Paper Doll Convention and Paper Doll Kits

 

As of this moment, the 2022 Paper Doll Convention is still on. I'll be there! Sure, I still need to book a room and a flight, but my plan is to be there!! In my 12 years as a mother I haven't spent more than 72 hours alone and the last time I did, it was at the Morgantown paper doll party in 2019. It's time that Mom here got a break.  If you, too, want to hang out with rad paper doll people, you can get all of the information here.

The other thing I want to share today are a few paper doll kits that are available FREE over at Paperdoll Review.  I worked with Jenny Taliadoros and Marguerite Carrithers to put together several paper doll kits during a time when so many of us were stuck at home & needed a little fun in our lives! I have previews for three of them, but there are six available at Paperdoll Review.

I have two kits available - one in color and one in black & white. There's a boy & a girl from my tween series. Both kits feature mix & match wardrobes which we all know I just LOVE to make! 

The next kit I want to share is by the utterly amazing Jim Howard. I would have gone nuts for this as a kid! It features two of his ultra sophisticated fashion models with both color and black & white wardrobes. 

Finally, the last kit I want to share is from a 1980s book by Tom Tierney. This set also features two dolls and a glorious '80s wardrobe. Really, really fun! 

There are also kits by David Wolfe and Alina Kolluri that are every bit as terrific as the ones I mentioned here. Grab all of them for free here and happy coloring and playing!

Happy New Year!

Hello all! I think the very first thing I need to say is that I did not intentionally skip all of 2021 on the ol' blog. It just sort of happened. Like essentially everyone, 2021 was just plain tough for me. I know I've mentioned a few times on the blog that I have kids and that I took care of my aging grandmother. Both of those took almost all of my attention last year.

First, we kept the kids home for fully remote schooling. They left school in March 2020 and didn't step foot inside the school again until September 2021. I'm incredibly grateful that our family was able to choose that route, that I had the time & ability to help the kids, and that, overall, they still learned quite a bit. It was hard on me, for sure, and I'd rather not do it again. Two kids, one in middle school, one in elementary, different start times, different lunch times, different end times.... UGH. 

The boys, hard at work during remote school

 

And then, my grandmother. My grandfather died in June 2016, leaving my grandmother alone in her home. She had pretty serious macular degeneration but seemed in reasonably good health for 85. So I asked her to live with us. Six months after my grandfather died, she had a stroke. It wasn't a big one, but it meant that she could no longer live alone. She came to live with us in October 2017 right after my youngest started kindergarten. From that point on, her health declined. She had one serious fall after another. She was almost entirely blind and very nearly deaf. It was difficult for us and difficult for her. Heart wrenching, to say the least. She had a major fall in February 2020, breaking dozens of bones, and just never fully recovered. She died in November after a short stay in hospice.

I'm sharing all of this because it feels like the right thing to do at this moment. And I wanted to share it here because paper dolls and the amazing community of paper doll artists & collectors had an enormous impact on getting me through 2021. So thank you to all of my paper doll friends. You're all the best! 

Over the next few weeks, I'd like to share some of the things I worked on over the course of 2021, come up with some goals for the ol' blog, and get ready for the 2022 (should have been 2020) Paper Doll Convention! So check in again - I'm getting back into it!

Happy Holidays!

     It's been a weird year.... The ol' blog hasn't gotten a lot of love this year. I've been working on lots of things but that doesn't always translate to blog posts. I've been lucky enough to work on many of the books released by Paperdoll Review this year, including my own Fun with Mom and Rose & Ivy. And I've been able to help out with both Paper Studio Magazine and Paperdoll Review. The two magazines are merging, if you haven't heard, and I think it's a great opportunity to see so much of what the paper doll world has to offer. Of all the projects I've worked on this year, Marilyn Henry's are the most meaningful. I never got to meet her but working on her art has left a powerful impression on me and my art. I hope to be half the artist she was! She will be dearly missed.

    Part of the reason that the blog hasn't been active is art and part of it is life. Like SO many, my whole family has been home since March. My kids have been fully remote the whole year (our choice), my husband switched jobs (for the better!!), and I've been juggling all of my stuff while taking care of my 90 year old grandmother. We've been lucky to stay safe & healthy and that's really all that matters.

    I did manage to make a holiday paper doll. I wanted a 1920s themed doll since this is 2020. It felt appropriate. I was supposed to go to my first convention in 2020, Morgantown again, and our local parties. None of that happened. And that's ok. There's always next year. For now, though, stay safe and healthy. And have the happiest of holidays!

Red Riding Hood

A few days ago I received my Paper Doll Studio magazine. It's a little bittersweet. This may be the last issue but it's also an opportunity, I think. Before Paperdoll Review, I knew very little about vintage paper dolls and I know that there are a lot of collectors who know less about contemporary paper dolls because they only subscribe to Paperdoll Review. With one magazine, everyone gets to read about all of it in one place! It's going to be the best of both worlds.

For the Make Believe issue, I decided to tackle a project I've been thinking about for a while - Red Riding Hood. I took a fairy tale class in college and the idea of evolving fairy tales fascinated me. There's a classification system that traces stories around the world. It's really neat if a little academically dense.   Anyway, Red Riding Hood has a long and rich history that I wanted to illustrate.

I started by sketching the doll. It was tough. I went through roughly 20 sketchbook pages! I just couldn't get it right. And I nearly gave up. Instead, I tried a different pose and that worked better. 

 

That image is composite of the best of the bad sketches! Part of the reason why it was so tough is because I don't make drawing the habit I once did. I don't make the time to draw every day - especially in the insanity of 2020 - and my skills have suffered. It'll come back. It just takes time and dedication.

I finally settled on this pose. I wanted the doll to be a 21st century girl. She has a red hoodie, a pleated skirt, and a timeless hairstyle. Once I got the sketch to this phase, I took a picture of it and worked on it in Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, my current favorite program.

In a different file, I worked on the background. I knew I wanted it to look like a traditional fairy tale book illustration. When I think of traditional fairy tale books, I think of gold leaf, illustrated drop capitols, and gorgeous lettering. 

So that's where I started. I used a guide from Ian Barnard's Grid Builder kit to place my title text. (NOT a paid post - that's the tool I bought, for my use, and you can check it out if you want.) I used Photoshop to layout the title and borders. Once I was happy, I printed it and revised my composition.

So far, I have a file for the background, a file for the doll, and a ton of sketches. I colored the doll in Sketchbook and then added tabs in Photoshop. I "painted" my background in Sketchbook, added the gold accents as well as the red marble background in Photoshop, and combined them all into one file for the final illustration. It sounds more complicated than it was. It's not unusual for an artist to create a background and a doll, then combine them. I just did it digitally.

There are quite a few things I'd like to change about this, but overall, I'm happy with it. My compositions are evolving and improving. Her face is weird - her ear especially!! I really need to get back into the habit of drawing. I hope you all have enjoyed Paper Doll Studio magazine. I know I have - it's literally been life changing for me. If you haven't switched over already, go sign up for Paperdoll Review.

And a happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating it! Stay safe & healthy.