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

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

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!

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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!

poll by twiigs.com

Blue Halter Dress with Yellow and Pink Flower Pattern

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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.

poll by twiigs.com

Colored Masquerade Dress in Cool Colors

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

So this gown, the neglected black-and-white cousin of my beloved cursed sister series, may have turned out a little crazy, but all the same I like it rather better now. Amelia won my last contest by guessing that I learned my gold technique from observing one of the Spice Girls’ dresses (yes, really — there were extenuating circumstances). She got to pick how I colored it, and wrote: “I feel it ought to be mermaid themed really, on the other hand I’d love to see a peacock themed dress but this one’s too flowery…
How about you fish out the aquamarine and do a toned down peacock colours dress with deep green accents like african-violet leaves?”

I think I kind of failed on the “toned down” part of the requirement… Well, but it was fun for me anyways, and hopefully you like it somewhat, Amelia! I’m sorry you had to wait so long, though…

Time for a new contest. Guess the answer to this question, and pick your favorite of ANY of my black and white outfits and tell me how you want it colored, and I’ll do my best to follow your orders. (I think that’s more interesting than forcing the winner to stick to the last one I drew, don’t you?) New rules:
1) It’s a new year, so even if you’ve already won one, feel free to guess again. (This includes you, Amelia, because technically you won last year… ^^;;)
2) One guess per person per post. (So if no one gets it today, try again tomorrow!)
3) If no one gets the exact number by noon EST, May 25th, I’ll pick the closest guess.

Question: How many Prismacolor pencils do I own as of today, May 18th?
This includes the ones that I use, all the stubby little pencils that are too short for my current sharpener but I just can’t toss, all the ones I have in reserve and my set of Verithin pencils I hardly ever use.

Keep in mind my local scrapbooking store went out of business recently, and I hit first the 50% off sale, then the 75% off sale, to stock up on Prismacolors. So that “reserve” number is a little high. That’s the only clue you get, though!