Tag: 1880s

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]

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]

Today 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]

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]

Somehow 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]

For the month of December, we’re celebrating Judy Tuesdays, with a new plate of Judy costumes every second day of the work week in addition to whatever else I’ve got going on (haven’t quite figured it all out).

This week’s plate includes costumes from August, but we’ll be coordinated with the season by month-end. I really wanted to do an advent-type costume-a-day thing but I’m nowhere near prepared for something like that, so it’ll have to wait for next year (hopefully!).

I love drawing the Judy series because it’s easy and always full of fun weird things. The reference pictures are simple to render because they are already black and white line work and so I’m not struck in a morass of attempting to figure out complex patterns, brands, colors, etc. Much as I love doing the TV stuff, I definitely have moments where I just fudge it because I can’t be hacked to study some article of inscrutable clothing. Shoes are especially death because we don’t typically look at people’s feet much in television.

I hope you enjoy these costumes from Volume 27. I’m missing Vol. 28, so we’ll be skipping to Vol. 29 next. That will, again, put us out of sync with the season, but I’m not going to worry about it going forward.

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