As in any art form, there are many different ways to achieve a desired effect in space art. For example, a planet can be "created" by any number of methods. With this in mind, it is useful for beginners and pros alike to see how other artists achieve certain results. These tutorials are only intended to be guides as you work through new processes and challenges. Upon these building blocks, you must add experimentation and a great deal of practice in order to develope your own techniques and individual style. Be sure to also see our "Tips and Tricks" area for even more insight into various aspects of creating space art.
Tutorial: Creating Spacecraft Thrusters in Bryce.
Artist: Karl_Garnham1
Editor's Comments:
Create rocket engines and thrusters in the Bryce 3D software!
Local Link:
Creating Spacecraft Thrusters in Bryce
Tutorial: Creating a Starfield.
Artist: Atrasicarius
Editor's Comments:
Use the free program Gimp to create realistic starfields!
Local Link:
Creating a Starfield
Tutorial: Creating a Starfield Brush.
Artist: Regulus
Editor's Comments:
Learn how to create custom Photoshop brushes to make beautiful starfields!
Local Link:
Creating a Starfield Brush
Tool: Body Size Calculator.
Editor's Comments:
Compute the angular size of a planet or other celestial body for an image given its size and distance!
Local Link:
Body Size Calculator
Tutorial: Making Planets With 3ds Max.
Artist: Hoevelkamp (Frieso)
Editor's Comments:
Learn how to use the popular 3D Studio Max software to create realistic planets!
Local Link:
Making Planets With 3ds Max
Tutorial: Creating Gas Giants in 3ds Max.
Artist: Hoevelkamp (Frieso)
Editor's Comments:
Learn how to use the popular 3ds Max software to create realistic gas giant planets!
Local Link:
Creating Gas Giants in 3ds Max
Tutorial: How to Create Planet Rings in 3ds Max and Photoshop.
Artist: Hoevelkamp (Frieso)
Editor's Comments:
Learn how to use Autodesk 3ds Max and Photoshop to create realistic planet rings!
Local Link:
How to Create Planet Rings in 3ds Max and Photoshop
Tutorial: Map Creation for 3D Planets.
Artist: Hoevelkamp (Frieso)
Editor's Comments:
Learn how to create and use the various texture maps that build realistic 3D planets in programs such as 3ds Max!
Local Link:
Map Creation for 3D Planets
Tutorial: Going the Extra Mile With 3ds Max.
Artist: Hoevelkamp (Frieso)
Editor's Comments:
Using 3D Studio Max to add the final touches to your planets!
Local Link:
The Extra Mile
Tutorial: How to Create Concentric Planet Rings.
Artist: sp_games (Bastiaan)
Editor's Comments:
For years, the Photoshop "Twirl" filter has been used as a simple way to create planet rings, but it has its limitations. Among these is the fact that the Twirl technique produces rings that are spiral in structure and not concentric, as real-world rings are. This tutorial presents an alternative to the Twirl filter that looks much better!
Local Link:
How to Create Concentric Planet Rings
Tutorial: How to Create a Space Scene.
Artist: Frank Hettick
Editor's Comments:
This informative series of tutorials will be of interest to anyone who enjoys Space Art. Frank is known for his distinctive style and skill in the field. He has taken the time to detail some of his techniques in creating a space scene, from start to finish in this five part series. The first three sections are already finished and ready for public viewing via the links below!
External Links:
Introduction to Photo-Realism
Stars and Nebula
Planets and Moons
Landscapes and Terrain
Tutorial: How to Make a Planet.
Artist: Dinyctis
Editor's Comments:
This is a very good tutorial which walks you, step by step, through making a planet in Photoshop using just one texture. Depending on the textures you use, almost any effect can be achieved, allowing you to create unique planets for use in your space scenes!
Local Link: How to Make a Planet
Tutorial: Flaming Planetoid.
Artist: Meta474
Editor's Comments:
This tutorial covers a topic that will be useful for many artists. The information here certainly applies to meteors and other objects entering the atmosphere of a planet, but some of the techniques may also be applied to the creation of comets as well.
Local Link: Flaming Planetoid
Tutorial: Asteroid
Artist: Kamjar Fadai
Editor's Comments:
"For whatever reason, detailed Asteroids are an element often left-out of space scenes. There are many ways to put a common rock into space. This tutorial will show you one of those ways."
Local Link: Asteroid
Tutorial: Gas Giants
Artist: DreamingSky
Editor's Comments:
"This is an excellent tutorial which shares a very useful method for creating planets of the Gas Giant variety. If you've ever wanted to try your hand at painting one of these massive wonders yourself, this
is a good place to start!"
Local Link: Gas Giants
Tutorial: How to Make a Planet.
Artist: Greg Martin
Artist's Comments:
"This tutorial should step you through making a simple, yet realistic-looking planet using Adobe Photoshop 7, and ONLY Adobe Photoshop 7. We're working small here, so keep in mind that the larger you work, the harder the planet will be to create (just a bit more work as size increases)."
External Link: How to Make a Planet
Tutorial: How to Make a Realistic Star Field.
Artist: Greg Martin
Artist's Comments:
"The tutorial is designed to break the hold that Bryce and other programs boasting star field creation features have on burgeoning space artists. Throw off the shackles of poorly written (not to mention predictable) algorithmic output star fields! Create your own heavens! I assure you the result can be as good as the effort you put into the process. The tutorial is also prefaced with an pre-release excerpt from my upcoming "Capturing Heavens" article, detailing my views on star fields in the space art of today and things that are important to keep in mind. I sincerely hope it is insightful and helpful to those that take the time to read it. "
External Link: How to Make a Realistic Star Field
Tutorial: Land Planet
Artist: Robert Proctor (ucd)
Artist's Comments:
"I used Photoshop 7 for this tutorial, so im not sure how accurate it is with other versions. Also, this tutorial is sort of advanced so for those of you just starting, you may have a hard time understanding some things. Whatever you dont understand, simply look up in the help file to see if its there. If you still need help understanding some things, let me know and I'll see what I can do. I covered a large section of clouds in the tutorial since that was what most people questioned me about. I hope I did a good job of explaining it. Enjoy."
Local Link: Land Planet
Tutorial: Nebula Plus Extras
Artist: Naithin
Artist's Comments:
"This is a tutorial on how to do Nebulas, Lens Flare Stars, Gas/Dust Clouds, and also reveals a little trick I use to create some additional detail with ease. It assumes a decent knowledge of photoshop, but does go into detail, also assumes you have a digital tablet, but it is very very possible to follow along without one. It just becomes more 'fiddley' to do certain parts. You will need Photoshop 7+, as 6 and below doesn't have the linear dodge blend modes. Also, as an afternote to the tutorial, once you have completed the nebula using the methods given, go crazy with experimentation. Create new layers, using different blend modes. Multiply and Soft Light especially can create some nifty effects. I really hope this sheds some light on the topic of Space Art!"
Local Link: Nebula Plus Extras
Tutorial: Planet Habitation
Artist: Griff-Flyer
Artist's Comments:
"Some have asked how I've managed to insert human-like habitation/ordered structures on my planets so I thought it was nice to tell everyone that cared to know. This is the result, hope it's useful!"
Local Link: Planet Habitation
Tutorial: Nebula
Artist: Kamjar Fadai
Editor's Comments:
"According to the Artist, this tutorial was inspired by Greg Martin's work."
Local Link: Nebula
Tutorial: Planet Rings
Artist: Michel Merza (DKF)
Editor's Comments:
"Most novice space artists these days do not include ringed planets in their work simply because (short of painting each particle), they haven't discovered a method to do so. Michel's tutorial addresses one way to accomplish this, which should be very useful."
Local Link: Planet Rings
Tutorial: Clouds and Moons
Artist: Meta474
Artist's Comments:
"A tutorial that explains to a medium level of precision the creation of my piece "Lunar." This tutorial does not go into 100% detail, to prevent mindless completion and publishing of the product, but it does cover the techniques and methods used to create both the cloud bank and the day-sky moon crescents."
Local Link: Clouds and Moons
Tutorial: Realistic Planet
Artist: Sethren
Artist's Comments:
"In this tutorial we will try to make a near-photoreal planet in Photoshop."
Local Link: Realistic Planet
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