Lavender and Blue Medieval Gown with Blue Roses

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Sorry for the extended silence! (That goes for my neglected drawing circle, too. I hope you all haven’t abandoned it yet.) There are times when nothing I touch seems to go right, and the very idea of sitting down to try to draw something seems ridiculous. But hopefully I’ve stopped the cycle before it turns into weeks of inactivity.

Janani won my last contest, and wrote:

How about the black and white medieval gown with flower garlands? I’m not sure how this will look, but maybe pale blue, kind of translucent sleeves, a light, maybe lavender skirt, with a slightly darker blouse, and maybe darker blue flowers?

I hope you like this rendition of it, Janani! By the way, Janani and her friend started their own paper doll blog, Silent Moonstone, so check it out!


Hallowen ’10 Day 4: White Ballerina Outfit with Pink Roses

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Olly-olly-oxen-free! You can come out now, I’m not going to be creepy today. I need a dose of pretty after drawing the Twisted Queen’s gown, especially the little red tendril bits. (My husband still can’t quite look at that one — and he’s the one who kills the spiders and watches the scary movies in our household. He asked me while I was drawing this one, “What are you going to do to it today? Make snakes come out of it?” No — just roses. And they don’t even have thorns, much less poisoned ones. No worries.)

Now, mind you, my foray into ballet was long ago and of extremely short duration (I think I made it through one class?) and in any case, in my costumes I don’t strive for accuracy (I actually have a “no research” rule for Octobers, although I keep breaking it), so please forgive me if, as I suspect, the shoes and so on are all wrong.

A commenter asked recently for me to redraw the Good Queen’s blue and white gown without all of that pesky blood. That is a particularly good dress, I think, and I know it’s one of my mom’s favorites so perhaps I really should, but I don’t like redoing old things somehow. I’m certainly not averse to revisiting the Good Queen, though; given the choice I’d rather draw her a new outfit, but I could make an exception to the no-wallowing-in-the-past rule just this once. If I did, should I keep the colors as they are or draw the dress in the colors it was when she was alive? (For it wasn’t blue and white originally: the colors represent her ghostly nature.)

Prismacolors used: French Grey 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, Blush Pink, Tuscan Red, Dark Umber, Olive Green, Pale Sage, colorless blender, Verithin Tuscan Red and Olive Green.


Medieval Gown colored in Yellow and Red

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The last time I got my mitts on this poor dress, I really made a hash of it, so, time to try again. I like it better when someone tells me what colors to use, though — it feels like a surprise I can enjoy, too. Sadly, I can’t ask Brian, or you would be seeing a muted turquoise/salmon pink medieval ensemble.

I’m curious about you all, and I don’t believe I’ve done this poll before. Mom and I call my readers “the paperdoll girls,” and I wonder if it’s about right. (Certainly I do have a couple of male readers — a minority to be sure, but I do!)


Black and Blue Medieval Gown with Purple Roses and Silver Underskirt

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I’m sorry I haven’t been drawing lately: I’ve really been in a slump. I’m fine, just busy and anxious: we’re moving from Michigan to Washington State on the 27th. I’m really happy about it, but it’s just really all starting to hit me.

As you see, you do not really miss all that much when I am in a slump, because if my heart’s just not into it, whatever I produce looks lousy. Certainly my intention for this dress was not “Evil Queen’s May Day.” How’d it get to look so gloomy? I could understand it if I had been listening to gloomy music while I was drawing (the kind of music Brian calls “high-school-is-hard-music”) but I wasn’t, I promise…

I can’t really say when I’ll be drawing again. If the desire isn’t there, the results are worthless, as you see. (And you’re not even seeing my first stab at coloring tonight, the 30s black and white dress done in pink — it was hideous.) The desire kind of comes and goes, somehow. I expect that once we’re in Washington State, I’ll be more cheerful, and there’s no need to worry about me because I’m perfectly fine and very lucky to be moving, I’m just being a little temperamental, I guess ^^;; Please forgive me, I’ll be back, and I haven’t forgotten about the other contest winners — I especially don’t want to do a bad job on those, so it’s really better to wait a little while for them!