For this last day of January, I have a fan art paper doll to share! I don't create a lot of fan art. Part of that is because I enjoy making my own things. That's not a judgement thing - make whatever resonates with you - but it's just not for me. Second, I'm not a huge pop culture person. I'm just not. I'd be perfectly fine never turning on a TV or attending a movie ever again. My musical taste stalled out around 1998 and very little has been added since then. If not for my kids & husband, I would have no clue about current culture.
I do, however, like video games.
I'm more of a cozy/exploring and retro kind of gamer. I resisted Minecraft for a long time but my boys dragged me into it. And it's so fun! I often play in peaceful mode because I like exploring, gathering, and building without having a creeper blow me up in a deep dark mine. I have young parents so we had a couple of Atari systems growing up. Also, I've been a Nintendo fan since I first tried it in the late 80s. Super Mario 3 is easily my favorite game ever. I like fun games, not "slaughter monsters" kind of games. All of the men in my house enjoy those and that's fine. Just not for me.
My current cozy go-to game is Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Now before you all come here and tell me that I'm a little late to the party, I know. 2020 was a BIG year for Animal Crossing. My 2020 was a bit busy and I posted literally nothing here in 2021. Life happens.
Anyway...I asked for a Nintendo Switch Lite for my birthday last year. I was tired of sharing with the kids and I wanted to spend less time on my phone. Sometimes I get stuck in the mud of the internet. It's a problem. In keeping with my goal of being a bit more 1995 and a little less 2025, I've been playing my Nintendo a lot. Like A LOT. Most of it in Animal Crossing.
That's me! That's my character! AND those are all clothing items from my in-game wardrobe. It's fan art so feel free to print it and play with it but it's for personal use only. If you want to see other fan art from over the years, I have Mabel from Gravity Falls here and here as well as Fiona from Adventure Time.
Because transparency is really important to me, I want to share how I made this paper doll. I tried drawing this one free-hand but I just could not get it. The sketch is so truly bad that I just cannot share it. It's so far outside of my style that I just couldn't crack it. This was meant to be a fun personal project, not a stressful experience. So I traced parts of this and improvised other parts. I learned so much about how these characters are constructed that I would not have learned without tracing it. Tracing is a tool for learning so that's what I did. I learned. AND I had fun. Honestly, I think I might make it a point to trace other things that are way outside of my style so that I can learn different approaches.
And that's ok.
One of my favorite social media personalities right now is Scott Christian Sava. If you aren't familiar with him, go to his YouTube. I also follow him on Instagram. Everything about him is an inspiration but what I love most is that he shares his deepest thoughts about art and the art making process. He's shared videos about how he traces to learn even after decades of making amazing art. Check him out because he's excellent!
Let me know what you think of my fan art Animal Crossing gal! I have loads of fun in-game outfits that would make an excellent second page at some point. And if YOU happen to play Animal Crossing, let's connect! I still need cherries and oranges for my island. My current goal is to get all of the fruits.
Yes Animal Crossing! I played a ton of that during the pandemic I would create party games for my friends, like I built a giant maze, A scavenger hunt, and we played musical chairs. The pandemic is also when I got into paper dolls I was trying to make fun take home activities for the library kids. Since the library wasn’t actually open, but people could pick things up in the parking lot.
ReplyDeleteI haven’t played on my animal crossing in so long, I wonder how weedy my island is. I’m thinking I should go back and check it out.
Have you thought about translating fan characters into your personal style? That could be fun. I make all of my dolls with the same body shape so they can all wear the same clothes. I made a fan doll in my style of Wednesday Addams and Enid Sinclair from the TV show Wednesday that way my characters could wear their outfits. It was so much fun because they had so many cool outfits in that show.
I have one more Animal Crossing fanart left to make for a friend and then I think I'll be over it for a minute. I'm not really a fanart kind of person - once in a while something pops up that I really enjoy but I don't really watch a lot of tv, movies, etc. It's never been my thing.
DeleteI've been playing Animal Crossing for a bout a year and it's probably been a month since I logged on. My island is probably very weedy, too!
Your paper dolls are super cute and it's nice that they're all compatible!