Now that I had some time on my hands its time to return to an old past time. Photoshop space art. No Plugins used. Just an old version of photoshop. I finally figured out planets.

not bad, considering the lack of plugins


But would the planets really be so close together?

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

Looks nice, but maybe you should blur the edges of the planets just a bit. They look kind of cut out.

They don't really look like planets bro.

With or without plugins, those planets are lacking any form of detail.

Im still experimenting with differant stuff. My next goal is to do up a volcanic one. Should have detail.

Here we go. Still learning this though.

I'm sorry man, but that's not really resembling a vulcanic planet. Once again, detail is key.

some of us spend our creative time doing other things that dont include making planets 24/7, gothx.

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

Like I said still figuring this stuff out. I tried getting some glowing lava on the night side. Diden't work

there's a long vertical line in the 'mist' near the left border. You might want to either fix that or crop it out.

The first picture looks more like an underwater shot, than a space shot. Maybe brighten the stars somewhat, or blur less?

I'd have to agree with GothicX. Your main focus now should be making planets with more detail.

I attempted some detail by doing an earth like world. But it's rather cartoony. I still don't know how to make it look totally photo realistic.

That last one looks really nice (almost like watercolor)

Your detail is starting to get there, so thats really cool.

My only suggestion is to remove the text. It completely changes the focus of the peice and takes away from it I think.

I'll disagree with MBeggar.

It looks like you painted the texture for the planet. You're using Photoshop, and the 'photo' part isn't in it for nothing. Unless you get yourself a graphics tyablet, you're probably best of using images from various stock site as resources to create your textures from.

Looks like you're off to a good start.

Where could I find these stock sites. And uh... yeah your right. I made layers. One for the planet itself, one for the ocean, one for the land, and one for the atmosphere. Several layers for the clouds aswell.

For the Land I used emboss then recolered it.

For the ocean I used ocean ripple.

For the clouds I used Transparentcy and Emboss.

I actually like the style, but it depends what you mean to get to. If you want to get to photorealism, then ya, hand painting is definatly not gonna get you there, and you are better off following Goth's suggestions.

On the other hand, if you are trying to create some nice cg paint-like art, then you are well on the right track. The one thing I can seriously suggest is some sharper features.

Otherwise, as I said, I really like this. The latest one is getting there.

Stock sites? Just google for some.

And try not to use filters. All you need for planets is the Spherize filter, unless you want to use clouds to define oceans via a mask.

A rasterized outer glow makes for a nice atmospere as well.
If the version you are using has it.