Special Holiday Offer!

 Just a head up, I don't plan on being online much this week. Working on some handmade Christmas gifts, (would love to show you, but can't until I give them out-It's not a surprise if the people I'm giving them to see their gifts online first) a few other things, and of course-Thanksgiving. So until I post again, please enjoy this mild attempt at online advertising;

For Artisan Miniatures, Art Prints, Postcards, Ornaments, and Jewelry-Check out my Etsy Shop; https://www.etsy.com/shop/KyleLefort

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***Hey Holiday Shoppers!***

From now until December 4th, 2013, Take $1.00 off of your order! At checkout, Just enter coupon code,

HOLIDAYSHOPPER2013

And along with this offer, while supplies last;

Purchase any Digital Art print or postcard from my Etsy shop, and receive a postcard, as a free Thank You gift with your order.

OR

Purchase any miniature, jewelry piece, or ornament from my Etsy shop, and receive a small free mystery Thank You gift with your order. -Possible mystery gifts may include; a postcard, small crafting supplies, and miniatures, (items may be store bought or my own handmade creations not currently listed on Etsy)

(Offer expires on 12/4. Limit 1 per household, Thank you)

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For Artisan Miniatures, Art Prints, Postcards, Ornaments, and Jewelry-Check out my Etsy Shop; https://www.etsy.com/shop/KyleLefort

The Curious Concepts Project: "A Skydiver" - Painted and Ready For Proofing

For the first time in, oh, about two months, I wasn't up to my eyeballs in commissions, meetings, shows, or any other work that could take priority over this project. Don't get me wrong, I need all that art/design work to keep coming in, but I really, really wanted to keep going with this project. So the break was nice.

After working on A Skydiver for several hours I noticed that I was zoomed in 400% and painting in tiny details, which is a pretty good sign that I'm reaching the end of a digital painting. Yes, I still kept working on it, and I have a good feeling that I'm going to need to make some minor changes before I send this piece out to the printer, but for now, we're calling this one finished;

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So, what has changed since the last update? Well...

First, I decided that something wasn't quite with the composition, and after sleeping on it, I figured out that there was just too much extra background space. Didn't need to be there, made it tougher to finish the composition, and after double checking the printer's size requirements I found out that my diensions were off by a half inch. I work in layers, so it was an easy fix. Added a temporary layer showing the new size and then re-sized/slide everything into its new space.

So that I didn't end up cropping out possibly still needed background painting, I created another temporary layer (the black section), so that I could see the final composition without being distracted by the extra pieces. Still sliding things around in this screenshot.

Still sliding things around here too.

This is the last round of shading on the individual skydivers. Now that the sun isn't being moved around anymore I could focus on creating a more realistic lighting effect. Had a slight problem with the black section, it was tough to gauge how dark to go with the shading with it there, so I changed it to what I like to call, "Photoshop Gray". It shows up here, but in Photoshop it looks just like the stage area of the program.

Bubbles!

Finished up the shading on the skydivers, painted in the rest of the ground, added scales to the fish, did some more work on the whale, and finally painted in the lines attaching the skydivers to their parachutes.

Cropped off the extra space, and there we have it, 

A Skydiver.

Now that it's done I will be printing it with my basic home printer so that I can proof the colors, fix any rough spots that show up in print, and adjust anything that might still need it. Then off to the professional print service it goes.

1 illustration down, 4 left to go. ^_^

The 2013 Mini Gingerbread House Series

Here they are, ~*~ The 2013 Mini Gingerbread House Series. ~*~ , by Kyle Lefort

(If you're new, I'm Kyle- hi)

The "Big" difference from the last two years-these are quarter scale.

Here, check out the size difference from last year;

One inch vs. Quarter inch. Neat, isn't it?

So why the dramatic scale change? Well, I sort of made an unofficial promise to some local people that I would give quarter scale a real try this year. And try I sure did. Consider this the official opening of the Quarter Inch Scale Minis section of my Etsy shop. Not sure if I'll have time to make anymore quarter scale anything for a while, but it's a start. ^_^