glitter

Sparkly, Twirly Rainbow Dress

Larger size
Black & white
PDF to print
Get dolls
5 comments
Share

A silvery white spaghetti strap top with sequins all over it over a ankle-length full skirt. The skirt is swirling around, making the hem rise several inches above the ground. The skirt is done in bright rainbow colors and has a swirl and leaf pattern as well as a slight sparkle. This dress just makes me smile, and I hope it does the same for you! I wanted to experiment with the way of doing sparkles that I came up with for last week’s dress. My intention was to put the sparkles on the skirt, but then I came up with the idea of making that part rainbow and doing a lot of sparkles on top of that seemed a bit much. So I only put a few sparkles on top of it, because when it comes to paperdolls that’s my idea of moderation.

Next week… well, I don’t know! I’ve promised doll #4 three weeks in a row now, I may as well make it a fourth. For now, you can download combined color and black and white PDFs of all of my 2014 dolls and outfits for free! Also follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest for sneak previews, funny Photoshop error screenshots and fashion plates. If you enjoy my work, I'd also appreciate your support through Patreon.

The Mythic Ball, Part 2: Kraken’s Purple and Silver Gown with Tentacles

Larger size
Black & white
PDF to print
Get dolls
10 comments
Share

An off-the-shoulder dress with fin-like webbing on the upper arms, a corset top, a tight, sparkly silver skirt edged with more fin-like webbing and several tentacles coming from the skirt and spilling over the floor. The corset is patterned with an abstract tentacle pattern and is a deep purple. It's made of shiny fabric which is nearly pink where the light hits it, and the top of the corset is covered in sparkly silver glitter. The fin-like webbing is done in garish shades of yellow, orange and magenta. The skirt is gathered at the back and drapes over the front from the waist to the knees in graceful folds, and the entire skirt is covered in silver sequins that glitter as they catch the light. The silhouette suggests a late 1800s gown, although the colors, glitter and tentacles don't. There are about ten tentacles, shiny and colored in shades of purple, with large suckers on them. They fall towards the ground, where they spill out and curl around on the floor. There's also a shiny silver mask to go with the outfit.

Kraken had been a favorite in the Victorian era, then airplanes came along, things went poorly for her and she had slunk around the edges of the party for some time. But these days, she’s trendy again. Downright hip, in a way that ever-popular Dragon can’t be: a t-shirt screenprinted with a dragon runs the risk of being cliché and laughable, but Kraken-themed accessories have creepy steampunk style. She suggests mystery, complexity, and a hint of the taboo (as the Great Old Ones are pointedly not invited to the festivities).

Her habit of arriving at the ball with a gleeful cry of “Release the Kraken!” is getting a little old, but no one’s had the nerve to suggest a more subtle entrance to her; Kraken simply doesn’t do subtle, as her flashy dress might suggest. Plus, she has a theatrical streak a mile wide: when Vampire gave her a disdainful look and told her that her ensemble was “very Ursula” Kraken just grinned and started belting out “Poor Unfortunate Souls” right there. Can there be anything better, Kraken thought to herself, than showing off a popular sea-monster themed show tune and mortifying Vampire in the same night? She can think of a few things, but it’s enough of a triumph for this particular quarter of an hour.

Help me out — I have plans to introduce three more guests this month, and I know who two of them are but I’m not sold on the third…

poll by twiigs.com

Who comes next? I’ll give you a hint: if you recognize next week’s archetype you can congratulate yourself for being hip to Internet pop culture. In the meantime, don’t forget that you can now download combined color and black and white PDFs of all of my 2014 dolls and outfits for free! Also follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest for sneak previews, paperdoll thoughts and drawing tutorials I think might be useful. If you enjoy my work, I’d also appreciate your support through Patreon.

1930s Evening Gown in Sparkly Purple

3 comments
Share

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. It is a warm, dark purple and is covered with sequins, making it sparkle brilliantly all over.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

After several hours of dinking around with brushes and layer styles, I finally have a method of doing sparkles like this. I suspect you’ll see many more sparkly outfits in the future, because I’d really like to get it right. It’s one thing I couldn’t do as well with colored pencils: this sparkly dress came out really well, but I still remember the hand pain. The brushes I used to create the sparkly effect came from Obsidian Dawn.

Don’t forget I’ve got a contest going on!
What is Milo’s favorite food?
The first person to answer correctly gets to tell me how I should color this 1930s black and white gown. (I’m going to color other ones eventually, but for now I want to practice on this one.) One entry only please, and you can enter even if you’ve won a contest before. No one got it last time, so if you guessed yesterday, you can guess again today. (Well, technically only one person even guessed… I really have been away for too long!)

I’m going to try to do a new recoloring every day this week, so let’s have a poll to help me decide what to try next…

poll by twiigs.com

Halloween Masquerade Costume Series #3: The Cursed Sisters, Part 2

20 comments
Share

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

Linnetta, having refused several offers to dance, was catching up on society gossip. A young man–unfamiliar and handsome–approached. His exquisite demon costume, if cliche in concept, was marvelous in execution. Linnetta looked into his mesmerizing, dark eyes. He was grand, effortlessly aristocratic, putting everyone who had asked her for a dance to shame. She accepted his offer without even considering any of her stock phrases of polite refusal.

Unsurprisingly, he was a marvelous dancer; but Linnetta was quite out of practice, and her feet hurt, and she felt grateful when the first song ended. But the man’s grasp stayed tight around her waist, and when she looked at him with alarm, he only shook his head and said, “I insist. After all, you have been isolated for so long…”

There was a rush of whispering behind them, and the pair turned to see a new arrival to the ball: a woman who wore a spangled gown too dark for the occasion, quite out of place with the bright colors of the masquerade. She did not speak, but prowled the edges of the dance
floor. Linnetta’s partner followed her gaze.

“I don’t believe I’ve met her,” he asked. “Have you?”

“I’m afraid not,” Linnetta answered. He made no further conversation, and she put the sparkling dress out of her mind and returned her concentration to her aching feet.

—————————

No one’s guessed the singer/group I learned to draw gold from yet… At this point the idea of not having to color that black and white gown seems like mercy, because, ow, my hand. Put up a new poll for next week – put in a couple new suggestions, dropped the bottom three from last week.

poll by twiigs.com