S.T.A.R.S.

The background was actually extremely easy--it just took a lot of time to get the details right. I just painted the bg a dark blue, then got out a maple leaf brush. I burned the darker parts and dodged the highlights--something I rarely do since the burn and dodge tool provide such a limited color range. Then I got a soft airbrush, 3-6 pt. in size, and dotted in the stars.

As for the lines, yes they're by hand. I don't use vectors--I'm not entirely sure how they work, though I've tried them in the past. I do the lines with my tablet, though, which is why they look so nice. I set it so the pressure is related to diameter (the harder you press, the larger the brush), and the lines tend to work out nicely.

Wow, I NEVER write so much as a reply! lol, you got more than you bargained for, no? But thank you for the comment. I appreciate it greatly.

Wow- you do great lines then!! I shrink mine heaps to get them even close to that smooth ^^ I do all my colouring with a tablet- I do some stuff with a tablet, but its just not the same as a pencil for me- there's a certain feel of drawing a line that just feels right- although I did pic up tablet draw immediatly, which is weird! Its learning what I can do with photoshop which is holding me back mostly now *nods*

Dodge and burn tool are a pain- eh? I only ever use them to give a powerful amp in colour when I can't be bothered fishing for th colours myself ^^ Extreme highlights, and the odd glimmer. Its too unpredicatable otherwise!!

Cheers for the long reply- personally, can't stand short coments!! I'm a writer at heart as well, and have ALOT to say!! XD

I guess I have a steady hand. I always eat or drink something while working, so that keeps my blood sugar up, which keeps my hand steady.

I can draw as well with a tablet as with a pencil (though sometimes the angles mess me up on my tablet), but I prefer to do pencil work before a picture. Drawing into photoshop annoys me because you can't see the whole scope of the picture you're working on. Photoshop can do just about anything you want it to, which makes me very happy. The hardest part is figuring out how, which isn't always easy, but layers make your life oh-so-much easier. This picture, for instance, was done by applying a base color, then a new layer set to multiply with locked transparancy and filled white, and then a layer about set to linear dodge. I tell you, hopping between them is a pain, but it is effective.

And another long reply. Wow. lol, I agree though, about short comments. They make me angry. I like when people actually comment. I'll have to read some of your stuff, too! I like how yous style (at least what I've seen from comments, which don't count for much), so I'll be by later, after school.

Yeah, I ususally spend hours conjuring a pic in my head of the final product before I draw it. That's why I don't draw alot of lines in my line art- cause I know how I manipulate them. Too bad noone else does- last time I got someone to colour a pic of mine, there was HUGE areas of solid, boring colour. I wanted solid black with stars or what ever it was. Hear you with the pain of not seing everything. 600dpi at a4 is NOT pretty. For me AND my computer ^^;

I lurve 600dpi! lol, my computer is psycho--my dad had it costumized with the express purpose of allowing me to work in HUGE photoshop files--he's so nice, lol. So I worked HUGE.

I wish ^^; My comp is amped for art, but I paid for all of it. I'll need to get a new chip if I want to go faster now (which I DO!), which means I'll need to get another mother board (this holds me back ^^; )

Erg... new hard drives and what not are never pleasant to deal with. It requires backing everything up first, which is a pain.

You're telling me ^^; I nearly had a heart attack when I thought my brother had shifted all my art and wrting to the new drive, and found my writing had stayed- I thouhgt I had lost it all!!! Hlaf of my storys folder (20 stories??) Is equivelent time spent or more of my WHOLE pictures gallery. And I have a @#$ load of pics I've drawn on my personal gallery. To lose that kind of time and effort? Holy crap. I would've been just SLIGHTLY annouyed. More than when he deleted (mistakingly) my first 'long' story( 2 pages for a 10 year old is ALOT- excpecially in first choice!!! size 5 font or what on dot-matrix? ^^; )

Oh, god, dot matrix... Wow, that seems forever ago. With the paper that had the perferrated edges so the printer could grab it and all? Those were so much fun! We used to fold the edges over each other.

I would have died if that happened. If I had a sibling, he would have died. Painful, violent, bloody death.

Yup- the dotted paper Uhhh- he is still alive. Maybe cause he was twice my size back then ^^;

Thank you very much! I prefer brush strokes over things like dodge and burn once I figured out how truly limited the dodge and burn tool are. They're nice for sudden, stark conrast, but not much else.

You're welcome. I must say I'm discovering new techniques here all the time. I was using a star shaped brush for stars, but never burn or dodge. I admit it doesn't look very good. After you said you were using that marple brush tried it and did blur effect on it to make it look like light but it didn't seem convincing. So I began putting gradients for lights. I think it looks nice but still not quite how i wanted. But we can all learn from each other here^_^. Wow, sorry for the length!

With the maple leaf brush, you don't need any blurage. Just fill the background. Using that same color burn and dodge the shadows and highlights respectively. You need to up the spacing to about 70-75, I think, to make it look foofy enough. Then add the stars in with a small airbrush. It's pretty simple; I know a lot of people who do planets do a similar technique for their stars, too.

lol, thank you! The stars were so much fun to do.

Thank you very much!

oh so pretty keep up the good work.

Thank you!

Thank you! I'm glad you like it!