Doodle-a-Day Project Wrap-Up

Happy New Year!! 2018 was a crazy busy year for us... 

For those who don't know, my grandmother moved in with us October 2017.  So I went from stay-at-home mom to caretaker as soon as my youngest started kindergarten.  Over the course of 2018, my grandmother fell 4 times and broke her pelvis after one of those falls.  On top of that, she's nearly blind (macular degeneration) and has lost much of her hearing.  So I shuttle her to doctors appointments and, in general, take care of whatever she needs.  Overall, she's in reasonable health for an 88 year old but some days are busier/harder than others.

We also found out at the end of 2017 that my oldest son has executive functioning issues and anxiety. Executive functions are everyday organization skills, things like remembering to do all the steps required to take a shower or remembering homework everyday.  It's been a relief, honestly, just knowing that there WAS an underlying issue and helping him work through that. It's a process and we're all learning together. We're also trying to help him with his anxiety and that, too, is an ongoing process.

On top of that, I've been volunteering at the school once a week, which I love! AND I've been doing a little freelance graphic design. I only take the projects I really want to do!

And I managed to do three projects for a collector, joined a paper doll group here in Massachusetts, and published my first book with Paper Studio Press. I also completed 12 black and white sheets in the paper doll collaboration project as well as 63 sheets in the Doodle-A-Day paper doll project.

I'm tired just writing all of that down!

So the next few posts are going to be a recap of 2018.  I want to share some of the projects I've worked on as well as the process for creating them.  After that, well, I'm just not sure! I'll think of something....!

In the meantime, let's talk about this HUGE project I just finished.

This is a screen shot of the entire Doodle-A-Day project as I have it laid out on Pinterest.  It's pretty amazing to see the colors transition throughout the year! I definitely became more bold as the year went on.

Each month had a five-color palette along with black and white.  There were four dolls that rotated throughout the year.

That's all four dolls together. One thing I'd like to do is give each of them a more neutral base outfit.  I tried to stay fairly neutral with the shoes but totally did not with the outfits!

Each set started out as a drawing in ArtRage.  I find that to be my go-to drawing program lately.

I drew everything digitally - from the base dolls to each and every outfit.  The image above shows essentially what I did for each set.  There's a base doll, then a sketch layer, and then a line layer. I used the pencil tool and the ink pen tool in ArtRage. At this stage, I exported to a Photoshop file and worked on it in Photoshop.

Next, I added tabs and a white fill on everything.

I created an action to speed things up a bit.  An action in Photoshop is a recording of several steps in a process that can be played over and over as needed.  My action consisted of 1) select outside the lines 2) inverse the selection and 3) contract by one pixel so that all of the color fills land inside the lines with no bleeding outside of the lines.  This saved me a few seconds on every individual item which added up to HOURS over the course of the year.

Once the tabs were placed and everything got a white fill, I added the text. I used one font and one size (in most cases) for the entire project.  I saved the black & white sheet and went on to coloring.

Honestly, coloring should be a post all by itself! I'll show you a bit of the way I do it but I may go back for more in-depth demonstrations.

In this image, I've circled the layers used to color the doll.  That's JUST the doll - not the layers used to create the background, the clothing, none of that....just the doll. 

After creating the doll - which is always the longest step - each drawing and inking session in ArtRage took about 2 hours. Sometimes more but that was the average.  Creating a black and white sheet took another 2 hours or so.  And then a fully colored sheet took anywhere from 4 to 8 hours depending on the complexity.  So each post took from about 8 to 16 hours.  Each post. Conservatively, I have over 500 hours into this project! Or, put another way, I was spending at minimum 10 hours a week on this project.  That's huge!!

The next step is to figure out what to do with this project.  Should I make it a calendar? A massive book? A series of themed prints? I don't know yet. 

This ended up being a huge write-up!! Did you love the project? Did you have a favorite doll or month or themes? I'd love to know!

The next post will be a summary of a really unique project I did for a collector. So look for that soon.

September Paper Doll - Set 5

This was supposed to go online yesterday.  However, instead of finishing this, I took a mental health day.  Much needed, too!! I have a lot going on and I rarely take a break.  Yesterday, I set aside all of my caregiving duties and all of my art projects in order to have coffee with a friend.

I regret nothing!

So today I have the last page of the September set.  I'm diligently working on October & that'll be up soon.

This was a tough one! First up was "comic" and I went with a retro minidress with a halftone effect on it that reminded me of comic books.  It's a stretch, I know! "Frame", too, is a stretch. Instead of a picture frame like I did for "frame" in February, I chose to go with "frame" as in "structure" so I made a suite jacket with a corset top and matching pants.  "Neighbor" is a graphic tee (my fallback!!) that matches the "storefront" skirt.  "Wild is a slinky animal print dress.  Finally, "pattern" is a skirt that I neglected to actually give a pattern to in the black and white sheet.  And there's a bonus skirt.

September was a tough set of themes! I'm pretty excited about October so look for those soon!

September Paper Doll - Set 4

Happy October! I was SO happy to be caught up...and now I'm not.  That's fine. There's one more sheet after today and I should be able to get that done this week.

The themes for this set are:"nails" where I made a hammer & nail pattern legging (would look great with the "craft" apron from a previous set), "furniture" is a layered graphic tee of a rocking chair, "fairy" is a duplicate - this time I went with a hippie style dress and fairy necklace, "elephant" is an embroidered top, "autumn" is a leaf patterned top, and, finally "glass" is a shimmery crystal gown and hair piece.

Since it's October, a lot of people are doing Inktober projects. I am not.  Not enough time!! If you are looking for some fun ones, Paper Thin Personas is posting on Instagram.  There's another paper doll series at Miss Missy's Paper Dolls, too. The ladies at Girls Drawin' Girls (which I follow on Facebook) are doing a witch themed Inktober and you can see that here. I wish I had time for that one!!

I'll wrap up September and get on to October. It's one of my favorite months and I'm eager to get started!

September Paper Doll - Set 3

Finally! I have another sheet ready! I really need to stop saying "I've caught up!" because then I fall behind....

Let's start at the beginning! The first theme was "fortune" so I made a fortune teller/Bohemian style set. "Tourist" is based on the leaf peepers I saw when I lived in Northern New England. "Close-up" is supposed to be a close up magnification of maple leaves but it didn't quite work out. "Pathway" is a tunic with a map - again - because I had no ideas for that! "Pottery" is a top based on motifs from ancient Greek black figure vases.  And, finally, "mythical creature" is a centaur partly because I knew the colors would work!

Tomorrow is the collaboration set - look for that!

September Paper Doll - Set 2

I'm caught up!!! How did that happen?! The last prompt for this set is September 12th and TODAY is September 12th so yay for that!

We'll see how long I stay caught up.....

This month has at least one repeat: "snail".  So I created a skirt to match the top & purse from May. Next is "tower" and I went with a fuzzy sweater with the Eiffel Tower.  "Doors" is a patterned skirt.  "Craft" is a woodworker's apron and tools.  "Remember" - the prompt for September 11 - is a black dress with a poppy, in part because of the terror attacks all those years ago & also to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. And finally, "begins with 'm'" is a menswear inspired jacket and pants. There's also a neutral blouse & jeans for mixing.

Time to get drawing - don't want to lose my momentum! 

September Paper Doll - Set 1

It took a while to wrap August up! Thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement - long term, large projects are tough & I've been ready to give up for a while.  It's the last quarter, though, and I'm going to see it through!

The September outfits fit the January doll (as do the May outfits).  This will be the last month for the January doll! For September, I wanted seasonal colors but not deep autumn colors like red and orange. I wanted more sunflowers and sunshine than apples and foliage, if that makes sense. I'm not entirely happy with these colors - the brown and orange are too similar now that I see them together but I'm going to stick with it anyway.

Here are the September themes. If you'd like to follow along, I'm using the drawing suggestions from @ellolovey on Instagram and she's on Facebook, too.

The first theme this month is "balloon animal".  I studied art history and I can't think about balloon animals without thinking about Jeff Koons. So I made a balloon animal skirt.  Next is "latte art" in the form of a layered graphic tee and scarf.  "Classroom" is another school uniform inspired set of a plaid shirt & sweater vest.  "Whiskers" is a cat sweater and matching cat headband.  "Pizza" is a repeat theme and I went with a pizza graphic and pattern.  "Books" is a pair of leggings with a book pattern.  There's also a few mix & match pieces, too, in the form of a tee, pants, a skirt, and a tunic. There may even be pieces that match from previous months!

Also, for anyone who hasn't heard yet, my first book with Paper Studio Press is available for pre-order! You can look at it here and I'll share more when I get mine!!

May Paper Doll - Set 5

I realize it's June but I really wanted to get this last May wardrobe sheet up! I'm starting the June set and I'll get that up when I can.  This week is a bit hectic - our small city is having a school budget crisis and I plan on participating in a public rally this week.  Hopefully it'll get resolved soon.  Education is really important to me & we have an amazing, dedicated staff that deserves our community's support.

Ok, rant over. On to the paper doll!

The last round of themes were fun.  "Waves" is a dress with a wave pattern. "Camping" is a set of camping gear.  "Turtles" is a set of patterned pants.  With "bright" I decided to go with bright as in intelligent so I made a lab coat.  "Laundry" is a very full laundry basket.  And "poolside" is a two piece bathing suit in the same pattern as the sarong & one piece suit from previous sheets.

So that's it for May.  Also, in case you haven't heard, I contributed to the Seattle Paper Doll Convention souvenir set! There's a newsletter with ordering information here if you're interested!

May Paper Doll - Set 4

It's the last day of May & I wanted to get at least one more of the May sets posted.  I have one more to go!! It's been a busy month and it's only getting busier! Time to get more organized....

The themes for this week were fun! First, "strawberry" is a retro shorts set.  "Mix" was a theme for January AND May - this time, I went with a patchwork jacket.  "Geometric" is a 1960s inspired color blocked dress.  "Brunch" was tough so I went with a light, airy California inspired off-shoulder top and linen pants.  "Palm" is a bathing suit that matches set 4's sarong skirt.  And "snail" is a cute purse.

I'm going to make every effort to get the last May set up quickly.  I've got a couple of other things I'm working on and summer vacation looming....! Ah! Back to drawing...

May Paper Doll - Set 3

Seems like Monday is the ideal day for me to post these May wardrobe sheets! I really didn't plan it that way but it's working out nicely.

Not a whole lot to say about this round.  "Mom" is a retro dress & apron.  "Camera" is a very artsy black turtle neck and camera -- I'm super happy with how that camera came out! For "stack" I have a layered shirt and a layered necklace.  "Balloon" features a pattern from Julia Dreams -- a design shop I like quite a bit.  "Grass" is a graphic skirt....although I sort of wish I had gone Hawaiian with that instead! "Market" is a light jacket and shopping bag.  And finally, "purple" is a tropical sarong and top.  That one doesn't mean a whole lot in black and white! There are also a couple of hairstyles and a pair of shorts to round it out.

And that's it! I'll work on the next set and get that up soon.

May Paper Doll - Set 2

Happy Monday! I hope all of the moms who celebrate Mother's Day had a quiet, relaxing day! I spent the day with my parents, all of my grandparents, and my sister and her family.

Today's set covers May 7 through 12.  The themes this time were: box, medicine, patio, city, stork, and tea.

For "box", I went with a simple box pleat skirt for mix & match options.  "Medicine" is a set of scrubs.  "Patio" is a maxi skirt with fun palm leaves.  "City" was challenging - I went with a bright jumpsuit and dark sunglasses.  "Stork" is a patterned skirt.  And "tea" also features a patterned skirt.

I'll get started on Set 3 and get that up as soon as I can!

May Paper Doll - Set 1

Happy May everyone! I wanted to get this up on Friday but it didn't happen.  There's a TON of stuff I'm working on at the moment -- much of it paper doll related but not blog-worthy yet.

Today's set is the first wardrobe sheet for May.  As promised, I went back to the January doll and you can find that here. Here's the list of themes for this month:

As with all of the drawing prompts, this set is from @ellolovey on Instagram and Facebook.


For this set, I'm tackling the first six themes: simple, robot, self-love, galaxy, and key.

"Simple" is sleeveless dress.  "Robot" is some funky leggings and a graphic t-shirt.  "Self-love" was tough.  I decided to put some lilacs (my favorite flower) on a blouse.  "Galaxy" was fun! The black and white version is plain and boring, but the color was came out great! "Key" features a statement necklace. And "veggies" is a practical apron for gardening.

This may mix and match with some of the January sets, too!

I'll have another set up & ready as soon as I can!