On my travels this week I have had a lot of positive feedback about the Drag Doll, so I thought you might like to see some of the pages from my workbook. I did a fair bit on separate pages and then stitched them into my notebook which worked well. I usually use a portrait orientation notebook/sketchbook and I don’t much like this landscape one, but it was lying about unused so I thought I would give it a go.
Anyway, it is mainly about tailoring.
These are my sketches largely based on ideas around Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking. They tend to show that his sketches are rather better than mine! There are also some samples of the fabric used to make the doll:
And on the left here is a rather intriguing photo clipped from the Financial Times. I like it because the man in it looks so ill at ease – a very odd shot to choose to try to sell expensive suits. He seems to have all the cares of the world on his shoulders:
I’ve been reading quite a lot of science fiction/horror stuff on dolls and automata, and his face evokes this kind of haunted expression that the stories deal in:
In the top left hand side of the photograph is a metal panel which is a bit obscured by my own text, (which also conceals a lace pocket containing the toile for the doll’s suit), which seems to have a face contorted and staring out of it. I can’t help but think of Dorian Gray and trapped souls like you get in MR James and Richard Matheson. I think it might be time for a holiday!
Annjrippin's Blog 
Sketchbooks are really personal things, aren’t they, Ann. Have to admit I favour an 8″ square one. It was probably the size I was first told to use at College, and have stuck with it ever since – except for a 16 x 8 which is interesting to work in as a change, and an A6 that fits into my handbag. 🙂
That’s interesting. They are personal. I have never really liked using square ones for some reason, and I have to have them comb-bound so that they lie flat. And, of course, if they are too beautiful I can’t bear to use them at all!