Medieval Gown colored in Yellow and Red

August 27, 2010

Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

The last time I got my mitts on this poor dress, I really made a hash of it, so, time to try again. I like it better when someone tells me what colors to use, though — it feels like a surprise I can enjoy, too. Sadly, I can’t ask Brian, or you would be seeing a muted turquoise/salmon pink medieval ensemble.

I’m curious about you all, and I don’t believe I’ve done this poll before. Mom and I call my readers “the paperdoll girls,” and I wonder if it’s about right. (Certainly I do have a couple of male readers — a minority to be sure, but I do!)

Contest winner!

Hannah guessed I was wearing blue nail polish with sparkles on top –that’s one tick over on the color wheel from the actual color, which is purple. But it did have the all-important element of “sparkles,” so she was the first to get the closest answer and she wins!

The color is this one, It’s Bouquet With Me. My nails aren’t that long, though. I would poke two little holes in my left hand with my pinkie and ring finger when I was drawing…

Congratulations, Hannah, let me know which black and white outfit you’d like me to color, and how! Do it within the next couple of hours and I might get it done by tonight…

Blue Mermaid Gown

August 26, 2010

Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

As you can see, I am really still just kind of playing around with colors at this point. After a paperdoll vacation, I have to — to borrow an image Brian uses frequently — swim around in color the same way Scrooge McDuck swims around in his gold coins.

As a matter of fact, maybe it’s time for a contest or two, so I have an excuse to just color for a while and don’t have to think about pesky form and fit. (I haven’t forgotten about my music contest, trust me, but those outfits are going to require some thought. Color is just there in my fingers somehow, waiting for me.)

Here’s an easy one, so someone will get it before noon tomorrow… What color nail polish am I wearing? Hint: it’s not just plain color. That is, you will need color + nail polish additive to win this one. (Color in general: I’m not looking for the cutesy little official color name or anything.) The winner gets to pick out any of my black and white outfits and tell me how they’d like it colored!
Rules as usual:
1) If you’ve already won this year, please don’t enter. (Music contest winners are OK to enter a black-and-white coloring contest though.)
2) One guess per person per day.
3) If no one gets the exact color by noon PST, August 27th, ’ll pick the closest guess.
4) People who happen to have a view of my fingers are prohibited. (That means you, dear!)

Flame Colored Gown

August 24, 2010

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This skirt is not intended to conform to the realities of fabric. Paperdolls 1, real life 0.

In any case, it reminds me of poor damned Linnetta, possibly because of the pale vermilion and sunburst yellow. (How impossible is that dress, too? Paperdolls 2, real life 0. Still one of my favorites, improbable or no.) In my imagination, she and her sisters are still bound to the Devil, and he’s never short of jobs for them. She can wear this, then, but I doubt it would give her much pleasure anymore.

Oops! I forgot to note down the colors I used for today’s dress, and yesterday’s too, and now the pencils are all put away… Let’s see — black, pale vermilion, poppy red, sunburst yellow, yellowed orange, cream, non-photo blue, Copenhagen blue, dark umber, bronze. I think. Forgive me, I am still out of practice…

Layered Green Gown

Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

My friend posted this poem to her Facebook page, and for some reason — perhaps all this recent practice in letting go — it has been on my mind as I gathered my paperdoll materials over the last couple of days.

You shouldn’t attach to one thing blindly.
You shouldn’t say “I can’t live without her.”
You just shouldn’t say it.
Because you can!
There’s no need to use such clichéd words.
……Don’t love too much, for example.
If she loves you less, your heart will break.
And usually, she loves you less than you love her anyway.
If you don’t love too much, you won’t hurt a lot.
Besides, if you don’t own much, you won’t be owned either..
You shouldn’t own the building you work in,
your table, your phone, your cards..
In fact, you shouldn’t even own your hands or legs.
You should act as if they are not yours.
Then, if you don’t have anything, you won’t be afraid to lose.
You should act as if you can live without them.
For example, there shouldn’t be much furniture in your home.
You should be able to walk around clumsily.
If you insist on having something,
You should own the points where rooftops join the skies.
You should own the sky.
The sun, the moon, the stars…
For example, the northern star should be your star.
You should say “It is mine!”
If you really want something of your own,
Rainbows should be yours, for example.
If you really want to belong to something, you should belong to colors
To orange or to pink, for example.
Or you should belong to paradise.
You should live without owning much,
And not belonging to a great deal,
As if life will slip away from your hands any minute,
And as if it will be yours forever.
You should live attached to life,
Hanging onto its edge…

Can Yücel (1926-1999)

I do not think I could take the first piece of advice, whether or not it’s true; I’m too intense. But at those times when I pay for it in melancholy, it helps to belong to green. Could I be of any other color? What of you, I wonder?

Well, as you see, I’m back, or at least I will try to be! After I get out of practice, it can be difficult to draw anything, and I still feel a sort of residual stress from all that’s been going on over the past couple of months. (I tend to be a pretty upbeat person, but my temperamental moods are proportionately bad, and it gets hard to draw when I’m out of sorts. My state of mind definitely corresponds to my paperdolling proficiency.) Don’t worry about me, though: I’m very happy in my new home. I’ll write more about it soon.

A short update!

August 9, 2010

Hello everyone! Thank you for your patience during my move. Things have been going very well so far — the cats were fine on the plane, all of our stuff made it across the country and we’ve already found an apartment. So far, the worst that has happened is that I packed my shampoo in my suitcase without closing the top properly, but even the annoyance from that was very well contained; with something like that as our biggest problem, I think we’ve been extraordinarily lucky indeed!

We are still getting the new apartment set up, and I have a hard time concentrating on anything while I feel so unsettled, but as things come together, I find myself wondering which box I packed my pencil sharpener in… Be patient with me a little while longer, and I hope to be drawing again by next week!

Black and Blue Medieval Gown with Purple Roses and Silver Underskirt

July 19, 2010

Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

I’m sorry I haven’t been drawing lately: I’ve really been in a slump. I’m fine, just busy and anxious: we’re moving from Michigan to Washington State on the 27th. I’m really happy about it, but it’s just really all starting to hit me.

As you see, you do not really miss all that much when I am in a slump, because if my heart’s just not into it, whatever I produce looks lousy. Certainly my intention for this dress was not “Evil Queen’s May Day.” How’d it get to look so gloomy? I could understand it if I had been listening to gloomy music while I was drawing (the kind of music Brian calls “high-school-is-hard-music”) but I wasn’t, I promise…

I can’t really say when I’ll be drawing again. If the desire isn’t there, the results are worthless, as you see. (And you’re not even seeing my first stab at coloring tonight, the 30s black and white dress done in pink — it was hideous.) The desire kind of comes and goes, somehow. I expect that once we’re in Washington State, I’ll be more cheerful, and there’s no need to worry about me because I’m perfectly fine and very lucky to be moving, I’m just being a little temperamental, I guess ^^;; Please forgive me, I’ll be back, and I haven’t forgotten about the other contest winners — I especially don’t want to do a bad job on those, so it’s really better to wait a little while for them!

Two Mermaids from Liana’s Paper Doll Boutique

July 12, 2010

Click for the doll.

Here are two mermaid outfits from my site back from when I was in high school, Liana’s Paper Doll Boutique. Sorry there’s nothing new today… I tried, I really did, but there are just some days where everything I do goes wrong. On those days when I can’t seem to draw, sometimes I’ll print out a black and white outfit and at least have fun coloring that, but I guess there are some days I can’t either! If I get in such a sad state, it is just better for everyone if I put down the Prismacolors and pick up my DS. Which I do believe I’ll be doing now. But look forward to tomorrow!

More Recolored Sequined Gowns in Red, Gold and Purple

July 9, 2010

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Thanks to everyone for your kind words yesterday. I’m all right — I’m posting more of these recolored gowns today mostly because it’s 10:00 PM already and I’m not even at home yet, and I don’t want you all to worry about me!

Anyways, I had fun playing around with these, as you can probably guess… I got a little carried away, but I thought it would be better to post them than not.

Recolored Sequined Gown in Black, Purple and Green

July 8, 2010

Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

I’m sorry for missing the last couple of days with no explanation, and for posting just recolored versions of the last dress today. My grandmother passed away yesterday. She didn’t suffer for very long, and she passed away peacefully.

Anyways, I threatened on Twitter, when I was nearing the end of Monday’s dress and feeling like my thumb was going to fall off, to just Photoshop out the bottom part and call it a day. I didn’t end up doing that, thankfully, but I did get curious as to what it would look like, and then started playing with the colors, and… well, it gives me something to post today! When Grace and Ivy start their girl group (I will have to make up a third paperdoll for them, I guess), now they can tour all over the place and not wear the same thing every night. I will get back to drawing soon, though.