Space Explosion Photoshop Tutorial

Digital space art is one of the most inventive and beautiful art genres of this era. This tutorial shows you how to create your own space scene using three stock photos and Adobe Photoshop. The majority of the effects use the brush tool, layer effects and the filter gallery. You may want to set aside an hour or two before starting this tutorial because it requires quite a bit of work to accomplish. So get those creative juices flowing and let’s get started!

Download the files

Before we begin, we need some resources to use for this tutorial. Let’s also preview the image that we will have created by the end of this tutorial. You can also download the full source files.

• Download images
• Download full Photoshop source files (.zip, PSD)

* Note: Planet and moon were found on Google Images. The rock was taken from stock.exchng.

Step 1: Placement of Planets

Create a new document that is 1200 x 1600px with a black background. Then, place the image of the planet in your document and move it to where you want it located.

Because the colors of the planet are a little dull, let’s modify a little. Duplicate your planet layer by right clicking it and selecting Duplicate Layer. Set the new layer’s Blending Mode to Overlay.

Go back to your original planet layer and grab your Burn Tool. Set the brush size to 300 px and make sure the Range is Midtones and the Exposure is 50%. Burn the lower left half of the planet, making sure you follow the curve of the planet as you do so.

Place the image of the moon in the upper-right area of the planet. Like we did with the planet, duplicate the moon and set the layer to Overlay.

Step 2: Creating the Environment

Before creating an environment for our space scene, you may want to look at some resources and art work done by others to get some inspiration and knowledge. PSDTUTS has a great post with some amazing artwork done by talented artists.

Make sure all of these layers are located beneath the planet layer. You may also want to put them in a group.

Creating the Coloration

Create a new layer and fill it with White. Grab a 300 px soft brush with 75% opacity and turn Scattering on.

Erase across your layer so that there are random areas of white and gray. Then set the layer opacity to 25%.

Create a new layer. Make sure your foreground and background colors are black and white, and go to Filter > Render > Clouds to fill your document with some black and white “clouds.” Then apply Filter > Render > Difference Clouds about three or four times.

Set the blending mode to Overlay, th