Category: Paper Dolls

Judy : Vol. 27, 1880 Plate 5

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We conclude Volume No. 27 of the Judy series with this pair of December outfits. One of them is sporty, but the other is sorta in the spirit of the holidays now behind us: a little last-minute bling as we bring in the New Year, I guess.

I just finished Volume No. 25 while on holiday and it strikes me as even a little less imaginative than this volume, but hopefully it will still be interesting. It’s fun for me watching Chasemore (the artist) sort of make this minor feature into a thing of its own through the years. I have the advantage of seeing the breadth of the series all in one go, and I continue to be excited about fun things ahead.

But I’m trying to be methodical and not skip around so much, so we’re going to go backwards to pick up Vol. No. 25 over the next five weeks, and in February we’ll boldly go forward into new territory.

[Click on this link or the image to download a printable .pdf of this plate]

Mistress of Mayhem: Harley Quinn’s Closet Plate No. 1

Harley_01_thumbWelcome to Mayhem Monday!

When Paul Dini & Bruce Timm created Harley Quinn in 1992 for Batman: the Animated Series, she was just a one-off sidekick with a tragic story. Fan response to her was so strong, however, that she became a semi-regular on the show and in 1999 made her crossover into the DC Comics canon. Since then she’s had a rocky career between artists and writers who didn’t seem to understand what to do with her. To complicate matters, the Joker had become so evil and so abusive that the team had to be split up, leaving Harley dangling without direction–until 2014 when Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti rescued Harley with a new solo series (Vol. 2).

While I appreciate getting Harley out of a homicidal relationship (she’s no role-model for girls, that’s for sure), I worried she’d be no fun without the Joker. But her new book is wildly popular and a huge step in the right direction: smartly written with a Harley as an antihero who is whole and interesting all by herself. Eventually she’s going to have to deal with the Joker again (they have such history and none of it’s resolved). I originally thought their relationship was unconscionably awful. Now I miss their Punch & Judy antics and wish they were back together. Alas, in this current climate of hyper-sensitive illusions of perfect feminism, it’s not likely ever going to happen (sigh).

But about the doll: just as the Joker has a lot of purple (and green), Harley’s costumes contain more than their share of red and black. There have been a few different variations on her Harlequin outfit (which she no longer wears), but, like with the Joker, I’ll just pick the most divergent styles.

BatmanHarleyQuinn_1999Otherwise, Harley has a good-sized wardrobe to draw from over the last 16 years. She wears a “uniform costume” like other comic book characters, but also sports civilian clothes in a large percentage of her stories.

I’ll be drawing heavily from her current series, but also occasionally dipping into her past in no particular order. Harley is making her big-screen live-action debut in Suicide Squad with Jared Leto’s Joker in 2016 (she’ll be played by Margot Robbie). Let’s just say I am mostly reserving judgment about the design decisions they have made with the movie version. Have to see the film before I know whether I’ll be making costumes from it.

[Click on this link or the primary image in this post to download a printable .pdf of the paper doll]

 

Judy : Vol. 27, 1880 Plate 4

JUDY_Vol27_04_thumbToday for Judy Tuesday we have a couple of nice winter-themed costumes that go well with the season.

I think the November costume might be intended to look like fallen leaves, but I’m totally speculating. The hat with the funny flaps standing up makes it look like a jester’s outfit. Even so, when I imagine this in color, I’m thinking of sunset colors (like turning leaves), but that may be because I lack imagination.

The December costume is more traditional winter wear trimmed with ermine and a fairly conservative hat with a nice plume. I like the muff and the extra long dark gloves. It feels like it has a slight Renaissance influence to it. If I were to pick a color for it, I think I would go with royal blue.

One more plate from Volume 27 next Tuesday, and then there will be all new stuff from an all new volume for the all new year!

[Click on this link or the image to download a printable .pdf of this plate]

Christmas Bumble to Cut & Color (Color) Page 2

bumble2_color_thumbSome extra bits and bobs for Mr. Bumble. I have included two “blank” sweaters for you to design and color for yourself. Not because I’m so outrageously lazy (even though I am), but because I thought it would be a nice extra bit of activity business. I don’t have a lines-only (to color) version of this page. I forgot to scan the linework before I colored it and there was just no going back (that’s one of those disadvantages to working in real media instead of digital). Hope you enjoy this anyway, and celebrate your holiday as you most hope to! Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays all!

[Click here or on the image to download a printable .pdf file]

Christmas Bumble to Cut & Color (B&W)

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I couldn’t resist the urge to make at least one small Christmas paper doll. The ubiquitous ugly sweater seems like a perennial favorite, so figured I would make poor Mr. Bumble suffer the indignities. Well he looks happy, anyway. I made two versions of this: this one to print in black & white so that you can color it for yourself, and a second one which I colored for you. I’ll post the colored version next week. Hope you enjoy this as much a I did making it!

[Click here or on the image to download a printable .pdf file]

Judy : Vol. 27, 1880 Plate 3

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Judy goes fishing in this week’s plate from Vol. 27, and wears a fish on her head. Also, believe it or not, I had to tone down the hat for the Guy Costume because the one in the journal was ridiculously huge with feathers that stretched across the page. I knew I would never be able to fit that on a plate, so I scaled it back a bit.

We’re in the early volumes of when these thematic costumes were just starting to become a “thing”. I tend to skip the more moderate ones, but soon the costume feature really takes off and things get occasionally super-wacky. So consider the fish a preview of weird stuff to come in future volumes. Not this one, alas. It’s going to go out on a nice, almost reasonable note.

We’ve got two more plates for Vol. 27, and then we’re going to go backwards for a wee bit so I can do some catch-up with Vol. 25. These Judy plates are so easy to make, I really have no excuse whatsoever not to have one every Tuesday from now until the volumes run out (and that will be a good long while!).

[Click on this link or the image to download a printable .pdf of this plate]

The Walking Dead Paper Dolls: Daryl Dixon’s Closet

twd06_daryl_thumbI’ve still got two more plates of the Walking Dead stuff after this, which, even though I only drew them last month they already feel “old”. It’s the problem with letting stuff sit around. By the time I get to posting, I want something new and shiny. But that’s okay. We’ll be done with these by the end of the year and there’s plenty of new and shiny to come.

I don’t think Daryl ever bathes, so I was surprised to find variations on his costumes at all, but early on in the series he hadn’t established his look, so there were articles of clothing other than his signature leather vest. Once again, I struggled with the weapons for this (except the axe; I enjoyed that). Also had a hard time squeezing all these on the page, so it’s a little awkward.

Had a moment late last night thinking, gee, I’m doing such a better job on the Fear the Walking Dead characters I feel kind of guilty for short-shrifting these. And then I got into a spin about whether I should redo them all. And then I got over it. Because life is short.

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

You can find the plate with Daryl by clicking on his tag below, or click The Walking Dead category link to see all of the plates in this series.

Judy : Vol. 27, 1880 Plate 2

JUDY_Vol27_02_thumbSomehow I managed to miss posting for Judy Tuesday. This is the problem with not having a regular work-week: I’m never entirely certain what day it is!

But all is well in the world because even though it’s Wednesday, we’ll celebrate it like it’s Tuesday with this new plate from Vol. 27. These two costumes are from September and October and sport a great tam and fez. Sometimes even when the dresses are sort of ordinary, the hats are absurd. This plate probably has two of the most even-handed designs in the series.

The costumes get even wackier through the years, so if you think they are a little weird now, wait until we get into the later volumes. It’ll be a while, though. I found Vol. 25, which means we’ll be regressing for the next outing (but just briefly), then we’ll move forward with Vol. 29 as previously planned. I’m hoping to work on Judy a lot over the Christmas holiday since I’m traveling and it’s the most portable of my projects (all I need is three Sharpies of varying widths, cardstock, and my iPad to thumb through the reference material). For all the complexity of my other projects, it’s always nice to work on Judy for the sheer simplicity.

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

 

The Walking Dead Paper Dolls: Rick Grimes’ Closet

twd05_rick_thumbI’m pretty sure Rick’s been wearing the same dirty t-shirt for all of Season Six of The Walking Dead (pretty typical of this series: people don’t change their clothes much given the whole apocalypse thing).

Nevertheless, each season it seems Rick finds a new jacket, at least. So here are a variety of them from Seasons 1-5.  If you know the show, hopefully you recognize the pieces. Yeah, I’m being super-lazy about these plates in terms of identifying and describing because, again, I made these dolls off-handedly for fans (of which I am not).

I pinky-swear to take more care with the sets I’m now working on. Apologies to Walking Dead fans out there.

That’s all I’ve got for Rick. Each of these characters has just one plate of costumes. The apocalypse is a real bear on fashion. If you like, you can print multiple sheets and color them differently to pretend Rick has a whole closet of variations (or maybe draw your own ~ and share!).

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

You can find the plate with Rick by clicking on his tag below, or click The Walking Dead category link to see all of the plates in this series.