Personal Projects of 2022 - Paperdoll Review Submissions

 I find myself in this incredibly lucky position where I get to do exactly what I've always wanted to do: paper dolls! I draw them for myself, of course, but more than that, I get to edit paper dolls of the past & present while learning & growing myself. Some days, it's graphic design. Some days, it's coloring another artist's drawings. Some days, it's drawing my own. Jenny Taliadoros is a total joy and she made this happen for me! She is one of the best people I've ever met. Working with her has made my art and my life better. She wrote up a lovely intro on the Paperdoll Review site if you want to take a look at it. It's been a nice little bit of serendipity for the last few years. I keep busy working on the Paperdoll Review magazine and various books that Jenny publishes. That's going to be a whole different post. Today I want to focus on the personal projects I've done in & around the work I do with Jenny. These are my submissions to Paperdoll Review magazine for 2022.

One thing I push myself to do is include a paper doll in each issue of Paperdoll Review (or OPDAG, when it was separate). I've only missed a few issues over the last ten years. (Ok, so I just realized as I typed this that it's been TEN YEARS. My first submission was the Circus issue in 2012. Unbelievable...) My 2022 submission had an odd, overarching theme: memorials for dead people.

 First up is Mary Shelley.  I actually drew this at the end of 2021 but it was published in 2022 in the Regency issue of Paperdoll Review.  I'm not really big into Regency stuff - never watched Bridgerton, not a Jane Austen fan, etc. I am, however, a fan of women's literature, sci-fi and fantasy, and I skew a bit goth though you'd never know it if you met me. Mary Shelley was a much more interesting subject for the Regency time period for me than anything else. This was drawn on my Surface in Sketchbook Pro. I focused so much on trying to get a good portrait that I forgot to draw a good doll! The hands and arms are not great. I love the layout and composition. 

 

The next issue of the magazine was themed around fashion models. Again, it didn't really hit home for me. I was struggling to come up with an idea and then I heard about the death of Andre Leon Talley. So another memorial paper doll for me! I really loved his work and his style. Although not a model himself, he had gorgeous personal style and was a huge influence on fashion from the 90s onward. I really wanted a "painted" portrait with this one. I took a photo of him and placed it on one side of my canvas and then "painted" in Sketchbook on the other side, just as you see it above. I really tried to approach it the way I paint in oils. Once I reduced it to fit the doll, it looked awesome! Really pleased with this set overall. 

Another theme from 2022 was Awesome Animals. I knew I wanted to draw a fox for my youngest son. He LOVES foxes. I like to create paper dolls that go beyond the typical expectations of paper dolls. I've created a few paper dolls of men and boys over the years, partly because I have sons and partly because dolls are for everyone. It's important to me to push the boundaries of what paper dolls can be and who they are for. Aside from that, this paper doll was my very first in Procreate on the iPad. I learn through doing and I learned A LOT from this project.

 Available as a at Paperdoll Review

My final Paperdoll Review submission of the year is another memorial paper doll. Again, I struggled with this theme - plaids. I shouldn't have. I love plaids. I love creating plaids digitally. I even have tutorials! For some reason, nothing clicked until the death of Queen Elizabeth. I'm a low-key royal watcher. I find the royal family fascinating but I'm not obsessive or anything. Just mildly interested (and an Anglophile, too). When Queen Elizabeth's final photo was released, I noticed that she was wearing a tartan. I knew that certain tartans belonged to certain groups and started researching it. She wore the exclusive Balmoral tartan while at home at Balmoral Castle and had other exclusive tartans. That became the theme for me. Again, I focused so much on the portrait that other things are lacking a bit but I'm happy overall with this one. This one was also created in Procreate on the iPad.

If you want copies of any of the issues I mentioned above, you can grab them at Paperdoll Review. They are all back issues at this point so quantities are likely limited. 

I have a few more personal projects I want to discuss next time, so come back for more!