How To Create A Planet In Photoshop

In this tutorial, I will be teaching you how to create a realistic looking space planet in adobe photoshop. I will be using photoshop cs4, but I am sure it will work with other versions. I will provide examples that I did in a matter of minutes. Obviously you could go more into this and add better stars etc. So lets get started.

First, create a new document. I used a size 1000 pixels by 1000 pixels at a resolution of 100 pixels/inch. Make sure your document is in color, or else you will have a black and white planet.

Select the paint bucket tool, and fill the background with black. The paint bucket tool might be located underneath your gradient tool.

Using your elliptical marquee tool, make a circular selection that will eventually be your planet. To do this select the elliptical marquee tool and then make a circular selection by holding shift while drawing the circle. Next, we are going to fill this selection with clouds. Go to Filter>Render>Clouds. If you do not like the way this looks, go to Filter>Render>Difference Clouds and continue to select difference clouds until you like the way it looks.

With your selection still selected, go to Filter>Distort>Spherize. This will add some dimension to your planet. Now go to Select>Inverse. Now that we have the inverse selected, go to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur. This will bring up an options box. Select Amount: 100, Blur Method: Zoom, Quality: Good. This creates the shine effect that the planet has and looks like it is emitting light.

Now we are going to add some color. Deselect everything. Select the gradient tool. The gradient I used was a gradient from yellow to orange. Set the mode to Color Burn, opacity 100%. Then with your planet and background on the same layer, paint the gradient. This will bring the color and make your planet come to life! We're almost done.

You've made it! We have one last finishing touch that is really important. Go to Filter>Render>Lens flare. You can choose any lens flare that you think goes nicely with your planet. I used a 50-300mm Zoom at 103% for my flare. Place it on the edge of the planet so that it gives the effect that a sun is shining behind the planet. Congratulations. You have your planet. Add any stars or anything else that you want to make it yours.