19th Century Paper Dolls

 
 
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(Click to view at full size) I will post Katie's clothes tomorrow.
 
 
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I uploaded the painted dolls to a photo album in the sidebar (at the right) under the heading "Paper Dolls" (obvious enough?). But I don't really like the way the album displays them: so tiny! And they are spaced apart so far as well. Weird.

Anyway, since I have been fussing with doing that, I haven't accomplished much else in the limited time I allotted myself to work on these dolls this evening. The good news is: the dolls are there and you can download them and print them and they should be at a decent enough resolution to print well. Meanwhile, I am still painting their clothes (almost finished), and I will be posting those during the week (I'm a bit behind, alas ~ but what's new, right?). I also posted the dolls here, since I figure they deserved their own post for all the trouble they've caused me this evening.   I will try to find a better way to put all the dolls in one place since I'm not satisfied with the album thingy. In the meantime, at least they are here.

I think, now that I am almost done with one set of dolls, the dolls to come will be a lot easier (fingers crossed).

Edited 10/12/2009:

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I re-uploaded the dolls to include the original commentary that went with them (just so that they would be complete. Also, because I included the commentary on their clothing and thought it would be strange that the dolls came without any. These dolls are printable and their clothes (which I will post tomorrow) will be scaled to fit them properly. If you had already downloaded the previous dolls, the scale should be the same.

It's been a long journey, but I think we're finally off and running!

Thank you for hanging in there with me!
 
 
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I worked on dolls this weekend, though did not get as much done as I would have liked. Nevertheless, I decided (once again ~ I know, I know), to make some changes in what I'm doing. While the success of the digital versions gave me some great ideas about making dolls alongside the story, the story style has gone back to an line-art style (rather than digital), and so I think the dolls have to match.

It's so much easier making dolls on the computer as opposed to real paper, but I am determined to overcome my willies about coloring and the only way to do it is to continue to work in the physical mediums. This plan is going well for the story ~ I'm feeling so much less precious about each page. But the story is really painted in sepia, mostly (with only the hintiest hints of spot colors), so the narrowness (or lack thereof altogether) of a "palette" gives me a certain level of confidence.

To bolster a similar feeling with the dolls, I've decided to work in a slightly smaller format than I was previously. Dolls were roughly 7 1/2 inches, which is a lot of space to color if you're doing a skirt, for example. Now the dolls are about an inch shorter, which makes a big difference. I also created these two without removeable heads. I may get more complex about the main characters later on, but for now the attached heads seemed okay here ~ Katie is only a minor character and neither post obstructs the clothing in any way.

I also dramatically changed Katie's pose to reflect a more solemn demeanor. Despite her defiance in the story, she's clearly an cruelly abused girl and her ghost is definitely doleful. As for Lewis, I gave him a somewhat perplexed look. I think he spent most of his childhood being frustrated and uncertain and I wanted this particular doll to reflect his boyhood trepidation.

I'll try to paint these (and their clothes, which I have also redrawn), and have them in a downloadable/printable form by next Sunday.
 
 

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I can't believe I forgot to post the clothing for the dolls I created at the end of last month (has it been two weeks already???). It's amazing how the time flies when you are distracted and busy. I was just thinking last night that I have so much stuff I could be posting here and yet there are these long lags between posts! I am trying to improve, I promise.

A lot has happened since I last posted. I received my copy of the OPDAG Paper Doll Studio yesterday and was very pleased to see my Henry Fleming doll in color!  That's pretty fabulous and I am very excited that people are finding their way to my blog through that venue (all the more reason to keep this blog current!). The theme for the issue was literary characters, so there's more I'd like to share on the great art in the issue (post forthcoming!).

Also, much as I had fun making these digital dolls (and much as I haven't abandoned the idea of making dolls alongside the story as previously mentioned ~ not by a long shot!), I think I do prefer more traditional media. If I haven't already shown that I am crazy when it comes to remaking things and changing horse midstream, let me assure you that I am. The good news for you, however, is that means I am committed to redoing these dolls this coming weekend. Let's see how I step up to the challenge!

In the meantime, this will remain the template for the finished dolls. You'll just have to wait another week for the printable versions. Sorry!  Once they are done, however, I promise they will be worth it!
 
 
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Lewis Fletcher & Katie Kirkwood
As promised, I have been working on making some new paper dolls. And even though I sat at my painting desk and considered the dolls already in progress, I've decided to make dolls that will match the Reconstruction website. This gives me the dual advantage of actually making dolls alongside the story so that readers can see what the clothing looks like in color (the webcomic is mostly in sepia tones). Likewise, it's a great excuse to make dolls of supporting characters (like Katie Kirkwood here). As we progress through the story, I can supplement the dolls with new clothing, accessories, etc.

I am also going to tag the dolls by name so that you can find all of their pieces easily using the links on the side. The image I am posting here isn't a high-resolution version (you can click to make it larger, but it's not very large). I will be posting a downloadable .pdf version that you can print and cut ~ just as soon as I get done with their clothes.  Fortunately, digital painting is a lot quickly and less stress-inducing than "real" media, so I won't have any excuses for getting this done quickly. I'm working on the clothes a little bit today, but have other things I need to do, so I might not finish until next week.
 
 

I'm a little disappointed with myself. I didn't have the courage to paint this doll after I'd inked it. But I have to send it by the 15th and so I had to finish it, and, well, here it is, finished. I colored it on the computer with Adobe PhotoShop and boy-o does it look slick, but it's really not what I was aiming for when I started it (as usual, click on the image for a slightly larger version so you can see some details).

I really had just meant to work on the lettering and whatnot (which I had intended all along to do on the computer, but once I started, I couldn't resist ~ and I knew it would just be simpler than fighting with traditional media and my horror of colors. And if I made a mistake I could just redo it with the click of my Wacom pen. It's very hard to resist that kind of flexibility.

I don't hate the final results. I think it came out just fine. I only wish I'd had the courage to do it as I wanted to instead of resorting to what's easy. The sad thing is, I'm sure it's all the more impressive for me having done it with the computer than I could have ever made it look in paint ~ at least posted online like this. Holding the real thing in my hands, paint is infinitely more wonderful. And now I worry that I have consigned Henry Fleming to a permanent state of black and white mere outline on the page because the chances of me going back to this project now that it's done are pretty much nil.  Sorry about that Henry.

Here's hoping I'll get work done on other dolls soon.

 
 

Despite a failing pen (that has been a favorite of mine for a very long time), I managed to at least transfer and ink Henry Fleming. There are details missing on the flag, etc. at the moment, but I'm doing all that with paint. For now, click on the image to see some better details. Don't mind the writing over it. I just wanted to make sure it's clear that this is a draft.

I didn't change very much from the original concept. The pose is more or less as I originally designed it. I shortened Henry's hair a little (it was too long for a Yankee), and decided against the gaiters (oh sigh). But it's not like I don't have a dozen other Civil War uniforms sketched out and lying around waiting to be made for other dolls. The hardest thing to draw was Henry's enfield rifle (getting the perspective right was not a picnic). But it came out pretty okay ~ I'm pleased.

As RLC noted in the last post I made with the original sketch, I'm doing this for the OPDAG newsletter. The due date is the 15th, but I've got a whole 'nuther weekend to paint and finish it, so I'm sure I'll have it in well before the deadline.

 
 

Wanted to update with the project I am currently working on (and which has a deadline of May 15th, so I guess I need to get cracking on it). I'm making a paper doll of Henry Fleming from The Red Badge of Courage. Nothing too complex: just Henry in his uniform in various states and, of course, carrying the standard for the triumphant finale.

I haven't quite decided on a lot of things for this doll including his pose. I want him to look both startled and heroic, which is sort of a hard mix, but I think I can get it there so that he can play both coward and courage as required.

My favorite piece of this, of course, is the bandage for his head. I like the shock of hair coming off the top.  I'm going to do this one in color. I feel safe enough about it since it's just a Yankee uniform, so I don't have to think too hard about how it ought to look. Not sure about all the pieces yet, though. I might make him some civilian clothes as well (and put regular brogans on his feet instead of the gaiters ~ I just happen to be fond of gaiters).

 
 

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.