Romulus and Remus, This isn't really just for a single work... Options

[Parasky]

So here is my most recent work, Romulus and Remus:



The planets are fine, and the lighting is, well, adequate. But neither of those are my main concern for this and the vast majority of all my works. You see, what I need help with is backgrounds. There's not much going on in the background (there are stars there, I promise), and that's one of the greatest drawbacks of my work. Sure, the planets are pretty **** good, but what's the point if that's the only redeeming quality of the work? Not only that, but if I don't have anything in the background like a star or nebulae, how can I figure out more realistic lighting for my planets? I recall once stumbling upon a tutorial for making fractals into nebulae that I was going to try, and I thought I bookmarked it, but I can't find the bookmark so I've lost that tutorial.

Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations for making backgrounds? I would greatly appreciate being directed to tutorials especially; it seems whenever I go look for tutorials myself I end up with a tutorial for something totally unrelated to what I want, a site with a list of tutorials (none of which help), or a simple beginner's tutorial for something that is in no way advanced enough for what I want to do. Also, some advice on the planets is also welcome, but don't bother with the lighting (if you can help it ), I know it's terrible.

[Smiling Demon]

planets aren't bad, could use some stronger shadows tho. Otherwise I'll leave it to the space artists to help you on the rest

[Saran09]

planets aren't bad, could use some stronger shadows tho. Otherwise I'll leave it to the space artists to help you on the rest

yep definately...i think the shadows will create a good contrast to define certain shapes better

[Blue Phoenix]

Space scenes usually required nebulae. Some nice gradients are looking sweet, too, but in case you want to elaborate your BG a little more, you'll need a neb.

Those are mainly a matter of practice. Dishing out something like that from the first try on is basically impossible. So, in case you want to draw something like that, I can only recommend studying some tutorials. For example, here are some pretty great guides for the creation process:
- http://alyn.deviantart.com/art/Nebulae-in-Space-Art-17222130
- http://nisht.deviantart.com/art/nebula-tut...nisht-103850406
- http://synax444.deviantart.com/art/Apophys...torial-83565284
- http://coldflame1987.deviantart.com/art/Pa...Nebula-19068039
- http://ladyrapid.deviantart.com/art/Nebula...torial-87482520
In the end, you'll have to develop your own technique, but I'm pretty sure that this will help you a lot for your initial tries

[Parasky]

All excellent, thank you so much for the help. And I don't expect to get nebulae on the first try; it took me almost three years to master making those planets, and I'm still working out the few remaining kinks with them (lighting and shadow). I've also been looking for good tutorials on making suns; I have a pretty good technique already, but I can't make the corona at all, so it ends up looking awkward.

And thanks again for the feedback/help guys, I appreciate it.

[J Buchanan]

Yeah You will definitely need nebula's and darker lighting. There are a lot of tutorials on how to paint/fabricate a nebula on deviantart.

[kacktustoo]

Yeah i personally think there very good, however i've noticed that a planet like Romulus etc is very similar to earth, i'd probably recommened stronger clouds, and for the earth (ground) itself to be slightly more blended together (smoother edges) and the colours to be a little duller since your viewing it from such a far distance that the majority of the surfice is probably going to be conceled by clouds and the reflection of light from the stars/ nebula etc on them, and yeah i agree with the others you need to choose an area (preferably the left) to be consideably darker since no light can reach unless of course it has more than one 1 star (:

[tsarye]

Here's two tips on the planets (I know you said you needed help on the background instead):

First, create a shadow layer for the clouds and put it under the cloud layer. This can be done by making a copy of the clouds, inverting it and setting the layer on multiply (hides the whites/grays). you may need to work with the Brightness/Contrast to get it just right.

Second, create another copy of the clouds layer, place it on top of the original then go to Filters>Stylize>Emboss. Set the height between 5 and 10 and keep the strength around 100(or whatever works for you). You'll have to mess with the angle setting so that it mimics the light source of your image. Set the layer on 'soft Light' and adjust the Opacity level to your liking. This will give your clouds a bit of 3D-like highlights that will make them stand out.

I'd also take a shot at adjusting the southern landmass on the planet on the right. It looks a little too much like Africa turned on its side.

As for nebulas, Blue Phoenix's links would be the best place to start, but keep in mind not every image is best served by filling the entire space with content, sometimes open space can lend to better depicting scale.

[aRchAng3lZz]

The planets are looking ok but you need a stronger shadow on them + you need it to be from pole to pole. Check this tutorial better : http://bloknayrb.deviantart.com/gallery/#/dztjmk
Also the closer planet looks kind of flat so you might want to rework that part a little bit. And I would suggest also to make the distant planet a bit smaller for the sake of scale and depth. My only advice for the nebula creation is to COMBINE the techniques you've seen in the tutorials and practice them a lot. And I would suggest also to work some on the starfield - you really need some variety in color and sizes :)