Paper dolls: an independent study

Fall semester of 2025 I decided to take an independent study, and I wanted to do something different than normal! When I make projects for class, I tend to end up making them with the intention of serving multiple purposes... most of the time I try to make works that could later be sellable, but it can be tricky to cater to the public all of the time. So for this study, I wanted to go back to my painting roots and to something I loved to do as a kid - make paper dolls!

I decided to work with gouache (like a happy medium between watercolors and acrylic paints) and create 4 paper dolls each inspired by different "art moments". In the end I made dolls in the style of classic atomic midcentury, European folk art, the early editorial flapper girls of the 1920's and lastly, the golden age of comics. And just to make my life more difficult (its kind of my brand if you know me 😉) I created these dolls to be jointed so at least one part of them has movement!

This doll was inspired by Scandinavian, Dutch, Hungarian, and old European folk art as a whole. I used simple shapes and little to no line art to match the style. Her shoulder, elbow, hand and legs are jointed.

Time for a favorite of mine - the golden age of comics! This is a time when superheroes flourished and there was a classic style full of bright color, dramatic lineart and dynamic poses. I looked to my own personal collection of vintage Teen Titan and Wonder Woman comics for inspiration. Also, the power ball in her hand glitters and spins for a little extra pizzaz!

Another classic - atomic midcentury! This was the first doll I worked on and figuring her out was quite difficult because she really ended up setting the tone for the rest of them.

I had initially planned to give her an umbrella that opened and closed but it ended up taking FAR more time than I expected, so in the end I cut my losses and gave her a little bird instead! Her legs move back and forth and they bend at the knee as well.

And lastly, my 20's flapper doll, and my oh my, was she an effort! I had planned to do an art nouveau doll but her hair turned out to be offensively difficult to cut out, and I was already cutting it close with finals week on the horizon (pun intended)! So I changed my aim and went with this lovely lady instead. I used a simple palette which was common for the time and gave her a vintage button for her hairpiece which spins.

And those are the four! This independent study really ended up being quite a fun challenge, it was great to get back into painting again and it really reminded me how long analog media takes... I definitely plan on doing more projects this way in the future!