Category: Paper Dolls

Empire Paper Dolls: Cookie Lyon’s Closet [Plate 2]

empire_02_cookie_thumbLooking back on Cookie’s wardrobe, I’m surprised so many things went right with this paper doll, considering how many things could have gone wrong.  For one thing. I was out of my depth. Up until this point I had never drawn any contemporary fashion paper dolls that were stylish in any way. And Cookie is very stylish.

So a lot of what I was doing with these pieces was pure trial and error and fixing mistakes as I went along. You can see by the copyright on these plates that I actually did them in the fall/winter of 2015, so my memory is slightly hazy, but I do recollect that I struggled.

Most critically: use the right tools for the right job. My biggest mistake with these plates was one I should have learned long ago: you can’t paint intensively on cardstock! A million years ago when I painted my 19th century paper dolls, I exhausted myself fighting with the cardstock. So I’m not sure why I repeated the mistake. I guess I was being thrifty? Looking back it doesn’t even make sense. I have piles of watercolor paper that was paid for 20 years ago. The real waste is in not actually using it for, you know, painting!

Using the cardstock is great for Judy or other black and white or marker dolls. All the Star Wars dolls are on cardstock. But this is why I’m putting the runway dolls on real hot press cotton watercolor paper. I don’t want to fight with the materials any more!

[Click this link or the picture to download a printable .pdf for this doll]

 

Judy : Vol. 29, 1881 Plate 6

vol29_06_thumbSeems 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]

 

Empire Paper Dolls: Cookie Lyon’s Closet [Plate 1]

empire_01_cookie_thumbThe beautiful Taraji P. Henson plays Cookie Lyon on Empire. Cookie is the long-suffering ex-wife of Lyon Dynasty king Lucious. She served 17 years in prison so that Lucious could build his music empire, and he repaid her by divorcing her while she was incarcerated. But the two have deep ties (including three sons), and their relationship, while volatile, is far from over.

Cookie wastes no time, once she’s released from prison, enjoying the spoils of her husband’s success. She’s quite the fashion plate and her animal prints and furs are legion. Once in a while she wears something down to earth like the lounge wear on this plate, but by and large she’s always on display.

Here she wears a bit of infamous lingerie (I meant to include the fur that goes with it in a subsequent plate–maybe I still will). Her Valentino shoes actually don’t go with either of these outfits, but I like them and wanted to give her a pair of shoes that could match with most of her outfits (because I can’t always clearly see her footwear in the show). The two outfits and hairstyles are from the pilot episode.

[Click this link or  the picture to download a printable .pdf for this doll]

As I mentioned long ago, I had intended to work through Cookie’s Season One outfits, then catch up to Season Two before the mid-season break was over last March. Now we’re at the end of Season Three and it feels doubtful I will ever catch up. Cookie is quite the clothes-horse. I hadn’t intended to do all her outfits, but I wanted to hit the highlights. She has a lot of highlights.

cookie_season01Cookie is a great TV character: she’s perfectly vindictive and yet she’s all heart. She loves her children and she’s been deeply wronged by her ex-husband and circumstances in the world. So even though she occasionally does some pretty heinous things, you can’t help but root for her. Henson’s performance is wonderfully sympathetic.

There’s just an amazing clash of over-the-top garish loud-mouth brassiness and spangles cut by an undercurrent of past suffering and abiding love in her. She’s also street-smart and conniving–you know she’s capable of just about anything, which makes her dangerous.

It’s pretty atypical for me to be drawn into a series like this, let alone inspired to make paper dolls for it. At least that’s a testament to how entertaining Empire is both visually as well as story-wise. Unfortunately some bad planning and other issues set this project back (way back).

Even so, I have four plates to post of some of Cookie’s outfits from Season One. I want to share them–even as I explain the bad choices I made that led to stalling this one out.

Judy : Vol. 29, 1881 Plate 5

vol29_05_thumbDigging 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]

Judy : Vol. 29, 1881 Plate 4

vol29_04_thumbMost 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]

Star Wars Clone Wars: Satine Kryze Paper Doll

satine_thumb_01I didn’t want Ahsoka to be lonely in the paper doll world, so I made Satine Kryze, Duchess of Mandalore.

Satine is an interesting character. She’s wise and powerful and has a doomed (though not unrequited) attraction to Obi-Wan Kenobi. She was so popular on the show that a sect of the fandom believes she may be the grandmother of Rey in The Force Awakens.

I like her wardrobe because it’s full of interesting colors and textures. I might make another plate of costumes for her. She had more wardrobe changes than many other characters on the show–still not to be outdone by Padme. A lot of people think Cate Blanchett should play her in real life. Originally I was going to draw her with Cate’s face, but decided to stick to the cartoon representation. I already chose that route with Ahsoka.

These dolls are super easy to make. Did this last Saturday afternoon while futzing about. So I still might make Obi-Wan and Anakin and Padme. We’ll see.

[Click this link or the image for a printable .pdf]

To see all Star Wars related posts and plates, click the tag or category at right. If I make more plates for Satine, click her tag (this is her first).  Same is true of the Clone Wars tag to see all in the series.

Judy : Vol. 29, 1881 Plate 3

vol29_03_thumbWe’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.  emoji_wink

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]

Star Wars Clone Wars: Ahsoka Tano Paper Doll

ahsoka_thumb_01There are many things I’ve been working on, but of course I knocked this one out quickly just to distract myself (because isn’t that always the way of it?). I recently finished watching the cartoon series The Clone Wars and though I didn’t really like a lot of it, it did have good things in it. Including the character of Ahsoka Tano who turned out to be pretty cool.

For the doll I only made the few outfits I remembered well enough over the span of the six seasons. Cartoon characters don’t typically change their clothes much (though, as always, Padme is an exception in the series). I honestly don’t recollect Ahsoka wearing much outside her usual gear (a coat and a cloak, perhaps, but those didn’t seem very interesting to draw–for the moment).

She has a new costume from her appearance in Rebels, but for the moment I am sticking with her Clone Wars outfits.

Nahsoka_thumb_02o black and white versions, though. I gotta say: doing the two styles was really trying for me when I worked on the other Star Wars dolls.

I know people like to have the option of coloring their own, but it really doubled the work. I’m going to struggle with the Force Awakens characters. I’m seriously considering not making colored versions (especially since everybody wears so much dang black!).

I am tempted to do other characters from this series. Mostly because making this one was surprisingly easy. Cartoons are fun because they are typically pretty colorful. Did these almost completely in Copic markers. Not too awful for a rush job and I like some of the details that actually came out.

Though I didn’t love the show, the designs on it are definitely fun to draw. I very loosely drafted Anakin, Padme, Obi-Wan, and Satine, but again, I don’t know whether I will follow through on them. Maybe eventually. As yet another side project.

[Click on this link or either image to download a printable .pdf copy (2 plates)]

To see all Star Wars related posts and plates, click the tag or the category at right. If I make more plates for this character, click the Ahsoka Tano tag to see all the plates (this is her first).  Same is true of the Clone Wars tag, if I decide to make other dolls.

Fear the Walking Dead: Zombies [Part 3]

ftwd_03_paint_thumbMy original goal with the Fear the Walking Dead zombies/infected was to build a whole army of these scary things over the course of the show. I was specifically choosing the ones who had names. There were plenty of other crawlies in Season One, but they were all nameless munchers. I wanted to try to keep the monsters more personalized.

I was fairly slavish about detail on this series. There was plenty of reference to work from. I had to improvise some (like Kimberly’s shoes–we never see her feet). Otherwise, I tried to make things pretty accurate.

Season Two concluded a couple of weeks ago. Given that I didn’t finish Season One, it’s not likely I will pursue this. The show is okay–it has its moments, but it’s lost its new car smell in terms of making paper dolls. I may yet finish some of the dolls. Liza and Nick are done; Travis, Madison, Ofelia, and Daniel are kinda half-done.  The rest I drafted, but never painted (Chris, Alicia, and Strand). It’s doubtful I will go back to those.

So last/not least: meet Susan and Kimberly. emoji_scared
And have a Happy Halloween!

[Click the picture to download the plate, or the Fear the Walking Dead tag to see related posts.]

 

Fear the Walking Dead: Zombies [Part 2]

ftwd_02_paint_thumbMore not-zombies, as promised, from Season One of Fear the Walking Dead.

Dredging these up has reminded me how labor-intensive they were. For this series and Empire I was doing all watercolor work. Which I absolutely love, don’t get me wrong. But it is intensive. Something made with markers (especially something like Judy) can travel easy, it’s not messy, etc. But with paint you need a fairly fixed workspace, you need water, you need a bigger variety of tools, etc.

With these I at least did blackline inks. I intended to do “color your own” plates for the series, but it literally doubles the work. And after feeling the burn from the Star Wars dolls, I decided I’m much too lazy for that. But I already made the uncolored plates for the “infected”, so I might share them Halloween day.

The guy on the right is my favorite. He’s also the goriest, so you’ve now seen the worst. Tomorrow’s zombies infected are much tamer, I promise.

Today: meet Artie and Peter.

[Click on the picture to download the plate, or on the Fear the Walking Dead tag to see related posts.]