100 Days of Paper Dolls - Day 65

It's almost Thanksgiving here in the US! The kiddos have a short week (2 and a half days) and then it's off to see family.  We're planning on seeing the new Frozen movie so that'll be fun. I'm also hoping to work on the next installment of this project. We'll see how that goes!

I'm really enjoying this return to the 100 day project. Revisiting the previous doll has been fun (and nerve wracking - sometimes I want to redraw all the things!!) Today's set coordinates with this set here.  Truthfully, I couldn't draw the truly complicated folds that I wanted to this time because I messed up my back. Apparently I'm at the age where sitting can cause injury. Who knew?! As a result, my desk chair & I have not been getting along well....

If you didn't know this already, I love drawing ringlets.  There was a method I hit upon a while back and, as a result,  I draw them all the time! And ruffles. Same thing happened with ruffles. Just goes to show how important it is to always be open to learning. 

That's it for today! I'm going to stay out of my chair, rest my back, and try to get the next post up Saturday.  Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate!

100 Days of Paper Dolls - Day 60

Anyone else having a super busy November?! Trick question - everyone is!

Last weekend was a busy one for me.  A few people from my local paper doll group (if you're in New England and interested, PLEASE reach out to me - we have so much fun!) went into Boston for a visit with the delightful artist Ralph Hodgdon.  It's always a thrill seeing another artist' studio.  I was too enthralled to take any pictures.  We all had a lovely time! After that, two of us popped over to the Hynes Convention Center for the Boston Book Fair.  We listed to the curator of the Kay Nielsen exhibition at the MFA and then wandered around the fair.  Again, I didn't take any pictures. Sometimes you just need to be in the moment!! Anyway, it was terrific! I was lucky enough to tour with an incredibly knowledgeable collector and saw some unbelievable paper dolls. I'll definitely go again!

Today I have another sheet in the 100 Days of Paper Dolls series.

This page is meant to coordinate with the second sheet for the first doll. Lots of ruffles, tabs, and buttons on this one! And it looks like the next page should be ready on Tuesday, so look for that!


AND since it's that time of year already, if you're looking to buy paper dolls (mine or anyone else's of course) for the holidays, hop over to Paperdoll Review. There's some really great stuff there....!

100 Days of Paper Dolls - Day 55

As promised, I have the first full wardrobe sheet for the second paper doll in the 100 Days of Paper Dolls project.

I want these two dolls to "speak" to each other.  The wardrobe for the second doll is based on the wardrobe for the first doll.  Here's the first page of the first doll for comparison.

Because I simply can't leave well enough alone, I'll probably go back and tinker with BOTH of these paper dolls once the project wraps up.  The next page should be up on Thursday (give or take a day or two!!) so watch for that!    

100 Days of Paper Dolls - Day 51

The year is quickly wrapping up! I decided to go back and finish up the 100 Days of Paper Dolls project.  I'll post the last 50 days from now until the end of the year. My plan is to post a full sheet every 5 days. This will be instead of a big December project but I think it's a nice way to finish out the year.

Also, everything I posted this year was black & white! I absolutely did not plan that! I do want to start thinking about next year and the next phase of this little ol' blog.  What would YOU like to see? Any thoughts are always appreciated!

There's a lot of real-world stuff going on.  First, I have THREE books coming out from Paper Studio Press.  Two are perfected versions of earlier projects so they may look familiar.  One is a collaboration with the extraordinary David Wolfe.

First up is Josephine's Wardrobe.  This set has always been a favorite of mine! She got a little jazzed up and there are some completely new items in here. I got my copies recently - they are beautiful!

Second is Victorian Mix & Match. This set was one that I meticulously researched! Every outfit is based on a real one.  I went through and cleaned up every single item in this edition.  It's the definitive version and, again, beautifully printed.

Third, is Stripes! It's the most unique project I've ever done. I've mentioned it previously but in short, it's a collaboration project.  David Wolfe came up with the concept and drawings while I digitally colored them.  It's gorgeous!

 I've been keeping busy and loving every minute of it!

Today I have Day 51 of the 100 Days of Paper Dolls. I'll post Day 55 (the first full sheet) on Saturday and a full sheet every five days after that.

You can find the first doll in the set here.  The main difference between the first and the second dolls is medium.  For the first, I used ArtRage.  For the second, I'm using Sketchbook Pro.  Both are great for drawing with a stylus on screen. Can you tell the difference? IS there a difference?!

Check back in for more on Saturday!

Paper Doll Collaboration - Witches

I'm pretty sure it's no secret that I live in Massachusetts. I've lived in New England for just about my whole life (there were a couple of fantastic years in Pittsburgh and I would gladly go back).  As such, I've been to Salem numerous times. If you go, the Peabody Essex is an amazing museum and I highly recommend it! There's a rule in my house though - no Salem in October.  If you can stand the chaos & the crowds, Salem is a wonderful place in October. There are events and costumes and all kinds of fun to be had.  If, like me, you can't stand chaos and crowds, then stay away.  Salem becomes the Halloween capitol of the world in October. Though it's like that most of the year anyway...

So this month's Witches theme hit pretty close to home for me! Instead of going with cute witches or neo-Victorian witches, I went with a sort of lighthearted Goth theme.

It was tough fitting everything on one page but I managed it! I'm pretty sure the hat will fit over both hairstyles but I'm not totally certain.

For more outfits in the series, check out Paper Thin Personas and Miss Missy's Paper Dolls!!

Paper Doll Collaboration 2019 - Patterns

Here's another installment of the collaboration paper doll series! I'm not sure where everyone else is in the process - I know my schedule has been full lately - but I wrapped mine so I figured I'd post it.

This month the theme is patterns.  If you've spent any time on this little ol' blog at all, you'll see just how much I LOVE patterns! So this was a blast to put together! The challenge was black & white.  Most of the patterns I use are color but I had some cool monochrome ones and that's what I used here.

I went with a fall feel to this set even though fall hasn't completely set in here in New England. There's a chunky sweater, patterned skirt, jean leggings, plaid jacket, blouse, and patterned pants to mix and match.

Check out Paper Thin Personas and Miss Missy for more of this project!

New Project in the Works

It's been ages since I posted! Not for lack of projects, rather, it's been a lack of time! I never knew how much time school aged kids & senior care could eat up!! My boys are absolutely in love with soccer - we have practices Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday and games on Saturday & Sunday.  Regardless, I've been up to all kinds of paper doll fun!

For anyone who hasn't already heard, I've been helping out with both the Paperdoll Review and Paper Doll Studio magazine! Sometimes it's minor art editing in Photoshop, sometimes it's creating a graphic header for an article... No matter what it is, I love the variety of projects!

My biggest project at the moment is a collaboration with David Wolfe!! You can read David's take on the project here and see some in-process samples from the forthcoming book.  It was such an honor to be asked and it's been a thrill to work on it! The basic outline is this: David created two paper dolls, drew all of the outfits for the dolls, and I colored them in Autodesk Sketchbook Pro.

Because it can be hard to explain exactly how I work, I've put together a little video of my technique.

That video condenses down 45 minutes or so into a brisk speedpaint.  There's editing to be done after all of that, but it's a good run-through of what I did on most pages.

So why Sketchbook Pro?

I've known about Sketchbook Pro for a while but as of May 2018, it became a free program so I thought I'd check it out again. For the Stripes book, I really wanted a hand-made feeling but with all of the advantages of digital art.  Sketchbook Pro is easily the best natural media simulator I've ever used: it's lightweight so it starts up quickly and there's no lag time drawing, it's intuitive and easy to just jump right into, there's a built-in Copic color palette, and so many more features that I just haven't had the chance to try yet! I really love it.  And it only took me a couple of hours to pick up. I like ArtRage and will continue to use it, but for this project Sketchbook Pro was just the better choice.

I chose to work vertically in Sketchbook.  I usually work horizontally and zoom & pan as needed, but Sketchbook feels so natural that it just made sense to turn my computer.  Here's the basic work station - it can all be customized! At the top, there's a menu bar. On the left side, a tools palette and the Copic colors as well as one of the two brush pucks for adjusting brushes on the fly.  To the right, my layers palette. Sketchbook is designed for touch based surfaces and runs on pretty much everything.  I highly suggest checking it out!

That's about it for the moment. I have some Stripes edits to work on and I'll post this month's collaboration paper doll outfit next week. And soccer. Ugh. At least they love it!