The terrain, signal lights and right planet are pretty neat. The light and stars are really nice too. The only thing that bugs me about this is the middle planet, I think you need to increase the opacity of the main 'body' of it (it should be shadowed almost). The same with the smaller one next to it but not so much. That's only my opinion though.

Nicely done.

thx for you're opinion. i too had that thought and did at one stage try to change it, but i think i like it this way.

No problem. Did it not look right?

somehow it didn't look like what i was looking for...

When I see art like this, I sometimes wish mankind was colonizing space already.

The edges of the mountains on the left and right seem more jagged than those in the center, while the center seems to have an unnatural sort of blur. Maybe you can use a tool like Blur or Smudge to get rid of those jagged edges a bit. Furthermore, the signals don't look very random...judging from the sparks falling off of them, they are all the same. My suggestion would be to put a little bit of variation in them, even if it's just very subtle.

I really like the way you have put the planets, the sun and the signals in it. The large planets and the thought of a reason for the signals being fired give a slight feeling of discomfort, while the sun, the sky and the tranquility of the landscape would really make one feel at ease.

I have been wondering how you create such beautiful planetary bodies in Photoshop (I myself use the GIMP ). Could you give me some pointers on that?

Once more, a very nice job.

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The landscape isn't horizontal and its not realistic AT ALL!


Seriouosly, I'm TOTALLY digging that starscape.

I just went and had another look and something jumped out at me. The margin between the terrain on the left and the sky... there's a bright line! By the look it has something to do with the blending. a little work eith the eraser should fix it right up

Diggin' it, though. Totally.

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most Poser 'artists' are just that: posers
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thx a lot for the tips and you're opinion. these cinds of comments are exactly what i need.
in my defense : I actually wanted the landscape to be a little blurry in the middle in addition to the suns glow. i think it makes the air become visible in relation to light and dark and thus give more depth to the image. but that doesn't mean i'm right, so maybe i'll work on that a little more in future.

about the signals lights: they are all the same (shame on me), but i changed a view things on every single one to try and get them to look more individual. obviously this didn't work as much as i had hoped X). it just took me so long to create the first of them that i was too lazy to go through all that five moe times... (i guess i need to learn to be more patient)

i am glad you faved this after all. thx for that aswell.

and to say something about photoshop. it's all about trying not to use some standart procedure, which never varies at all. each piece of art has to be created and treated seperately. but to get a little concret. the thing i personally had to learn about and put work into to improve is the texturing and lighning of a planet. every planet i make has to apply to different rules concerning atmosphere texture and enviroment. Don't be scared to make a planet that has 50 layers. I think i completely removed the actual big planet that i originally used just in the process of getting it right for the image as a whole.

i don't know if that helped in any way. if you have specific questions just send me a note or add me to msn and we can talk...
(please don't think i consider myself to be the guru of space art. i just tried to reflect on how i get my spaceart the way it is...).


thx again for the comment dude, cu around...

thx a lot. this too is a helpfull and pleasing comment.
i didn't notice that line, so thanks for helping me out there.

glad you like it otherwise. ^^

Wow, this is absolutely stunning. The detail on the planets is so realistic. I'm going to take your advice and try making a planet with 50 layers, see if it turns out better than what I've been trying. But I have one quick question, if you don't mind: do you use a lot of textures and try different blending modes? Or is it more complicated?

And for the sake of constructive critisism: I thought the little tree on the mountainside was a nice touch, but something about it is a little awkward. Maybe because there's no other trees, or it just seems over-large? It's kinda cool though, I like it a lot. xD

But anyway, great job. The planets, the stars, the landscape -- everything in this amounts to a beautiful piece.

Good choices made on those signal flares - although they look a bit like they were taken from an abstract art tutorial (you know, the tiwrly bits) i think you used them well. The diagonal direction works nicely.

THe only thing that puts me off is the kinda confused lighting on the planets...

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......artistic flair and style are things that must be explored, not learnt.