color color color, and a sneak peek at the next book...

Yes, I intend to color every page of my own paper doll coloring book. And, I must say that I have never had so much fun with one of my own books!

This was a design-your-own page. I got to play a bit with other lace effects. And pink hair...

This is Jan's prom page, already embellished. I love how the shading came out on the lace. I am coloring the pages mostly with Prismacolor pencils, but using ink here and there, and some marker for shading. As always- these pages are photos, not scans. They won't print out to size.

another Doctor Who coloring book page.This one is all Prismacolor Markers and gel pen.

But during the day, I am working on another paper doll coloring book, this one with fashions from 1914. Here's a sneak peek:

It will have the same format as Jan and Karen- 3 versions of each outfit page (one to embellish, one already embellished, and one in full color), with 2 dolls. All of the outfits are inspired by a spring issue of The Delineator magazine.

I think it'll be ready to release in April! Stay tuned!

Coloring Fun!!!!!!

My proof copies of Jan and Karen, A Paper Doll Coloring Book arrived, which means I can finally color in one (the first copy went on my shelf, as per my own tradition).

This is going to be such fun!

The colored pages in the book were done by printing the embellished pages on Vellum, and then coloring with Prismacolor markers, and then scanning the colored page (with a white sheet on top of the vellum, because it's translucent). So in the book, I am going to color everything with pencils (also Prismacolor). Or maybe crayons. Or pens. Whatever looks like fun (which is all of them)

I'm going to work my way from front to back, in an orderly fashion, which is something I have never done with a coloring book.

If you would care to share your colored pages with me, I'll post them here happily (kathleentaylor1952atgmaildotcom). If you are on Instagram, you can tag the pics #ktpaperdoll and #ktcoloringbook

Multiple copies!!!!

This was a *design your own prints* page- where I drew patterns on the tights and then colored them. The design pages are a lot of fun!

BTW- the full page images are photos, not scans. They won't print out to size.

What I have learned so far, about colored pencils

#1- Prismacolor rocks!
#2. Blending pencils rock!
#3. There is a very fine line between blending and smudging!
#4. Erasers rock!
#5. I have so much more to learn!

I thought you might like to see the progression of a colored pencil dragon. This fine fellow was one of the Color Our Collections pages from last week, from the Wangensteen Library.

The uncolored page. I laid down a very light coat of purple over the whole image using a Prismacolor art stick (just a quick scribble).

Basic colors quickly sketched in.

Basic colors blended with the blending pencil. No additional color added (see? I said they rock!)

Deep shadows added,.

Highlights and some green for iridescence added. White gel pen for the white highlights.

Background blended and arty shadows added. Voila!

(all in all, about an hour of work)

Heads Up, Colorers!

This week, over 50 universities and libraries worldwide are participating in a Color Our Collections event- each institution will release a coloring page every day from Feb 1-5 (and some have already released their offerings as PDF booklets to print). The pages are all from archives, pages from books, paintings and other publications in eras from Medeival- The Present.

The variety of pages is pretty astounding, and it's going to be great fun. Here's a link with all of the links.  And if you are on Twitter, here's another list.  Colorers are encouraged to share their pages on all social media sites, using the #colorourcollections. I'm posting mine on Facebook and Instagram (I stay far far away from Twitter).

I jumped the gun, and have colored several pages already from books that were available early:

From the Biodiversity Heritage  Library - they very helpfully provide coloring suggestions... heh...

From the New York Academy of Medicine coloring book.

From the Bodleian Library

There's no way I can keep up with all of the participants, but I'm going to snag as many of the pages as I can!