Queen Elizabeth II Paper Doll in Tartans

 August came and went in a blur! Our Disney vacation was a ton of fun. The kids LOVED it! It was hot. It rained. We walked a zillion miles a day. I destroyed my phone and my husband lost his credit card. My parents lost a piece of luggage (it was found!). But it was all worth it and it was super fun. Here's a goofy selfie to prove it! 

Anyway.... 

The next issue of Paperdoll Review is all about plaids and checks. I was going to make a retro mod doll with some fun plaid outfits but it just wasn't coming together. 

And then the Queen died.

I'm a low-key royal watcher. Not like obsessive or anything. My mother is close in age to Princess Diana and watched the wedding in the 80s with great enthusiasm. I'm about the same age as Prince William. I find the history of it all fascinating. So once the Queen's death was announced, I felt compelled to draw her for the magazine. 

Her last official photo showed her at Balmoral in a tartan skirt and sweater. I knew from my own Scottish ancestry that tartans have their own histories and restrictions, much like coats of arms. There's a Scottish Register of Tartans that is just terrific!  It has lovely samples and information about each tartan, which was a key part of creating this doll. Here I discovered that the Queen's tartan is the Balmoral tartan, exclusive to the royal family. I used that on my base doll.

Next, I wanted another tartan from the Queen's time at Balmoral. She seemed to favor tartans while in Scotland so there were loads to choose from. I wanted something from her later years so that it would be consistent with the doll. The green tartan in this image is another royal exclusive and that's why I went with it for my outfit.

The other key part of my paper doll is Balmoral Castle. It was a favorite residence of the Queen and where she spent her final days. I found a lovely image on Wikipedia which was especially great because it's a Creative Commons image that I can freely remix! I tried working with it in Photoshop but to get the effect I wanted, I ran it through a watercolor painting simulation process in Photoshop.

So essentially I took all of these elements, about 5 hours in Procreate with another hour or so in Photoshop, and created my Queen Elizabeth memorial paper doll. Here's a 30 second time lapse video so you can get a sense of it.

There's also a wonderful write-up about the Queen on Jenny's paper doll blog with a link to a full resolution PDF of my paper doll. Go check that out, too.