Red Riding Hood

A few days ago I received my Paper Doll Studio magazine. It's a little bittersweet. This may be the last issue but it's also an opportunity, I think. Before Paperdoll Review, I knew very little about vintage paper dolls and I know that there are a lot of collectors who know less about contemporary paper dolls because they only subscribe to Paperdoll Review. With one magazine, everyone gets to read about all of it in one place! It's going to be the best of both worlds.

For the Make Believe issue, I decided to tackle a project I've been thinking about for a while - Red Riding Hood. I took a fairy tale class in college and the idea of evolving fairy tales fascinated me. There's a classification system that traces stories around the world. It's really neat if a little academically dense.   Anyway, Red Riding Hood has a long and rich history that I wanted to illustrate.

I started by sketching the doll. It was tough. I went through roughly 20 sketchbook pages! I just couldn't get it right. And I nearly gave up. Instead, I tried a different pose and that worked better. 

 

That image is composite of the best of the bad sketches! Part of the reason why it was so tough is because I don't make drawing the habit I once did. I don't make the time to draw every day - especially in the insanity of 2020 - and my skills have suffered. It'll come back. It just takes time and dedication.

I finally settled on this pose. I wanted the doll to be a 21st century girl. She has a red hoodie, a pleated skirt, and a timeless hairstyle. Once I got the sketch to this phase, I took a picture of it and worked on it in Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, my current favorite program.

In a different file, I worked on the background. I knew I wanted it to look like a traditional fairy tale book illustration. When I think of traditional fairy tale books, I think of gold leaf, illustrated drop capitols, and gorgeous lettering. 

So that's where I started. I used a guide from Ian Barnard's Grid Builder kit to place my title text. (NOT a paid post - that's the tool I bought, for my use, and you can check it out if you want.) I used Photoshop to layout the title and borders. Once I was happy, I printed it and revised my composition.

So far, I have a file for the background, a file for the doll, and a ton of sketches. I colored the doll in Sketchbook and then added tabs in Photoshop. I "painted" my background in Sketchbook, added the gold accents as well as the red marble background in Photoshop, and combined them all into one file for the final illustration. It sounds more complicated than it was. It's not unusual for an artist to create a background and a doll, then combine them. I just did it digitally.

There are quite a few things I'd like to change about this, but overall, I'm happy with it. My compositions are evolving and improving. Her face is weird - her ear especially!! I really need to get back into the habit of drawing. I hope you all have enjoyed Paper Doll Studio magazine. I know I have - it's literally been life changing for me. If you haven't switched over already, go sign up for Paperdoll Review.

And a happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating it! Stay safe & healthy.

Happy Halloween!

 I found time to make a Halloween paper doll! Typically, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. This year, instead of running wild around town, we're going to see my parents. We're having a pinata, a movie, and that's about it.  Small, manageable, but fun.

 The main reason why I managed to get a Halloween paper doll together is because I used an old sketch! 

This sketch is at least five years old, maybe more. Somewhere along the way I stopped signing and dating sketches. I might be able to figure out a more precise date if I dig... Anyway, it's been languishing for a while. I always loved the doll on the left and decided to go for it. 

 

My favorite program right now is Autodesk Sketchbook Pro. It's free, easy to use, and I LOVE it. And it's available for pretty much every platform. I took my scribble into Sketchbook and tinkered. Once I was happy, I "inked" it, colored it, and added textures & patterns.  It took most of the week. Considering the kids are remote learning, "the week" is like three hours a day!! 

 

And here she is! I'm posting it in color and black & white. Feel free to download and play with it. And happy haunting on Halloween!
 

Books! Books! Books!

It's been a looooong time between posts! Pandemics, remote learning, etc, have definitely cut into art time. I'm not posting here as much as I'd like but I AM keeping busy! I have two new books available and I wanted to share them here.

First up, Fun with Mom. 

I wanted to create a vintage style mom & daughter book wit modern themes. It went through A LOT of sketches and edits! 

The covers were especially tough for me. I've worked on a bunch of covers and layouts for other artists, but found my own challenging. I reached out for help & the absolutely wonderful David Wolfe cooked up a vintage inspired idea.

I'm really happy with how it all came together! You can grab a copy here.

Next up is Rose & Ivy.
 

This started as a 100 day project way back in April of 2019. I decided to pick & chose among the 20 pages I created for that project and added a few new new pieces, too. For this, the cover was designed before the doll was even colored! I had some clip art that I just loved and based the color scheme on that as well. Once I colored the dolls in pink and green, that's when I came up with Rose and Ivy. This book was almost exclusively colored in Autodesk Sketchbook Pro - it's a natural media program and it's free for just about every platform. You can download it here if you're interested.The outfits are loosely based on the Victorian era. And it's all skirts and dresses! Grab your copy here. 

I'm hoping to share a few more projects before the end of the year. I'm on Instagram with more regular updates!

Eight is Great!

I know I don't write much anymore. Truthfully, caregiving for two generations and homeschooling during a pandemic has been a been overwhelming. And though I don't draw as much as I'd like, I'm still busy in the world of paper dolls.

Today is the eight year anniversary of the ol' blog and I didn't want it to go unmentioned. In a lot of ways, this blog is closely tied to my kiddos.

Without explicitly saying it at the time, I started this to help me deal with post-partum depression and being overwhelmed as a stay-at-home mom to two boys. What started out as something to keep me sane became something bigger. My digital world of paper dolls became a real world of paper dolls. I am forever grateful for that! If you can, meet real live paper doll people. They are the BEST people. After the pandemic, of course!!

I want to say that the blog isn't going anywhere. I don't write as much as I once did but that's because of all the "real world" stuff. I've had oodles of fun paper doll projects in the works and today I want to share a few of them.

Aprons by Judy M Johnson

First up is a vintage inspired paper doll book by Judy M Johnson.  I was lucky enough to do a bit of editing and page & cover design for this one. There are so many cool things about this book! My favorite, though, is the back cover. I was lucky enough to create the kitchen illustration on the back & I'm pretty happy with how it came out! The whole book is just retro fantastic!

The Champions by Marilyn Henry

This was another really cool project to work on! Marilyn Henry painted these images a while ago and I was able to edit the scans as well as work on page layouts and covers. It's such lovely art and it was a real joy helping to bring in into book form.

Victorian Sports by Brenda Sneathen Mattox

Choosing a favorite paper doll artist is like choosing a favorite child - I couldn't possibly! However, if I had to, Brenda Sneathen Mattox would be at the top! I love her beautiful watercolors and this book is no exception. Every illustration is just exquisite. This one, too, I worked on some editing and page & cover design. On a technical level, I'm incredibly proud of the way the two illustrations are blended together on the front cover. Masks...love layer masks in Photoshop!!

Choosing the perfect font or illustration to compliment a book is immensely satisfying. I love collaborating with Jenny Taliadoros on this. It's been a privilege to be a part of her very talented paper doll team. All because I took the leap and went to Morgantown! Although it seems like all of 2020 is cancelled, paper dolls aren't cancelled. In fact, it's a great time to start or add to a collection! I know I am! So check in occasionally - I'll write when I can. Thanks for sticking with me so far and happy paperdolling!