Tracing and Creating Paper Dolls

Last week, I posted a behind-the-scenes image of a book I'm working on. The more I looked at those paper doll sketches, the more I disliked them. They're stiff and awkward and I just feel like I can do better. I've had a bit of art block for quite a while so I've been drawing less - right now, it REALLY shows! To boost my inspiration and skills, I decided to trace some dress pattern cover illustrations that I found online.

Trace?! 

Yes, trace. Or, as I choose think of it, analyzing with line. 

I've been reading up on tracing. It's not something I usually do. I'm a bit of a purist and I think the best way to improve is through observation. Go to a figure drawing class, draw a 3D doll, set up a still-life...doesn't matter which, they all help! But sometimes, I need something more tailored, more specific. This is where tracing comes in. 

Let's first take a detour about tracing. 

Some say it's cheating. Some say it isn't. The truth, for me, is somewhere in the middle. I read a phrase that really summed it up for me - tracing is cheating if you're setting out to deceive. Are you learning? Trace away! Tracing your own art? Go for it! Using public domain or some other rights managed image that you legally have the right to use? Again, go for it! Is tracing a shortcut to a selling someone else's work as your own? Nope. 

So why tracing?

My drawings feel off lately. There's something missing and I'm not quite sure what it is. I don't feel like I'm growing or improving. I'd like to have a more vintage fashion illustration aesthetic and I've been collecting images for inspiration for a while. My eclipse paper doll is adapted from a vintage fashion illustration. Sure, I can sketch from reference all day long but I want to gather information a bit faster. That's where the idea of analyzing with line comes it...

First, I gathered a bunch of images I liked. Second, I opened Photoshop and created a sizing template. The images I found were different sizes and different resolutions and I wanted them all to be roughly the same size for ease of comparison.

I settled on an 8 head height. Typically, an adult is about 7 1/2 to 8 heads high and fashion figures are often drawn at 9 heads, with longer legs. I adjusted each image to be about 8 heads which looked good and felt right for these illustrations.

Once I had the figures all arranged, I imported them into Procreate. I didn't end up tracing every image, just a few until I tired of it! 

 

I focused on vintage pattern cover illustrations, mostly 60s and 70s. 

 

When searching for illustrations, I focused on bathing suit sewing patterns. They felt like the closest analog to a traditional paper doll.

I picked a variety of poses, sometimes similar poses and sometimes quirky poses.

When I like details, such as hair or face, I traced more of that. Some of the faces are great! 

 

Here's one pose and tracing isolated together. Feel free to download any of these images to see a larger version.

 

So what was the point? What did I learn?

 

A few things! Some of these faces are great and could really help me get over my "same face" issues. Breaking the poses down into simple lines also helped clarify the poses. I can see these as a jumping off point for more exploration, too, maybe combining part into new poses. I also think feet and hands are challenging for most of us!!  Maybe these will spark some new inspiration for my top secret book....