5 Paper Doll Work-in-Progress/Tutorials from around the Web

My plan for today was to share some of my old (as in childhood) paper dolls.  That plan didn't happen!  After spending the weekend with family and car shopping, we finally have our car situation sorted out but I ran out of time to do much else.  I also tore apart my studio/office so my work area is currently non-existent and access to my scanner is tough.  That room has been a deep burgundy with yellow trim for as long as we've lived here!  The color was sucking the creativity out of me, so it was time to paint & redecorate.  I can't wait to share pictures of the finished room once it's completed!

Until the studio is organized, there will be some random posts like this one and some digital art since I can work on my laptop anywhere.  I'm eager to do more painting, especially after working on the Wicked Women paper doll.

So today I'm sharing five paper doll related tutorials or work-in-progress posts I found while wondering the Web.  For those of you interested in such things, I also discovered that my SEO is apparently terrible!  When I Googled "paper doll tutorials" not ONE of mine showed up.  Really? Not one?!  Time to work on that....

1) Shannanigan on deviantArt

I love this doll! This is a work-in-progress image from Shannon Finch (shannanigan) on deviantArt.  She has several amazing paper dolls and tons of illustrations on her dA site.  I like that the first image here shows how the doll is broken down and how she sketches the various parts.  It's important to draw and draw regularly, and something like this is proof of that! She's an artist worth checking out.

2) Making of "TV Moms" by David Wolfe

David Wolfe is an important man in fashion! Not only is he a talented paper doll artist, but he's also a well-known fashion forecaster.  He's involved in OPDAG, Paper Doll Studio magazine, conventions, and has several published paper doll titles available.  This image is from his website, Paperdollywood, and it's easy to lose a few hours looking through everything!  On his site, he has a detailed walk-through of how he made the TV Moms paper doll book.  He explains his entire process from concept to completion.  One thing I find fascinating is that he makes the bodies & heads of his dolls separately.  He has some sound reasoning and I may try this in the future!

3) Knit Paper Doll Clothes Tutorial by Cynthia Shaffer

How adorable is that?! At the crescendoh.com blog, Cynthia Shaffer walks through a mixed media paper doll clothing project.  She sketches and paints clothing, then applies a stamp to it that looks like it's knit! I love this.  The idea of mixed media sounds so fun!  The imperfection of this is what really makes it -- this is watercolor at its best.  And pencil!  And stamping!  A great new technique I'll have to try soon.

4) The Making of a Paper Doll, Lily & Thistle

After seeing the work at Lily & Thistle, I was tempted to put my pencil away forever!  Lily & Thistle Creative Studio is the work of Hannah Stevenson.  Her paper dolls are near perfection!  Her Etsy shop is what I would love my (now-abandoned) Etsy shop(s) to be.  On her blog, she goes through a step-by-step process about how she makes her perfect dolls.  It's a great look at an artist at work, clearly making something she loves.

5)  How to Draw Hair and Clothes for a Virtual Dress-Up Doll in Illustrator by Mary Winkler 

This!  This is what I want to make with Illustrator.  This tutorial is so detailed, and rich, and amazing that I want to sit down and do each & every step when I have some time.  (Time.... I'm the mother of two young boys....Time is a distant memory!!)  Computer illustration can be so fluid & lively, and that's what I love about this.  I've been using Illustrator for a while and there are things in this tutorial I learned!  If you have any interest in using Illustrator, this is a great tutorial (really, the whole site is great) to work with.  She also has a tutorial here detailing how to make a doll base.  Also worth checking out.


So those are some of the things I'm looking at online.  Inspiration and education can come from such diverse corners of the world!  I'll have a couple of dolls up this week, so look for those on Wednesday and Friday.  And my SEO.... totally need to work on that.....