So I was looking for a new wallpaper so I made this one, not quite happy with it so any suggestions on ways I can improve would be appreciated. Thanks.

Jamie it all a matter of preference. I think that is very nice. good job.

Thanks molly think I muse just be my own worst critic.

I think constructive criticism is the best thing for upcoming artists, for any artists for that matter. I think we can all learn from it. We can either accept it or go our own way but at least it is nice to get ideas from other people.

How did you make the spiral galaxy on the left? I use clouds/whirl & pinch/spread noise.

Looks pretty good, although I'm not a big fan of that particular glow bush for making comets.

Beautiful alc.

Thanks Molly, space backgrounds are fun

Wow they're really nice.

You can do that Jamie. There is a very good tutorial in here somewhere, I will see if I can find it for you.

Here ya go.
Spinning Globe by Oregonian

There are several tutorials on this type of work. For the very best starfield or deep space background, then I have to say this one is it....

http://gallery.artofgregmartin.com/tuts ... field.html.

Although it is a Photoshop tutorial, it is not difficult to convert it to GIMP as is done here....

http://www.gimp-tutorials.com/tutorial/ ... P-278.html

For planets go here....

http://mygimptutorial.com/the-ultimate- ... t-tutorial

If you have hours and hours to spend, try this site with 50 PS tutorials with some really stunning work!

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/08 ... e-effects/

I've spent many moons (sorry) looking for stuff on the internet and it is definitely out there. These few sites should keep you busy for a while. LOL!

Here's a few of my recent creations.

Nice collection of planets. But I couldn't help but notice that all but two of them have an atmospheric glow on the dark side.

Should keep me bust for a while thaanks everyone here rocks!

Thanks for the link Molly, that was before i joined here so i missed it
I'll be checking out the Drac links also..thanks
I like making the backgrounds instead of using images from google
Now how do i keep my background from getting washed out when i combine it with a .gif

Some real Space stuff happening

Wow that is very cool. Did you use o's tutorial for that.

I used my background and scaled it down to a square- made it seamless (thanks O ) and combined the background with the new spinning globe

Thank you. They really are relatively easy to make. The first one on the second row is the only one I missed. I don't see the second one, the atmospheres are there they are just not that easy to see. Guess I need to tweak them a bit more. Thanks for noticing.

I make my planets a little differently than most of the tuts out there, although I did use several as a basis for formulating my own steps. I may make a mini-tut someday if the interest is there. I'm currently working on formulating a really good way to make planetary rings. I'm not satisfied with the results of some of the other tuts I've seen out there.

I've also been playing around with explosions. Here's one I did yesterday. The washed out looking one is actually the png so you can snag it if you like and use it on any background.

I like the exploding planet Drac
I had to try the planet tut link, i didn't follow it exactly but i like it
figuring out planet rings would be nice also