Fashion Friday - Camille

My computer is back up & running.  I was lucky that it was a simple fix this time. I love drawing on my Surface way too much to switch to something else, despite it's obvious flaws.....

In keeping with my Japanese theme for this month, I have something a little different today.  The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has a lovely collection of Asian art as well as Impressionist art.  One painting that spans both is La Japonaise by Claude Monet.  This is a painting of his wife, Camille, in a blonde wig and Japanese kimono.  It's returning to the MFA after conservation & a tour abroad.

Download Fashion Friday - Camille pdf here

This painting seemed like a fitting subject for a paper doll! Now, I'm not sure what Camille Monet wore under HER kimono, so I kept the doll base the same as all of the others.  I'm not totally sure about the accuracy of the kimono either.  The painting shows figure in profile, so I had to guess at the front of this.  Check out the MFA's page on the painting here.

Maybe I'll do a whole series of art paper dolls.  How fun would that be?!  Anyway, enjoy!

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Fail AGAIN

This is not the ideal forum for this rant. But in a way, it kind of is. I create digital art and most of the art on this blog is digital. When my computer fails, I can't create for myself or clients and I'm seriously annoyed.

I'm on my way to the Microsoft store again today. For those who have not been following along, I'm on my 5th Surface Pro 3 since August 2014. This is the paperwork I've accumulated. I bought my Surface August 16, had it replaced October 22. I brought it back in March and had it replaced twice in one month. I then brought it in in April where it was replaced again. I chose a machine for digital art and it's great for that when it works. And the techs at the store are great but seriously Microsoft, get your shit together. I may not be a famous comics artist but I want a functioning digital art computer too. /rant ‪#‎MicrosoftSurfacePro‬ ‪#‎fail‬

Fashion Friday - Hana

For Mother's Day, my husband & sons got me a membership to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  We had a chance to go this past weekend and it was great! I've been going to the MFA for at least 15 years, and I try to go a minimum of once a year.  It's a great collection and is especially strong in Japanese art.

Check out this little gem that I found.

I found a 19th century Japanese paper doll! How funny is that?! This was in the Japanese galleries, a place I always visit when I go to the MFA.  I've probably walked by this a dozen times and never noticed it! Here's a photo of the description that was next to it.

This is especially coincidental since I had planned on making a Japanese inspired paper doll for today.

I am not an expert on Japanese fashion.  Not even a little bit.  I am more than happy to derive inspiration for people who know more than I do.  For this project, I visited Liana's Pinterest board on furisode. If you, like me, have no idea what a furisode is, Wikipedia has a nice little article.  My paper dolls are meant to be teens/young women so a furisode seemed appropriate.

Download Fashion Friday - Hana pdf here

I also had the good fortune to find a bunch of vector Japanese patterns.  Now, I don't know much about the cultural meanings of certain colors or patterns. I did know enough to steer clear of white.  I think this is cute & youthful and hopefully a good representation of a furisode.

Fantasy Paper Doll: An Archery Costume

Happy June! I can't believe it's already June! I feel like I was just wrapping up my Christmas paper doll and that was about six months ago....

So today I have another installment of the fantasy paper doll.  It's an archery costume.  It's meant to be a fur-trimmed leather vest & boots.  I'll admit, the hand holding the bow is not great.  Part of this project is learning to let go, so I'm letting it go!

Little known fact: I own a bow.  I shot with my father (and sometimes my uncle) quite a bit as a teen/young adult.  I haven't shot since having kids.  Another thing on my list of things to get back to (at least I'm oil painting again!)...

You can find the doll that goes with this outfit here.

Toddler Fashion Friday - Tamsin

Ever have one of "those" weeks?  The kind you talk about over Thanksgiving dinner and laugh about over and over again?  We just had one of those weeks...

We went to the Lego Discovery Center last Monday.  And then my youngest son was hit with a stomach bug that night.  (I'm not blaming the Lego Discovery Center -- that's just the order of events).  Ok, no big deal.  We've had sick kids before.  Tuesday was rough but Wednesday was fine.  And then Thursday came.  My oldest son and I were both sick that night and my husband had to go to work on Friday -- there was no way around it.  I don't think any of us had an actual meal in seven days!  It's fine when the kids get sick -- I expect that -- but it's tough when I get sick, too.  Thankfully, my husband never really got it and my mom was able to come over Friday morning.

Seriously, we'll laugh about this eventually!

So now that we've got that out of the way, here's a new toddler, based on Tess.  It's a bit of a sophisticated color scheme for a toddler.  I went with it anyway!

Download Toddler Fashion Friday - Tamsin pdf here

Fantasy Paper Doll: Winter Dress

Happy Memorial Day to those of you in the US.  This is in no way a Memorial Day paper doll! I wish I had thought to make one.  I didn't.  I'll put lady soldier on my long list of paper dolls to create!

Today I have a fantasy paper doll outfit.  I learned recently that windy days on the playground are not the best environment to use my carbon paper transfer method to create paper dolls.  Instead, I printed out some templates on a very light cyan and drew directly on top of them.  If I wanted perfectly clean line art, this probably wouldn't be the best method, but it worked well for this project.  Once I draw my images, I scan them and delete the blue in Photoshop. Since these are black & white, it's as simple as changing the cyan color to white in the black & white adjustment option.

Hopefully this means I'll be able to create more fantasy paper dolls!

Today's fantasy outfit is based on an outfit I saw (via Pinterest) on Armstreet's website. Really, I'd love to do an entire paper doll just based on their clothing! It's unbelievable!

The idea with this dress is to have the decorative areas cut away to see the dress underneath.  It would be a bit more obvious if this was a colored image.

The doll for this outfit can be found here. Enjoy!

Toddler Fashion Friday - Amara

Some months seem to fly by me.  May has been one of them!  With Mother's Day, my birthday, and a bunch of other events/family activities this month, it's just been a blur.

We'll see if things slow down over the summer.  I'm doubtful!

Anyway, I have a super sparkly toddler paper doll based on Ava.  I'll have another toddler paper doll next Friday.  And then, I'm thinking about doing a mini series in June.  I'm thinking about making fashion dolls with a Japanese inspired wardrobe....

Download Toddler Fashion Friday - Amara pdf here