Introducing Mia!

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An adult female doll in a long, flowing gown. She has olive skin and shiny brown hair arranged in large curls that extends past her shoulders. Her expression is serene and she has hazel eyes, subdued purple eyeshadow and natural pink lipstick. She has pearl earrings and pink fingernails. She is wearing a one-shoulder gown with a white satin bodice patterned with thin, light grey scrolls. The skirt of the gown is yellow near the waist, then gradually turns to orange, then to red near the hem, and is sparkling all over. A gold belt separates the two parts of the gown, and has a large amethyst circled by a ring of pearls. She is wearing a gold circlet decorated with pearls and three smaller amethysts.Meet Mia, my first digitally-colored doll! I hope you all like her, as I’ve worked very hard to prepare a doll that I was happy with. I also intend to release other dolls to go with her, hopefully once a month. Mia’s name was partially chosen by people on the mailing list and people who follow me on Facebook and Twitter: I chose five names I liked, then made a poll. Right up to the very end, Mia and Amethyst were tied, but Mia pulled forward at the very end. I enjoyed the poll and will probably do it for future dolls!

The site is also shiny and new, thanks to my husband Brian Kerr of Different Chairs. Brian happens to do this sort of thing for a living, and he worked with me to create a fabulous showcase for my art and make the site faster, easier to read and tablet and mobile phone-friendly. The results are amazing, and I feel very lucky that I can put my new, more detailed digital coloring work on such a simple, but sophisticated site. It’s even got its own domain name! (Took me long enough.)

You’ll notice some changes. First, if you want to print out the dolls and dresses, you’ll want to use the PDFs; the other graphics no longer have tabs. This is so that you can enjoy the detail without the tabs to distract you, and also so that the pages print out consistently.

There is also a black-and-white version that you can print out, too! When I was drawing paper dolls that had black outlines, I used to make black-and-white versions of the dresses, but when I stopped outlining the drawings, that was the end of versions that you could color yourself. Now, because of the way I transfer my drawings to digital versions, it’s simple to make black-and-white versions of the dresses. If you color them yourself, I’d love to see the results!

I’ve made it easier to follow me on social media: I post site updates and my thoughts about paperdolling on Twitter @lianapaperdolls, site updates, things I’ve been working on and fun links on my Facebook fan page, and a steady stream of ballgowns, saris and Art Nouveau jewelry on my Pinterest boards. You can also sign up for my mailing list, the form is on the top right-hand side of the page. I’d love if you’d follow me on whichever of these fine platforms best suits you, or just come back to the page every Friday!

I finished my Paperdoll Retrospective from the other day by saying that the best days of this blog are still to come. I hope you’ll agree that Mia is a good start!

Come back next Friday for a medieval gown fit for a queen. The subject was chosen by my Facebook fans, and the coloring will be decided by Nikki Paulsen, who won my contest.

Edit (Feb. 2, 2014): I’ve edited the PDFs so that the dolls and dresses are slightly smaller, so that more elaborate gowns will be able to fit into the printable area on the page. If you’ve already downloaded the old PDFs, please delete them and download the new ones!

27 thoughts on “Introducing Mia!”

  1. Thank you! The site looks super! I’m looking forward to more posts and pretties! Nice job on the new page Brian and good job Liana hooking up with the right guy.

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  2. Wow Mia is beautiful i especially love her eyes even though evey thing about her looks so good. Her dress is stunning i would definatly wear a dress like that i love how the colors fade and change and i defiantly love the sparkels i’m excited what other clothes will eter her wardrobe and waht other friends she will have in the future. I’m defiantly excited to see what you have in store!!! the sight also looks beautiful.

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    1. Thank you! I’m glad you particularly like her eyes. When I worked on them, I kept in mind a quote I read by Glen Keane, a Disney animator: “If you’re going to make a mistake, don’t make it in the eyes. Because everybody’s looking at the eyes.” So, you know, the upper arm isn’t perfect, the toes are purposely hidden by the shoes… whatever! Who cares, with eyes like that :)

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  3. She’s absolutely gorgeous! Thank you so much! Can’t wait for more lovely clothes! And good job, Brian, the site is awesome!

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  4. Amazing! I love the site update. Maybe it’ll inspire me to finally update my portfolio site… And the doll is gorgeous! Love the digital coloring.

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  5. So much love right now, I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am about all this! Also I’m totally glad that Mia won, that’s what I voted for :D
    The site looks fantastic, great job Brian! I can confirm that it’s very mobile friendly since I’m using my phone right now ;)
    Awesome job Liana, can’t wait to see what you have in store for us next ^_^

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    1. Thank you! :) It was exciting for me not to know until the last minute which name I’d be putting on the PDFs! I’m happy with Mia, though of course I’d have been happy with any of the names.

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  6. It’s wonderful to see you back, Liana. The site looks great, Brian. I love the new doll. The movement in her skirt is fantastic and I also adore her eyes. Your mastery of digital painting is making very very jealous. :)

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    1. Thank you! It’s great to be back :) I really like this doll, too, which is good because it means she’ll probably stick around for a long time!

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  7. GREAT to see you back again Liana! :) Mind giving us any more tutorials for paper AND digital outfits? I REALLY want to learn this! Cheers! :D

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    1. Thanks, Courtney! :) I still feel like a newbie myself, when it comes to digital coloring, but I wouldn’t mind writing down the process for what I do. Particularly because I keep forgetting how I do some of the details…

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  8. Hi, I found your site a month or two ago, when my paper doll obsession started to blossom. I hadn’t had a chance to go back and look at past posts until tonight, and I have to tell you that I am absolutely charmed by the dresses and costumes from 2004! Don’t get me wrong, I like Mia a lot and I am looking forward to seeing what you create for her. But the early drawings in colored pencil are so delicate and nuanced, and I like how they are tied to a book, or an event, or a movie. Really lovely!
    Stacey

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    1. Thank you! I really love a lot of those old drawings as well, and it’s too bad I lost the comments for them and can’t really integrate them into the site better… I hope you keep reading past posts, a lot of them are tied to what I was reading or otherwise experiencing!

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  9. Wow! Love everything, the new site, the new doll, clothes, all of it. Great job, both of you!

    I have been following you forever. I have sixteen grands and most have played with one of your dolls at one time or another in their lives. I can say you certainly have brought much happiness. Thank you very, very much.

    So looking forward to your new work. God bless.

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    1. Wow, that’s such a cheerful thought! For me they’re more art projects than toys, so it’s nice to be reminded that people out there are actually playing with them :)

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