I am pushing myself to try to overcome my fear of color with timid results so far. I had really wanted this to be a blue coat with a red vest, but just couldn't do it. At the last moment I opted for the much safer grey. Neverthless, the results are encouraging (click on the picture to see a larger image).
There's nothing quite like having a finished piece to look at; makes you feel pretty accomplished, even if you've chickened out on what you set yourself to do on some level. At the very least, painting these pieces has got me back into the "mode" of painting (and so I have overcome a little bit of that rustiness that sets in between projects).
You may notice (or not) that this is a new body for James. I just couldn't deal with the other one. It was too anemic-looking and too clothed! You'll see below that the new body is less dressed and a good deal more hairy (eeek!). But I guess I have always imagined James to be rather a manly-man in this regard and so I'm much happier with the result, though painting the hair was sort of weird (not bad for a first try, though).
I also painted a sort of poet's shirt with a French collar (not common in America, yet) and a glass of brandy. The brandy came out great (it's not well-reproduced here in the small scan), but the shirt is rather ill-fitting (I didn't measure properly. So I'll either fix it or make a new one.
Oh, and I love the shoes here. Most of my other characters either wear the same shoes (or type of shoes) or their shoes are covered by skirts, etc., so it's fun to give James some interesting and different shoes. These could be dress shoes, but just as likely might not.
The whole outfit hearkens later Victorian, though the coat style was popular from the 70s to the 90s. The cravat is older-style (as early as 40s), but it's the style James favors. Also, the hat is more 50s-60s, but it's the hat James wears pretty much ever-after the Civil War. But because of the coat and on account of the shoes, which are a more particular late-style, I'll call this ensemble late 80s.
The image below shows the arrangement of the painting on the actual page. I tend to squeeze things in where I can so to maximize the paper.
Today's couple is James and Emmaline Hunter. These dolls will probably have the largest variety of heads and clothing styles since they are older characters. James and Emmaline were married in 1844 and James has been for many years (to his dismay) a career soldier, which puts him in a pretty wide variety of uniforms throughout his life (from military academy to wars in the west, to the fall of the Confederacy). He doesn't mind the uniforms, though: he's a clothes-horse and loves fancy things. It also helps that he's fabulously wealthy so he can actually afford these things. Think: Count of Monte Cristo wealthy. Except that he didn't really do anything to earn the money.
Emmaline is almost her husband's diametric opposite. Where he's robust, egotistical and lusty, she's frail, humble, and pious. She comes from a Moravian religious community and would prefer to dress very simply, but the influence of her husband has corrupted her (just a little). She does all of her own sewing (and has the time and money to be extravagant) so she often sews for other people. James also often bribes her to wear fancy clothes now and then ("you put on a silk gown and we'll build an orphanage" ~ that sort of thing). So you can expect to see a pretty wild array of clothing for these two.
Notes on the doll construction: yes, Emmaline is very short. She's a tiny woman. Also, the current heads on these two are post-Civil War. I will be drawing antebellum heads for them as well as heads for when they are old and grey in the 80s-90s.
Lastly, I forgot to caution, for the purpose of downloading and playing with all of the dolls on this blog, I am posting them here with their heads attached. The dolls are actually designed with removable heads ~ not only to change their ages, but to accommodate various hairstyles, etc.
So, if you print the dolls, collars may not lay properly on their neck (and wind up covering their chins). To remedy this (if you are really desperate), print out two copies and cut one set's heads off. Then fasten those heads over the other set so that there is a gap underneath their chins. This was a style I adapted from Raphael Tuck, the difference being that the way mine are constructed, they are actually interchangeable, whereas Tuck's were generally pasted on.
Next time: More introductions or shall we look at something different?
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