Mind Vision: March 2011

When I first thought about the concept fabrication, my mind went to the idea of changing a children's book cover, or animating old family photos. However, after trying various visions, I decided to go with an idea of creating a scene in space. I found a tutorial for creating planets that was a really interesting process. After the first two planets, the third was easy in comparison. It was a fun learning experience and I am very happy with the way the project has evolved.

The view is spectacular. Oh what an amazing universe! Although this image is fabricated, many real images taken in space were used along with the planets I created.

I added the astronaut as a symbol of how far the human race has come, and the many planets and different galaxies to show how much we have yet to learn and discover. It is obviously fabricated, yet still has an element of realism. I have always loved the night sky, and have always been drawn to the stars. Seeing images of star nurseries helped inspire this universe image.

My final touches were the winnebago and energy sword. I wanted to incorporate some other interesting and unique elements in the piece. Very random, I know.

To start this project, I needed to first create my planets. I used this tutorial to walk me through the process.

I needed to pick a texture for the planet to adjust using the clone-stamp tool. I found this stock image from an artist on deviantART.com:

Here is the final texture for the blue/purple planets:

After creating the texture, I defined it as a fill pattern in photoshop so I could fill in the sphere I created. I ran into a few problems with photoshop doing what the tutorial said that it would do in regards to certain functions. I had to adjust the process so my images turned out as they did. I would like to try a different method for creating these in the future.
The atmosphere was created by using several layers and using different blending options (inner and outer glows). For the yellow planet I used a photo of Jupiter and took the surface and formatted it to be a fill pattern -- then used the same process as before.
Here are the final planets I created:

Then after I made my planets I had to find a star field to place them in. I used an image of the Coma Galaxy Cluster -- over 300 million light-years away (taken by Jim Misti). I used the clone stamp tool and eraser, along with a black brush set to a low opacity to edit and change the background. Here is the original:

And after:

Once all my planets were placed:

And then the galaxy and nebula. Below are the originals:

Once added, adjusted and transformed:

I decided to put in the astronaut, winnebago and energy sword. At first it was just the astronaut, then I tried to add the winnebago in the main image, then decided I wanted it to be more subtle. I didn't like the 'thruster' that the spaceman held, so, I changed it.

Before Images: