Strapless Fire Gown in Orange and Red

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So some days I’m happy to draw, and I can slave over little picky details for hours and not get bored. Some days I’m not that into it, but after a half hour nothing can make me stop. Then some days I just want to color, and not in a reasonable kind of way but just in a wild way. That’s what led to this dress. I’m kind of so-so about it, but my husband really thought it was pretty. He also said “It’s the kind of dress where, if you took it to a dressmaker and asked to have it made, you’d get punched in the face. But it works as a fantasy dress.” And so I posted it. Paperdoll fans, you don’t know what kind of debt you owe to my husband, because a lot of things I’d draw I’d probably never post if he didn’t look and say “Oh, it’s cute!” I’m very critical of myself, so if he thinks it’s OK, probably it’s OK…

No one has guessed my favorite color of Prismacolor… I’ll give just one hint, it is NOT my favorite color. (You can guess what my favorite color is just by taking a good hard look at this page… *cough*green*cough*)


1885 Black and White Ballgown for Coloring, plus Purple and Green Princess Gown

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I know, I know, AWOL again. I do really well when I get on a roll, and then I get off that roll and start rolling on something else. Yeah, I know… sad, huh.

Well, anyways! This gown is vaguely based on a couple of images of 1885 evening gowns that I have. I really like late 1800s evening gowns, although I’m really a big fan of the gowns of the 1800s in general… Although I don’t think the skirt is draped quite right I do think it turned out cute, and it sure is fussy, so here I put it up for hours of coloring fun, possibly even days if you really bother with every little rose and bit of lace. I really like coloring, and I will admit it is easier sometimes if I already have the outline done like with these – I don’t know how some of my kindred paperdoll blogging spirits can always work in black and white. I just sit here and pile up whatever Prismacolors I’m using, and I always sing to myself if I’m home alone, too.

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

As for this gown, Melanie Ann who won my guess-the-number-of-colored-pencils contest wanted me to color it in purple and green, so here we have, well, lots of purple and green! (With a little gold, because I just had to have a highlight color…) I hope you like it, Melanie Ann. However, I will say, I don’t think one piece of fabric can actually drape like that skirt does, so please overlook all paperdoll-related warping of reality.

I had fun coloring to someone’s specifications, so I wanted to do another contest. Here it is: Out of all my Prismacolors, which one is my favorite color?

As I have more than 100 different colors, this one might take a while… Here is a list of available colors.. Post your answer in the comments – guessing will be closed at 7:30 AM EST on Monday the 28th, unless no one guesses. Winner gets to tell me how to color that 1885 gown up there :)


Black and White Princess Gown for Coloring

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The black-and-white dresses started as something I could do without running into scanner problems, but it turns out they’re fun and take about a fourth of the time as a regular outfit. So expect to see them more often! Again, if you color one I’d love to see it, so post a link in the comments!

So I ordered a new batch of colored pencils. Guess how many I ordered? Post your answer in the comments. I’ll close the guessing when I post Wednesday’s outfit (7:30 AM EST), and I’ll color this gown as the winner likes, as a little prize.


White Dress with Blue Tunic and Forget-Me-Nots for September

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Finally, another birthday dress! I want to fill in the months I never got around to this year as well, but for now I will start at the current date. September’s birth flower (one of them, at least) is the forget-me-not, and its birth stone (again, one of them) is sapphire, making it easy to pick the dress’ predominant color. Adding the necklace on top of it all was kind of gilding the lily, but oh well.

It is only September 4th, but I’m starting to think about October. Last year I did a month of Halloween costumes, and I had so much fun I’m thinking of doing another theme month. I could do another month of random costumes like I did last year, or I could do something more narrowly focused. For example, Brian suggested a month of famous witch costumes – the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch, Willow, the Grand High Witch, Minerva McGonagall and so on. If anyone else has any other ideas, leave a comment! I’ve got all month to think about it.