Drawing a New Vector Paper Doll

I realize it's been about a week since I posted.... A few weeks ago we decided to update our shared office/studio.  I thought we'd slap some paint on the walls & call it a day.  Well, it got pretty involved!  My husband & I (with the help of my dad) installed new bookshelves, ripped up some ancient carpet, and moved around a ton of heavy, unwieldy furniture.  And slapped a three coats of paint on everything.  I've been spending every spare minute working on it.  Once it's totally finished, I'll post some pictures here.

Recently, I mentioned that I want to retire the Fashion Friday dolls.  I still want to post a new doll on Fridays, but the current template is getting a little stale.  My plan is to run it until doll #100 and then start up with something new.  I may do the same for the Kawaii Kids.  I have a few ideas.  One would be a completely different doll, in watercolors, with a history/fantasy/huge and complicated dresses kind of wardrobe.  That would be one or two dolls with a new dress every week, something like what Liana does on her blog.  My other idea is to create a child (or children) to go with the fashion dolls.  I have a female template, a male template, and adding a child to the mix would create a lot of options.  I've thought about developing a line of commemorative wedding dolls, including brides, grooms, flower girls, and whole wedding parties.  It's still in the planning stages and it's been on my mind quite a bit.

So here's what I'm going to do.  First, I'm going to develop the child dolls.  I may still work on a watercolor doll at some point.  I have lots of projects in the works!

Here are some sketches I've been working with.  None of them are finalized drawings.  I want to work on these in Illustrator and it felt like a waste of time to make them too perfect on paper.  Blank screens make me nervous and even a rough sketch helps! 

This scribble may turn into a baby-sized doll.  Babies are cute, have adorable clothes, and are a subject I'm rather familiar with! Also, this could easily a boy or girl baby with very little alteration.

With this scribble, I'm aiming for around preschool aged.  Maybe somewhere between 4 & 6.  Again, it's rough and I can work out some of the problems in Illustrator.  Right now, I'm not sure about the arm length and head size.

Finally, this is an older child who isn't yet a teen.  I'm thinking between 9 & 12.  It's important that these dolls function well.  I want a mix & match wardrobe similar to what the fashion paper dolls have.  To do this, I need a flexible template, one where there's sufficient space for tabs.  That's why the arms are away from the body on all of these.

At minimum, one of these will become a new vector paper doll.  Maybe all three of them will!  I plan on going through the process here.  I'll be working in my updated studio space (YAY!) and hopefully I can get started by next Monday.  Til then, look for new dolls this week and thanks for being patient with me!  Sometimes life gets in the way - and I'm not as great at building a backlog of posts like other amazing bloggers! There's a goal to work on, too...!