Category: 19th Century

Judy Tuesday brings you some post-holiday (but still winter-ish) costumes to maybe keep you in the spirit even as we leave the first month of the new year behind.

I just mentioned last week that I was trying to group these thematically. Don’t really have a thematic reason for why the “Cairo” costume goes with the “December” costume, but maybe I was just thinking it looked festive. In other words, my idea of theme may be questionable.

I really love the “December” costume. I had initially planned to separate the hood from the dress as I have done with other attached pieces in the past, but decided against it. Sometimes the goofiness of the style “as-is” is just right.

I can tell already I drew the “Cairo” costume with a rather conservative bustle because I’m still used to squeezing the costumes in for the larger dolls. Hopefully I will calculate better as we go along so that these fanciful creations can really breathe.

[Click this link or the image to download a printable .pdf of these costumes]

It’s Judy Tuesday!  Our first plate of the new era! I used to try to post the costumes in the order they appeared in the serial, but this go-round I’m going to group them in ways that maybe make sense thematically (sometimes). So the dates will likely jump around a lot.

Chasemore really hit a stride starting with this volume. The Judy designs, which previously had taken up a small corner (sometimes maybe no more than about an eighth of the page, were now commanding quarter pages. The fact that they were featured so prominently probably attests to their popularity.

We also begin to see Chasemore building on past designs. With more space to indulge in, previous ideas are recycled with more extravagant detail.

Weirdly, though, some of Chasemore’s offerings are just as lazy and uninspired. Could be the pressure of deadlines or maybe just a lack of motivation. I always the outfits that I felt were sort of “duds”, but far fewer in this volume that in volumes of the past.

[Click this link or the image to download a printable .pdf of these costumes]

It’s Tuesday, so as good a time as any for Judy! Yes, we have two new dolls for the volumes going forward. They are agonizingly similar to the previous dolls. The main difference is that they are more petite (with smaller hands and feet), and have slimmer bodies. They also have much prettier faces, I think.

Much as I didn’t want to completely revise the Judy dolls, I needed to trim them down a bit to allow more room for the costumes as they get increasingly silly (particularly the hats and some of the bustles). I think we’ll be able to stick with these two until the end.

I’ll also try to wrap my head around making a Judy gallery since now we have four iterations of these dolls. It would be nice to keep them in a semblance of order.

Will be posting Judy on Tuesdays (or at least that’s the plan). She remains the easiest thing to produce in my lineup, so I really have no excuses. Well, I’m sure I have many, actually, but none of them are really legitimate.

Didn’t realize the Golden Globes were on until late last night when my sister texted me. I guess I better get my catwalk/runway/red carpet dolls posted! I will start them this weekend, I think. Did I miss any amazing gowns? Guess I’ll have to trawl the pictures to see.

[Meanwhile, click this link or the image to download a printable .pdf of these costumes]

Seems a bit strange posting bathing costumes in December, but I guess that’s the way this one fell out. These were actually featured in August and September issues of Vol. 29 (September still feels kind of late for swimwear, but there you have it!). These are pretty simple pieces. Love the hair twist for the first costume. Also feel compelled to explain that the decoration on that outfit is supposed to be cockle shells (my rendering wasn’t so good).

I decided (sound the trumpets) that we will be getting new Judy dolls in the new year. I have 9 more volumes of costumes and 6 others I could probably get through interlibrary loan if I got ambitious. So there’s still plenty of material to work. And I’m finally going to hit the issues where Chasemore’s drawings really explode creatively! So I think this is a great time to do this shift.

Judy will return in January with the Catwalk dolls. I haven’t yet decided whether I will be picking up a third series or idly adding anything else at this point. But I can be predictably over-ambitious, so expect to see the Star Wars: Force Awakens dolls at the very least.

Meanwhile, to find all the plates in this series (and the dolls themselves) click on the Judy tag down below.

[Click this link or the image to download a printable .pdf of these costumes]

Digging up Judy, I discovered I actually did have two more plates worth of costumes drawn for this volume.  There were still four more that I had intended, but didn’t draw. The ones that I did, however, I might as well share–even if they aren’t the most glamorous.

The “Paraluna” costume here was rather lovely in Chasemore’s original drawing and included an interesting rectangular parasol. I not only made a hash of the dress itself, but then bailed on the accessory. Not one of my finer moments ~ ha! But I’m trying to post stuff even if it’s not to my (already low) expectations. I remind myself that just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean other people might.

I redrafted the Judy dolls, but I’m kind of torn about replacing them (the new ones are prettier, more delicate, but essentially the same pose). On the one hand it seems silly to trade horses mid-stream, but at the same time, I think the current couple of dolls have had a pretty good run.  New year: new dolls. Seems like a good idea. I was hoping to sort it out over the holiday, but lost the weekend in visiting and enjoying other stuff.

As usual, to find all the plates in this series (and the dolls themselves) click on the Judy tag down below.

[Click this link or the image to download a printable .pdf of these costumes]

Most of the Judy volumes have at least five plates. So hopefully I’ll do at least one more for Vol. 29.

I like these two costumes because of their rich textures and the black contrasts. These are my favorite kinds of Judy costumes to draw. I was talking about baroque tastes in a previous post and yep: there you have it.

This is part of why 19th century styles appeal to me so much. 18th century clothing was obviously even more opulent, but also less practical (not that the Victorians were very practical-minded in some of their couture). But those insane dresses of the mid-to-late 1700s are too much for me. I like a slimmer silhouette and fewer bows. Trim, dense patterns, and opulent jewelry I can dig, but too many flowers and bows and I get a bit nauseated.

I tend to get lazy with Judy and don’t work on her for months. Then I’ll sit down on an afternoon and draw a whole volume’s worth of costumes. Maybe that’s what I’ll do over the Thanksgiving holiday.

As usual, to find all the plates in this series (and the dolls themselves) click on the Judy tag down below.

[Click this link or the image to download a printable .pdf of these costumes]

We’re having Judy Tuesday on a Thursday!  Aw, why not; the continuity with this volume was completely shot long ago, so who cares what day we pick it up on again, right? See: chaos. 

The important thing is that Judy’s back!  And I have a couple of plates to carry us forward. Ironically, when I left off it was spring and I was drawing fall/winter costumes. Now the dates kind of align! Well, almost. Let’s call it fate.

I’m thinking of freshening up the dolls for this series. Maybe not changing the post, but I feel like the face are kind of schwein-ish (how did I never not notice that before?). I’m pretty sure I can do better.

I’ll finish this volume before I make any decisions on that, however, so in the meantime, enjoy! I really love the tall peaked hood and acorns on the October dress. I have no idea what the other one is supposed to be, but the boutonniere is fun!

As usual, to find all the plates in this series (and the dolls themselves) click on the Judy tag down below.

[Click this link or the image to download a printable .pdf of these costumes]

Judy Tuesday brings you a mix of sporting and visiting (?) attire today with a fancy shooting outfit for flushing partridge in the “Moors” apparently, as well as rather noisy costume of a variety of patterns called the “Gadabout”.  Gadabout is one of those old-fangled words that unfortunately, has fallen out of usage. It was used to refer to people of somewhat hedonistic predispositions who spent all their time and energy lunching and gossiping and showing off their finery (so basically, the Kardashians).

I actually love the Moors costume. I imagine the black contrasts to be velvet and I love the long gaiters with all the buttons. I would totally wear this outfit.

Judy’s gadabout ensemble, on the other hand is kind of a horror: a nightmare of lace and patterns designed to draw attention. I’m frankly surprised the hat wasn’t more outrageous.

As usual, to find all the plates in this series (and the dolls themselves) click on the Judy tag down below.

[Click this link or the image to download a printable .pdf of these costumes]

We have a brand new volume for Judy Tuesday starting today: Volume 29 from 1881. It’s a bit of leap from Vol. 25, but I did do a couple volumes in between with the older dolls. Now that I’m done playing “pick-up” with the lost volumes, everything from here on out should be relatively chronological.

The “Camp” costume is pretty simple, but I really love it and had fun drawing the whorls. I find I like the Judy costumes that have more contrast and this one has a nice balance. The “Apollo” was quite beautiful in Chasemore’s original rendition, but I’m afraid I made a hash of it. And this was my second attempt ~ it’s the only Judy costume I’ve actually redrawn because my first go at it was dreadful.

I confess that in the end, I just settled. And don’t even ask me how one is supposed to cut out that crazy sunburst hair dressing!

As usual, to find all the plates in this series (and the dolls themselves) click on the Judy tag down below.

[Click this link or the image to download a printable .pdf of these costumes]

For Judy Tuesday we have the final plate for Vol. 25. I really enjoyed drawing these two (though that hand on the “Princess Royale” is a bit of a brutish paw).

I really try not to fuss too much about the Judy plates. If I get too hung up on perfection, they’ll just bog down (like some of my other series have ~ ha!).

My personal favorites of this series continue to be the ones with interesting patterns or detailing. Sometimes they can be a pain to render–I just finished one for Vol. 29 that’s got a lot of horizontal and vertical lines, which are hard for me to draw these days; just can’t draw a straight line to save my life anymore and I’ve never liked the absolute precision of a ruler.

But anyway, say goodbye to the 1870s! We’ll be mostly firmly entrenched in the 1880s from here on out with Judy.

As usual, to find all the plates in this series (and the dolls themselves) click on the Judy tag down below.

[Click this link or the image to download a printable .pdf of these costumes]