Paper Doll Commission

Instead of a lesson this week, I want to share a project with you.

At the beginning of the year, I wrote a post about all of the things I want to accomplish this year & some of the things I'll need to set aside temporarily.  One of the things I decided to set aside were the PaperJane dolls.  They weren't as popular as I had hoped, and were a bit of a pain to make.  I love those dolls and want to go back to them, but I have bigger priorities this year.

And then I got the most random email ever!

I was contacted in January by the Fort Worth Country Day School in Fort Worth, Texas.  They are celebrating their 50th anniversary and wanted a unique invitation for their party: a paper doll that showed the different eras of the school's history.  I loved the idea!

They wanted a boy & a girl to represent the school and wanted it based on the PaperJanes.  Because that's just the way fate works!! I developed a companion for Jane (I'm calling him Jack) and a wardrobe for them.

First, I sketched some concepts and we agreed on a pose for the girl.  Above are some low-res sketches of the concepts.  From there, I worked in Illustrator to develop the doll.

Here's the next-to-last (low resolution) version.  We made a couple of minor changes, but this is essentially the doll.  For each of the dolls, there's (in order): a 1960's letter jacket & cheerleader, a 1970's guy & girl, a 1980's preppy guy and workout girl, a 1990s prom couple, graduation, homecoming king & queen, and the school uniforms.  I even replicated their plaid in Illustrator!

And this is the final invitation.  It's a poster that opens up with various phases as you open it, and then, when fully opened, there's the doll!  There were a few minor changes made that I think are great, like adding a logo the to boy's undershirt.  We went with a one-piece plaid suit for the girl, and, again I think it was the right choice. 

This was a wonderful commission and I'm so glad it came my way.  I plan on framing this & hanging it in my studio -- that's how much I love it!

When I feel up to working with the PaperJanes again, I'll be adding Jack to compliment Jane and some of these outfits may show up in some variation.

So thanks again to the Fort Worth Country School for such a unique opportunity & I hope all of you out in paperdoll fandom like this too!