Fashion Friday - Jeanne-Louise

While watching cartoons with my kids this morning, I discovered it was Talk Like A Pirate Day.  Seems like a good theme to me!  So today I cranked out a pirate themed doll.  I named her after Jeanne de Clisson, the Lioness of Brittany.  She was a 14th century pirate in the English Channel.

This outfit is in no way a 14th century outfit!  I just wanted a fun pirate costume, not a historically accurate one. And if you're looking for another pirate paper doll, I have this kawaii kids doll to color, too.

I'm hoping to have something up Monday.  I've got a busy weekend ahead of me -- two of my current design clients will be at Grotonfest in Groton, MA on Saturday, so I'll be wondering around there.  If you're in the area, it's a neat, small town New England event with artisans, farmers, local food & local products.  Definitely a good time! I'm also trying to put together a Halloween paper doll set.... I'll keep you all posted!

Avast, ye mateys, and enjoy ye olde pirate doll! Arr!

Download Fashion Friday - Jeanne pdf here

Kawaii Kids - Superhero

I have another Kawaii Kids paper doll for this Monday.  I decided on superheros this week. My boys LOVE superheros right now.  The kids in my life (my sons & my nieces) often inspire me to create the paper dolls & themes featured here.

Maybe I'll print these and color them with my kids today, too!

Enjoy!

Download Kawaii Kids - Superheros pdf here

OPDAG Housewife Issue - Self-Portrait Paper Doll

I just received my copy of the Housewife issue of Paper Doll Studio magazine.  It's another great issue, filled with wonderful art from diverse artists.  There's also a series of memories from those who knew and loved Tom Tierney, which was very touching to read.  If you aren't a member, you should be!  This magazine is great and I can't believe I waiting as long as I did to join.

Anyway, I thought what would be more appropriate than a self-portrait!? I am, afterall, a housewife although almost no one uses that term.  I stay home with my sons and dabble in freelance work.  I'm not really a stay-at-home-mom entirely, nor am I a work-from-home-mom entirely either.  In fact, the idea of only being defined in terms of my children is a bit annoying.  Yes, it's my primary function.  I worked before kids, I'll (most likely) work after kids, and the whole reason I'm home with our sons is because it was more financially viable here in the Northeast than childcare costs! I also dislike "housewife" for similar reasons.  I'm an individual with a life, history, and existence that extends long before I met my husband or kids.  Mother and wife are just two of a multitude of words I use to define myself. I spend a long time as a student, worked as a picture framer, ran a grocery bakery department while I was in college, and - since childhood - I've been an artist.  I wanted to share all of these separate, meaningful parts of who I am (along with mother and wife).

Having said that, this was a fun theme to tackle.  I created a one-page self-portrait paper doll highlighting some of the things I do on a daily basis.  I drew & painted the doll by hand and then edited & added the background in Photoshop.  It's a method I really enjoy and use all the time.

So grab a copy of the magazine and enjoy the fantastic work of so many talented artists!

Kawaii Kids - Business

I didn't have a lesson ready today, and on the Mondays when that happens, I'll post a Kawaii Kids doll.  This week, I'm working through the suggestion list and it's business suits!  As with all of these dolls, the clothing fits both dolls.  I decided to make one skirt and one pants suit for the girl.  I always preferred a pants suit versus a skirt back when I had a "real" job.  Not that raising kids & running the household (and somehow managing a meager freelance career) isn't "real" work, but I don't report to an office.  So no more suits of any sort for me!

I'm also putting all of the Fairy Tale Friday dolls into a book.  I want it to be a awesome collection of fairy tale & folk tale themed dolls.  I'd love some suggestions!

I've already made: Goldilocks, the Frog Prince, the Little Mermaid, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Beauty (of Beauty & the Beast), Prince Charming, Cinderella, and Snow White.

Here are the rules for submission:
1) Either a male or female character is fine
2) Preferably a prince/princess/protagonist kind of character.  I won't be including villains in this set.
3) Literary sources would be great (public domain is best).  So Dorothy and Alice are ok; Merida and Jasmine of Disney fame would not.
4) Multi-ethnic is great, too.  I have a pale skin/blond hair prince, a medium skin/black hair prince, a pale skin/dark hair princess and a dark skin/dark hair princess.  All clothing sets will be interchangeable.

If I include your idea, I'll send you something.  I don't know what yet - maybe a PDF of the book, or a physical copy of the book.  Something along those lines.  I'll probably mention this a few more times as I work on the book, so feel free to do some research!

That was quite a ramble - here's the business dolls!

Download Kawaii Kids - Business pdf here

Fashion Friday - Kari

I've mentioned before that I've absolutely fallen in love with Pinterest (feel free to follow me!).  This paper doll is a direct product of Pinterest.  I've started collecting inspiration for a variety of paper dolls, and one board - Fashion - is more or less a spot to collect inspiration for these Friday dolls.  That's what this outfit is.  I had the pattern & recolored it.

I've also decided that on Mondays where I don't have a lesson ready to go, I'll post a Kawaii Kids doll.  Expect that for the next Monday.  Sometimes I feel like I've said all there is to say about how I create paper dolls....and then I think of something.  Til I think of something, I'll make more dolls!

Hope you all enjoy this one!

Download Fashion Friday - Kari pdf here

Fashion Friday - Maeve

The last week of August is one of the best times of the year - back to school!  I loved school as a kid.  My mother joked that I'd be in school til I was 30 (I was).  I went to public schools but always envied the private school uniforms.  This week, I have a back to school, private school inspired paper doll!

Now I know that shorts are not part of a school uniform.  Too bad!  I loved them so I included them! If you want to add some more school inspired outfits with a similar color scheme, you can download Kate too.  I would love to print and mix & match all of these dolls.  This is doll #84, so that's a lot of mix & match possibilities!  Maybe a dress-up app would be a better way to go....

Anyway, for those of you going back to school, good luck & enjoy!

Download Fashion Friday - Maeve pdf here

Expirimenting with Fresh Paint

A couple of weeks ago, I finally upgraded my computer!  I've been running a Macbook Pro since I was pregnant with my oldest son - he'll be 5 in December.  Clearly it was time for a new computer...

This time around, I wanted something I could draw directly onto.  I've had a Wacom connected to my Macbook forever and loved it, but I wanted something more direct.  There were a few options.  Some - like the Wacom Cintiq Companion - were a little pricey.  Others weren't quite powerful enough.  I decided to get the Microsoft Surface Pro 3.

And it's exactly what I wanted!  I've been playing around with Fresh Paint.  It's a pre-installed natural media painting program.  I thought it would be a good way to learn how to use the Surface pen.

Here's the first page of a paper doll I painting with Fresh Paint.  I've had these outlines for a while and never quite figured out what to do with them.  The doll started as a scribble in a sketchbook (don't they pretty much ALL start like that?!).  I cleaned it up in Photoshop months ago and then lost my motivation.

The second page.  This doll is sort of a retro-inspired one.  I wanted it to have a '60s/'70s feel to it.  The colors got a little crazy as the pages continued on....

This one is a little '80s in coloring, but more retro in silhouette.  There are a few quirks about Fresh Paint that I'd like to figure out.  First, it took me a while to figure out how to open more than one image in a file.  This is a bare bones program - there were no guides to align each outfit, there isn't a selection or move tool to rearrange parts of the image, and there isn't really a way to import or export colors.  That made keeping a consistent skin tone a bit tough...

Even with its limitations, it's a lot of fun!  I had initially planned on just painting one page.  It was so addictive that I ended up painting 5!

I'm not exactly sure how these will print. If there are ways to customize the size & resolution I haven't found it yet.  Fresh Paint saves as a png file and that's easily imported into Photoshop.  The image default size is slightly less than a standard letter size, with a resolution of 96 dpi. I left it like this for now.

At some point I'd like to do a full tutorial about Fresh Paint.  I'm still trying to learn how to use my entire computer, so that tutorial may take a while!  It's been a big switch going back to a Windows computer - I actually had to go between 2 computers just to upload the PDF!

This was fun - I recommend checking out Fresh Paint if you have access to it!

Download the Fresh Paint experimental paper doll pdf here.