Masquerade Gown with Sparkly Pink Bodice, Red Velvet Trim and Blue Flowered Skirt with Cream Ribbon

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A masquerade gown with a sparkly, light pink bodice The neckline is off the shoulders and slightly V-shaped, and is trimmed with a line of light blue ribbon ribbon. The sleeves are three-quarter, and their edges are trimmed with more blue ribbon. There are long ruffles attached to the edges of the sleeves, and they are dark red and decorated with large, lighter red swirls. The bodice extends over the top of the skirt and is gathered at one hip, decorated with a cream-colored bow. From the bow, four rows of ruffles fall towards the base of the skirt like a waterfall. Each one is dark red and decorated with large, lighter red swirls. The skirt is light blue with an apple blossom pattern. The flowers are cream, pink and dark red, and are interspersed with white butterflies. The skirt is long, and falls to the floor.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

Sparkle Week continues! I must admit that everything I know about making fabric sparkle in Photoshop I learned from the Disney princesses. Yesterday was sparkles over dark color, today is sparkles over light color. I made this brush myself, too, with help from this tutorial. The pattern on the red fabric is from Pixels & Ice Cream, and the pattern on the skirt is from flashtuchka’s Vintage Floral Patterns.

I’m very annoyed by how Photoshop handles brushes and patterns. I always find myself saving and losing brushes, and if I download a pattern set I have to remember how to credit it. It’s all very kludgy, it seems to me. Am I doing things wrong? Is it improved in future versions? (After all, I’m using CS2, which was released in 2005…)

Masquerade Gown in White Lace and Blue Sequins with Light Blue Ruffles and Coral Ribbon

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A masquerade gown with a bodice patterned with white lace. The neckline is off the shoulders and slightly V-shaped, and is trimmed with a line of sparkling blue ribbon. The sleeves are three-quarter, and their edges are trimmed with more sparkling blue ribbon. There are long ruffles attached to the edges of the sleeves, and they are colored in a gradient from dark blue to light blue, nearly white, at the edges. They are decorated with a light water pattern. The bodice extends over the top of the skirt and is gathered at one hip, decorated with a bright coral-colored bow. From the bow, four rows of ruffles fall towards the base of the skirt like a waterfall. Each one is colored from dark blue to light blue at the edge, and each one is decorated with a light water pattern. The skirt is royal blue, deeply pleated, and patterned with sequins, so that at the top of each pleat they catch the light and sparkle vividly. The skirt is long, and falls to the floor.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

When I selected this gown and started working on it, the purple sparkly dress was ahead in the poll, so I thought, sure, I can take a hint. This week is now Sparkle Week, because I’d like to practice making things sparkle. I really like how the skirt turned out on this one, but hey, there’s always room for improvement. It is all a matter of getting the brushes right… I have a lot of sparkly brushes to play with thanks to Obsidian Dawn, and the lace pattern is also one of theirs.

Let’s have a new contest!
Milo has received so many beautiful, handmade blankets from family members and friends that I probably could have started a baby blanket shop. Recently, though, one of them has become the favorite blankie. He likes to have it in his crib with him at night, and he wraps it around his shoulders and walks around with it like he’s the emperor of the house. (Which he is, but…) It has three colors in it. What are those three colors? The winner gets to tell me how to color this week’s gown!
Hint: I’m not being picky about color names. It’s not like you have to say royal blue, crimson and lemon yellow (for example), I just want the basic color names here.
One entry per new post per day, please. Update: Sarah guessed. I thought that would take longer than it did! It’s white, blue and green.

Also, I’ve set up a Facebook fan page and a separate Twitter account. I’ll use both of these for announcing new posts, but also I’ll try to put up some new content, like special recolored dresses and contests, and I’ll also post some links to paperdoll and fashion related things I like. So please like my page or follow me, depending on your choice of social media!

1930s Gown In Hot Pink with Gold Flower Pattern

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A 1930's style evening gown. It is sleeveless, and has a deep V neck with ruching at the shoulders and chest. It has a peplum around the hips and a long, fitted skirt that flares out slightly at the ankles. The entire gown is a vibrant, dramatic hot pink. There are thin gold lines around the neckline and the hem of the peplum, and the skirt is patterned with large abstract flowers rendered in thin gold lines.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

You may be sick of seeing this dress by now, but this has been a fabulous week for me! I’ve learned so much about coloring with Photoshop. I’ve also learned how dangerous it might be. If I’m using colored pencils, once I select colors, patterns and decorations and start working I’m pretty locked into whatever my vision might be. With Photoshop, I can spend more hours than are healthy for me changing the same dress over and over. (The top of yesterday’s dress spent time as black sequins, silver sequins, light blue and finally the white you see.) I also need to start designing my own brushes and patterns… I have several of them but I’m just getting that DIY feeling, you know? In any case, I think this whole digital coloring thing is going to be plenty of fun for me. Hopefully you all are enjoying it too. Next week will be another dress. I don’t know if I’ll keep up the once-a-day thing: I think that long-term I’ll go for a Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule. But while I’m just playing around with old dresses, I’ll try to do a new one each day.

Today’s dress is for Dannyscotland, who guessed that Milo’s favorite food is yogurt. At least, in my opinion it is! He can’t really tell me, but he chomps it up most enthusiastically each morning. She wrote:

I would love to see some kind of classy looking pinkish shade. I know, some people hate pink. I love it. But it could be like a fuschia-bright shade, it doesn’t have to be a super-baby-girly pink. Ohhh with a little gold or silver trim, that would be gorgeous.

So here you have it! I really like how it turned out. The brush I used for the trim on the skirt is from a set by Jen at Pixels & Ice Cream.

I just can’t resist my polls…

poll by twiigs.com

1930s Gown with Blue Starry Sky Skirt and White Satin Bodice with Peplum and Sapphire Pearl Brooch

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A 1930's style evening gown. It is sleeveless, and has a deep V neck with ruching at the shoulders and chest. It has a peplum around the hips and a long, fitted skirt that flares out slightly at the ankles. The bodice and peplum are a delicate, shiny white silk, and there is a sapphire cabochon ringed with pearls at the neckline. The skirt is a dark purple-blue near the waist, gradually turning into lighter and lighter shades of blue towards the hem. It is overlaid with a field of gently shining stars.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

Another version of the 1930s gown. With this one I wanted to play with gradients, and I also changed the shading on the skirt, because I thought that the previous version looked pretty flat. The star brush is by Obsidian Dawn.

No one has guessed Milo’s favorite food yet… I’ll give you a hint, it’s white when I buy it and pink when I feed it to him. Winner gets to tell me how to color this gown, one entry per person on every new post. (So if you’ve guessed on a previous post you can guess again today, but if you haven’t guessed on a previous post you can’t go back to them and guess more than once.) Edit: Dannyscotland got it right! It’s yogurt. At least I think that’s his favorite. Dannyscotland, please post how you’d like me to color this dress!

I am making various changes to the site, so have patience with me if, say, you should see it looking totally goofy because a new theme has placed all my sidebar menu items at the top of the page instead. One change I like is the ability to navigate by dress. It’s a work in progress, though. You can also now see all the dolls at one. (All four of them, sure, two of which are retired, but still it’s something.) Also, I’ve started a Twitter feed that’s just for paperdoll related things, primarily updates to my page but I might write other things there as well. It’s @lianapaperdolls. If you use Twitter, please follow me!