December Paper Doll - Outfit 6 in Green

Argyle is one of my favorite patterns. It's also one that I haven't mastered on my own yet.  There are some great argyle vector patterns out there and I was thrilled when I found an image I could use in Photoshop that was similar to what I was used to in Illustrator.  This is also the only outfit that I used a skin tone on.

The buttons are probably too small to see this, but they have a stag on them.  I thought that would lend a bit of a retro/antique feel to the outfit.  The trim is from a photograph I took and cobbled together, and the skirt is a plaid I created myself as well. This set of dolls has given me some ideas for more tutorials in the new year, including this plain technique.  Maybe I should spend more time using Photoshop....

Red tomorrow, pdfs to come....

December Paper Doll - Outfit 5 in Red

This is only barely a "red" outfit.  It's really more of a pink. Who ever said that pink isn't a holiday color?!

Again, this dress is made up of patterns I tweaked in Illustrator and then used in Photoshop.  Some of the patterns in the set that I downloaded were really charming, like the bird pattern I used in the top section of the skirt. Don't be surprised if these patterns & colors show up again in some future projects!

Green tomorrow, pdf forthcoming.

December Paper Doll - Outfit 5 in Green

This is easily my favorite outfit in the set, both the green & red versions! It's got everything a holiday dress should have: sparkles, fun patterns, and awesome colors. I want this outfit honestly!

The patterns are some that I found and adjusted in Illustrator then used in Photoshop.  The sparkles are the same texture I created in ArtRage. And the colors are just plain fun!

Tomorrow is the "red" version.  PDF to follow at the end of the month!

December Paper Doll - Outfit 4 in Red

Here's a red sweater dress! I kept the shoes the same color in both the red & green versions of this outfit.  I just liked them! I toyed with the idea of posting the line drawings as well but decided against it.  This doll was designed with simple lines that I wanted to fill with interesting textures & patterns.  As a result, the line drawings were very simple and super boring!

This dress is a great example of that. It's hard to tell from just the lines that I wanted this to be a sweater dress.  I could have drawn in the pattern.  I actually thought about hand-painting this set.  I even traced the outfits onto watercolor paper! Time really was not on my side and I went completely digital.  And I'm very happy with the results!

A new green outfit tomorrow, pdfs at the end of the month.

December Paper Doll - Outfit 4 in Green

I've said many times that I find lots of patterns and textures online, and I try to create some as needed, too. Today's outfit is a combination of the two.

My mother-in-law knits beautiful sweaters for my sons.  I photographed one of the sweaters with my phone and brought it into Photoshop.  I also photographed the edges of the sweater to use as the edges of my sweater dress.  The sweater was a neutral beige color and that helped tremendously! This would have been much more difficult with a bright sweater!

I also found a Nordic style pattern for the tights.  I love all of the patterned tights out in the world right now.  They aren't always a practical choice for me, so I haven't jumped on that trend yet.  But a girl can dream, even if the "girl" is a mommy in her mid-30s!!

Red version tomorrow, pdf to come....

December Paper Doll - Outfit 3 in Red

Here's the red version of yesterday's outfit.  With this project, I found myself bouncing between Photoshop and Illustrator.  Each program has its strengths and I wanted to use each fully in order to achieve the effect I wanted.

Oh! And there's one more program I use sporadically: ArtRage.  It's a great natural media program. I have a really old version of it on my Mac.  It's the main reason I can't fully abandon my Mac. What I use it for is sparkles.  Lots of sparkles.  There's a glitter tool that is awesome! I used it to create a sparkle texture for this and other outfits in the series.

The skirt pattern was an Illustrator pattern that I recolored in Illustrator and then ported to Photoshop. I tried warping the pattern so that it matched the lines of the skirt but, truthfully, I don't understand the way images are warped in Photoshop.  Just one more thing to learn!

We're already through one full week of December! Tomorrow is a new green outfit and a pdf at the end of the month.

December Paper Doll - Outfit 3 in Green

Today's outfit was inspired in part by Pinterest.  I like the idea of menswear combine with something super feminine.  In this case, it's a shirt & tie with a sparkly, patterned skirt with a tulle underskirt. I'm not quite as industrious as Liana so I didn't make my own tulle brush.  I'm still new to the way brushes work in Photoshop as opposed to the way they work in Illustrator.  For this outfit, I found a brush on deviantArt that worked perfectly.

I admit, I use a lot of patterns, brushes, etc, created by other people.  In an ideal world, I would create every pattern, texture, and brush that I use.  I respect other creators and work diligently to respect their terms of usage for assets. Sometimes it's easier (and better looking!) not to reinvent the wheel.  Or, in this case, the skirt! So thank you to all of the awesome creators who make their work freely available for use in my freely available paper doll sets!

A red outfit tomorrow and remember, the pdf is at the end of the series!