tag specifically for this set, so hopefully it'll be easy to find.  The paper doll can be found here.

I love mix and match paper dolls.  The pose on this one makes mix and match a little more challenging.... The wardrobe for today might mix a little bit with last week's doll.  And I can't promise you that every set will be a mix and match set. In fact, next week's is not.

Right-click to download and print

Today's wardrobe is comfy & beachy. Totally perfect for January, right?! I'm *fairly* confident that the floating tab will work on the hair piece. I haven't test printed these yet...

Also, I'm happy to take suggestions for this series. Really, anything goes. I have a historically inspired set ready for next week that I'm really excited about.

As always, let me know what you think!

Paper Doll Collaboration 2017

Happy Monday everyone! There are a lot of new things going on this year and today, I'm posting the first part of yet another project.

Over the holidays, Rachel and Boots and I chatted about creating a collaborative paper doll project.  I gotta say, I wish group projects during my school days went this smoothly! We decided to create a black & white paper doll series using one body and with different faces.  We'll be posting a portion of each doll at the end of every month according to a theme.  If all goes well, there will be a massive paper doll at the end of the year! So yay for that!

We decided I would draw the base doll. That's actually one of my favorite parts of paper doll creation! I found a few reference photos and we settled on one from SenshiStock. I LOVE her poses and find her a constant source of inspiration.

With every project, I try to learn something or test something. This time around, I decided to test a paperless method.  So the doll was drawn in ArtRage and lined in Photoshop.  It's entirely digital.

This is the digital sketch.  It worked out a lot better than I had anticipated. I'll draw like this more, I think. It's easier than tracking down a sketch book!

The final drawing was inked in Photoshop.  It's something I'm still trying to perfect.

Download the Collaboration Paper Doll PDF here

We'll each post our themed outfit on the last Friday of every month.  This month's theme is the year we were born.  Be sure to visit Paper Thin Personas for Rachel's doll and Pop Culture Paper Dolls for Boot's doll!

Tween Fashion Friday - Alexandra

I recently read a phrase that really resonated: art - no matter how small the audience - has value.  That's a paraphrase and not an exact quote, but like I said, it really spoke to me. This little blog is a reflection of what I believe.  I believe there's beauty and value in all people, of all colors, creeds, etc.  I want people to come to this site and find a paper doll that looks like them.  It's an on-going project and there are more kinds I've people I'd like to include. I'll keep creating for me and, hopefully, for you, too.

Today's paper doll has a cool toned winter wardrobe.  It isn't the most elaborate paper doll I've ever made, but I like the coat and I liked the pattern -- it's from my ever-expanding asset stash.

Download Tween Fashion Friday - Alexandra pdf here

How are you liking the new Josephine series? I'm having so much fun creating it! As always, if there's something you'd like to see, let me know. I don't always get to every suggestion but I do try!

The Eclectic Wardrobe of Josephine - Page 1

Today's the day! I have my new paper doll series ready to go.  I think I'll try to post this on Tuesdays, as often as I can.  Before I post the sheet, I want to talk about technique.

First, I started with a sketch. I could have done it on my computer, but instead I took out my good old paper & pencil. The pose is a composite pose I put together from SenshiStock.  I like her poses specifically because they're clothed.  Nude models are incredibly helpful & I highly recommend life drawing classes, but if I'm drawing at my kitchen table surrounded by my kiddos I'd rather use clothed models.

I knew I wanted a medium to dark skin tone. There's a wonderful image I found on Pinterest that served as color reference & a rough model for my paper doll's face.

Once I did all of that, I scanned my image and brought it into Photoshop. I knew this was going to be a Photoshop project right from the beginning.

This is a very rough breakdown of the steps I went through to color the doll. There's a much more thorough breakdown here -- I've been working on this technique for a while! First, I inked the sketch.  I gave it a thicker outside line using a stroke style.  Then, I gave it a flat color.  I started added shadows and highlights, blurring as needed.  It still looked really flat so I overlaid a brighter, warmer brown and that helped tremendously! I kept layering lights & darks, then added the face and clothing.

Once that was finished, I knew I wanted a border and background that would be on every page of the series.  I also needed a title.  I settled on The Eclectic Wardrobe of Josephine.  I needed something descriptive and a cool name.  Now, I love The Tragically Hip -- a fantastic Canadian band -- and they have a song called Goodnight Josephine, which I love.  And then, there's the amazing Josephine Baker, so really the name was perfect for this project.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this project long-term. As much as I can stand, I suppose!

Right-click to download and print

Here's the final version of page one. I wanted a little mix & match capability.  More pages will make that more fun, of course.  If anyone plans on printing it out, let me know. I can post it with a white background if there's a need for it.

I'm pretty excited to have a new project. There will still be a Friday paper doll in one of the various mix & match series.

Let me know what you think! Should be a fun little adventure for all of us!

Tween Fashion Friday - Inez

Happy January! I did not expect to miss almost half of January without a post, but I needed a bit of a break after December.  I loved making the December angel paper doll series (you can grab the entire series as a PDF here) and, much as I loved it, it was exhausting!   The feedback on the doll was fantastic -- thank you to everyone who commented, shared, etc. It makes my December project worth it every year!

So today I'm back with a new tween doll.

Download Tween Fashion Friday - Inez pdf here

The pattern on today's doll is from a from a bundle of graphic design resources I bought a while back. It isn't a secret that I create some of the patterns that I use and that I buy others.  I do more than just create paper dolls and these design resources come in handy for a variety of projects, personal and professional.

The other reason I mention that is because I'm starting a new doll. Stylistically, it's similar to the Victorian Mix and Match book. I've been eager to work with some new digital paper and patterns, so I created a paper doll in Photoshop specifically for that purpose.

Do you want to see a preview?

Of course you do!

The doll is ready to go. And that's it. I have no idea what day of the week I want to post this on. No idea what to call the series. And she has no wardrobe yet! I also have no theme for the doll. Might be contemporary one week and Victorian the next. Thoughts??

There are more surprises for 2017 and I'm excited to do some new things in this new year!