Make a Wallpaper Fantasy Space Landscape (Part-1)

In this Photoshop tutorial we will discuss how to draw a space scene with various objects that decorate the sky, such as planets, twinkling stars, amorphous space clouds, sunlight and others. How to create a surface texture of the planet, create 3D effects to form a ball, drawing stars, and sun glint effects you’ll find it all here. Because the steps is long enough,I’ll divide this tutorial into two parts, and in the first part we will draw the basic shapes the planet and then continued to give the effect of outer space scene in part two.

Final Image Preview

Maybe some people think to create a space that contains images of planets and other celestial bodies need the latest 3D applications or may require super-sophisticated cameras that can photograph distant view of the sky. But in fact it can be produced by using the effects found in Photoshop. Before we begin this long tutorial first refer to the picture that we will make, so they can add spirit to follow this tutorial to the end.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document that is 1200 pixels by 1200 pixels at a resolution of 300 dpi. Go to Filter > Render > Clouds and then do the duplication of the document with Image > Duplicate. Save it out for a different use later on. We named our duplicated file ‘clouds.psd’.

Step 2

On the original file, go to Filter > Render > Difference Clouds.

Step 3

Press Ctrl + L to bring up the level settings. Slide the white input handle to the left about 150 and the black output handle to the right about 115.

Step 4

Create a new layer and change its blending mode to Overlay. Select the Radial Gradient Tool with a gradient from the foreground to transparent. Use black paint to add dark region, then switch to white and create lighter regions.

Step 5

Create a gradient map as shown in the following figure. We created a custom gradient to be dark in the center, but have an outer ring of white to add pockmarks.

add a new layer with the name ‘circle’, then use the gradient that we just made to create several circles of various sizes.

Step 6

Blend the circles color into the terrain with Filter > Render > Difference Clouds.

Step 7

In the first step we have made clouds.psd file, remember where you save it because now we will use it. we will use to distort the circles to make it look more realistic, click Render > Distort > Displace, keep the default settings of 10 and select the ‘clouds.psd’ file you created in step 1.

Step 8

Here’s where this weird-looking mess turns into something that resembles a planet surface. Select all the layers and merge them together by pressing Ctrl+E. Rename the merged layer ‘land’. Now select Filter > Stylize > Emboss, set the Angle to 135, Height to 4 and Amount to 248%. Hit OK and you should end up with a crater-covered planet texture like you see here.

Step 9

The texture of the land was okay, but as we know, the earth is not only land but also there is the ocean. So to make it look more planety, we add a new layer with the name ‘sea’.

Set your foreground color to #8b8b8b and background to #545454. Run the filter again, Filter > Artistic > Paint Daubs. Use the Brush Size of 50, Sharpness of 7, and a Brush Type of Wide Blurry. After applying the filter, scale the layer up by 150% and move it around to select the most interesting area.

Step 10

One more filter, Filter > Sketch > Chrome and change the value of Detail to 4 and Smoothness to 7.

Step 11

The effect is a little too strong, so we must reduce it by Edit > Fade > Chrome and change the Opacity to 70%.

Step 12

Seawater surface effects have been nice, but odd if the color of sea water is gray, so must we change the color.

Add New Adjustment Layer by clicking Layer > Adjustment Layer > Hue / Saturation, this layer we use to change the color of the surface texture of our water, To display the blue color, fill in Hue 200, Saturation 25, Lightness -29 and another one, put a check on existing Colorize below.

Step 13

Move the ‘land’ layer to the top, add a layer mask and reset your colors to black and white. Make sure your mask is the active element, not the layer, and run the Clouds Filter again.

Step 14

Next, go to Filter > Artistic > Fresco with Brush Size set to 2, Brush Detail at 8 and Texture at 1.

Step 15

While still on the mask, hit Ctrl + L to bring up the levels control. Now pull the outside handles towards the center until the coast line looks fairly well defined.

Step 16

Unlink the mask from the layer by clicking on the chain link between them. Now scale the mask up by about 300%. Move it around until you find continent shapes you’re happy with. If you want, touch up the mask with brushwork. White paint reveals more terrain, black will hide it.

Step 17

The terrain needs some color besides dull-moon grey. Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and clip it to the ‘land’ layer by holding down the Alt key and clicking between the layer thumbnail. Open the Hue/Saturation control and check the Colorize box. Set the Hue of 22, Saturation 0f 27 and Lightness of -40.

Step 18

Save your file, then go to Layer > Flatten Image. To make the planet a round, select Filter > Distort > Spherize and use Amount 100%.

Step 19

Extracts which had the effect of the ball using the Elliptical Marquee Tool.

To be continued, don’t forget to subscribe to Grafisia RSS feed or simply share this tutorial to your friends.

See you…