Black and Blue Medieval Gown with Purple Roses and Silver Underskirt

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!

More Recolored Sequined Gowns in Red, Gold and Purple

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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

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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.

Black And White 1930s Evening Gown with Peplum

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For today’s black and white gown, I decided on a 1930s evening gown. For one thing, a simple dress sounded appealing at 9 PM when I started; for another thing, we love our 1930s fashion around these parts, if the response to the white and pink gown is any indication.

Next week, I am going to tackle drawing the winners of my music contest; hopefully I can finish them off in one week. I’ll be skipping Mermaid Monday, but it’ll be back the week after that. (Maybe the Supremes will get a mermaid dress? We’ll see.)

Colored Masquerade Gown in Black, White, Purple, Red and Gold

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Sofia won my last contest for guessing that one of my top ten favorite movies is Casablanca. (The other nine: Whisper of the Heart, Vertigo, The Thin Man, Some Like It Hot, Robin Hood (Disney version), Porco Rosso, North by Northwest, Dr. Strangelove and All About Eve.) She wrote: “Casablanca is one of my favorite movies, too, and definitely a film everyone should see. Anyway, I’d like to see the masquerade dress from this post: http://www.joechip.net/liana/2009/10/12/halloween-masquerade-series-1-black-and-white-masquerade-gown-with-bonus-colored-brown-and-red-elf-gown/ in dark colors… maybe a mottled red/black/purple kind of brocade or damask pattern on the skirt, with gold trim.” I hope you like this version, Sofia. I certainly do, although it made my thumb go numb again. I’ve got to start splitting up these pattern-heavy coloring jobs over the course of a couple of days! (Not a complaint, I really like being challenged to do something cool like this.)

Colors used: French Grey family (white cascade, sleeves, etc.), Cool Grey (70% and 90% on the top part), Dark Umber, Light Umber, Goldenrod, Sunburst Yellow, Crimson Lake, Tuscan Red, Moss Green, Limepeel, Imperial Violet, Greyed Lavender, Black Grape, Black, Colorless Blender

Colored Elf Gown in Blues and Greys with Grey Lavender Edges and Silver Trim

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Emily won my last contest, for guessing that I had had visitors from 115 countries last week, and this was her request: “Can I choose a dress that has already been colored? Because if so I would like the Lord of the Rings elf gown from 10/5/09, but (kind of opposite of how it was colored before) in blues and grays, maybe a bit of very blueish lavender, and silver trim.” I really like how it turned out… hope you do too, Emily! (And don’t worry, trazy, I haven’t forgotten yours! I just want to do it justice, and I’ve messed up on the pattern too many times today…)

In my imagination, the elf who wears this dress and the one who wears today’s dress are good friends. The one who loves bright colors (we’ll call her Cathiel) has, over the years, influenced her friend’s color sense; you can thank her for the purple at the edges of this one, which seems quite muted to her but was a big leap forward for her sober-minded friend, who we’ll call Rhylar. It also means that she can thank her mother and aunt (who, unsurprisingly, disapprove of her style) quite sincerely for their optimistic gifts of pearl grey and clay rose robes: she assures them that she will put them to good use, and she does. They make wonderful gifts for the more conventional Rhylar. They like to find a picturesque spot and practice duets; Cathiel is a middling flutist, while Rhylar is decent on her harp, but a gifted singer. Often the former will lay aside her flute, close her eyes and just listen to her beloved friend sing a song or two, and if part of her attention wanders and she mentally changes Rhylar’s rust-colored gown to a snappy, sunshiny yellow, it only heightens her enjoyment of the scene.

Evil Queen Wedding Dress with Black and Purple Trim

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You may or may not have seen this, but there’s a line of wedding dresses based on the various Disney princesses. You can probably guess that I’ve got a soft spot for Ariel and the gang, and I’m certainly fond of my pretty princess gowns, but it seems to me like something was left out… The fact is, it’s the villains who deserve the most spectacular wedding dresses! If you really think about it, theirs ought to be even more wonderful than any ever made for your standard issue simpering, vacuously beautiful princess. I mean, wouldn’t that be part of the joy of being a villain? You don’t have to worry about looking modest or maidenly, frugality isn’t even in your vocabulary, and if anyone out there gives you static about your wedding colors or where you have your registry, well, darling, that is simply the kind of situation that pet dragons, leftover poisoned fruit or comic-relief henchmen were created for.

So, let us pretend for a moment that Snow White never quite made it to the little cottage in the woods, and there were no red-hot shoes or other such fates for the Evil Queen. (Did you know that in the Disney version she had a name? I didn’t, but it’s Queen Grimhilde, according to Wikipedia. There’s your trivia for the day.) After her husband’s unfortunate death, she found her own Prince Charming, handsome, lacking in empathy and appropriately weak-willed, and threw herself a wedding good enough for the fairest of them all. I like to think that eight sweet little village seamstresses went blind embroidering the trim on her dress, and that the lace underskirt — which you will note, isn’t even visible, although I assure you it’s fantastic — is stained a kind of rusty red with blood from the fingers of artisans working themselves to the bone to get it done before the big day. (Sure, it could have been washed, but why would she? She likes it better this way.)

Now, I don’t really think you could package this up and sell it to a modern audience. Why? They couldn’t handle all this fierce in one dress, that’s why. For most humans, it’s probably better to stick with an imitation of Cinderella or Belle.

I’m not entirely sure that this is small enough to print on one page – so if you print it and it doesn’t work, let me know and I will fuss with it. (It’s almost 11 PM, so I’m rapidly running out of patience…) Also, I think the collar would be tough to cut out; I think you would have to cut between the doll’s shoulders and neck and her hair, and then you would cut a line straight through the middle of the collar, so the collar would slip behind her neck. Or cut off the collar entirely, I won’t hold it against you. It won’t seem as evil, though – some sacrifices must be made to achieve the proper look, you know.

Retro Yellow and Black Ms. Pac-Man Dress with Fruit Pattern and Pink Bow

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My beloved husband Brian requested a dress based on Ms. Pac-Man, and because I so often dismiss his ideas for paper doll outfits in a rather cursory fashion (and you would too, if you heard them) I thought it would be nice to indulge him a little.

We used to spend a lot of time at an arcade called Pinball Pete’s, back when we were in college and I lived on that side of Ann Arbor. Brian was pretty good at Ms. Pac-Man, and I liked to watch him escape the little ghosts. He was awfully cute when he wasn’t quite fast enough and got caught! He doesn’t play much anymore, now that we are stolid and serious adults (well, really rather that we live on the other side of town now), but you still can’t bring it up without him mentioning that the pretzel is counted as a fruit in Ms. Pac-Man. So of course, the pretzel duly makes its appearance in my dress.

For some reason I felt a sort of retro, fake-50’s feel would suit the theme, but now that the dress is done and I have no intention whatsoever of starting over, I wonder if perhaps an 80’s theme would have been better? Pretzel-covered leg-warmers? … Yeah, maybe not.

No one has quite won the contest yet… Just be glad I didn’t ask for the year, too!
What day is my wedding anniversary?
Post your guess in the comments! Again, the rules:
1) If you’ve already won this year, please don’t enter.
2) One guess per person per day.
3) If no one gets the exact date by 9:00 PM EST, June 9th, I’ll pick the closest guess.
4) I’ll give one hint each day the contest goes on.
– Yesterday’s hint: It was in the summer.
- Today’s hint: The day is an odd number.

Meet Grace, the second in my new paper doll series!

Click for larger version with gown (PNG); click for PDF version with gown. Click for larger version without gown (PNG); click for PDF version without gown.

I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get another doll up. I’ve had this dress drawn for months, waiting for a doll to go with it — it’s that making a doll part that’s the problem! Grace here was actually made from my upcoming system that will eventually allow people to create their own dolls, but that’s not ready yet, so one doll will have to suffice for now. I think she turned out pretty well, so consider her a test of the system and let me know what you think! I named her Grace because it’s a name I’ve always thought was pretty, but it’s not one I can saddle any of my hypothetical daughters with, because any child born to me and my husband is bound to be woefully clumsy.

I’m wondering what you all think of putting the thumbnail clothes on the doll, now you’ve seen it a couple of times? Should I keep doing it? Take the poll, please!

Blue Halter Dress with Yellow and Pink Flower Pattern

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

Someone got a new tooooy ♪
I ordered some white gel pens, because I wanted to see if I could do, well, something like this. After playing with them all day, I can happily recommend the Sakura Souffle for use on top of Prismacolors. I will do a tutorial about it at some point, and a comparison of the types of pen I bought as well. But for now, I’m just happy I could do what I wanted to do with white ink! Or rather, I’m on the way to making some cool things, I think.

So this is just me playing around with my toy, I hope you like it. And since I am in such a cheery, experimental mood I couldn’t help fussing around in Photoshop and making a bonus version, too, which is a little less refreshing and springy, a little more chic.