Incredible Space Scene in Pixelmator

Incredible Space Scene in Pixelmator

I’m a huge fan of James White, and I always wondered how he achieved those streaks in his work. I found out that the effect can be achieved using Brushes. Of course, it’s not the same, but the result is really good. Now with the new brush engine in Pixelmator, we can create the same effect, and that’s what I will show you in this tutorial.

Step 1

Open Pixelmator and create a new document; I used 1440×900 pixels. After that, using the Paint Bucket Tool (N), fill the background layer with black and hide the layer.


Step 2

Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and create a rectangular selection like the image below. Add a new layer and using the Paint Bucket Tool (N), fill the selection with black too. Use the image below for reference.



Step 3

Go to Edit>Transform>Skew, and then transform the rectangle as in the image below.


Step 4

Go to View>Show Brushes to open the Brushes Panel. Create another brush and move the layer from the Layer Panel to the brush dialog box. Then change the settings as indicated below. The most important values are Spacing and Scatter. Also, Opacity is very important.


Step 5

Add a new layer and select the Brush Tool (B), then paint using the brush you have just created. You will get a result like the one in the image below.


Step 6

First, create a new layer on top of the layer with the brush streaks, then using the Gradient Tool (G), select the default rainbow preset and fill the new layer with the gradient (1). After that, go to Layer>Create Clipping Mask. The gradient color will be applied only to the brushes.
After that, repeat Step 5 to create some black streaks, and then repeat the Step 5 again, this time with the gradient on top of the black streaks. That will add a nice depth to the effect.


Step 7

Select all layers used to create the streaks and go to Layer>Merge Layers. You will have only one layer now, so duplicate it once.


Step 8

Select one of the copies of the layer and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 20 for the blur strength.


Step 9

Show the background layer and duplicate the original streak layer, not the blurry one.


Step 10

For the duplicated layer, go to Filter>Blur>Zoom Blur. Use 30 for the amount and click OK. After that, change the Blending to Hard Light.


Step 11

Let’s use a stock image; you can download the one I used at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/986801. Import it to the document and place it on top of the other layers. After that, using the Eraser Tool (E), delete some areas (1-2) to adjust the image to fit the size of the document. Also, use Free Transform to resize the image.


Step 12

Add another layer on top of the others and go to Filter>Generator>Clouds. Use black and white for the colors and click OK. After that, change the Blending to Overlay.


Step 13

Create a new layer and fill it with black. Go to Filter>Stylize>Noise… Use 25 for the Amount.


Step 14

Go to Image>Levels. Move the black input towards the white input. Keep moving until you have a nice result; also, you can increase a bit of the white input if you want to make the stars a bit brighter.



Step 15

Download the image. Import the image into the document and place the starburst in the middle of the document. Change the Blending to Screen and go to Image>Levels and Image>Desaturate. Those two adjustments will be necessary to match the image with the rest of the design.


Step 16

Add another layer on top of the one you just imported and fill it with yellow. Change the blending to Multiply and, using the Eraser Tool (E), delete the area in the middle of the starburst so that this area will be white and the rest yellow.


Step 17

Again, add another layer and fill it with black. Change the Blending to Screen and make sure you have black and white for the background and foreground colors. Then go to Filter>Generator>Lenticular Halo. Use 260 for the Halo Radius, 87 for the Halo Width, and 77 for the Halo Overlap.


Step 18

Go to Edit>Free Transform and resize the layer. Use the image below for reference; the idea is to match the perspectives of the halo with the planet.


Conclusion

The brush engine, with some very nice filters such as Lenticular Halo, makes Pixelmator one of the best apps to create space scenes. The best thing is that for this subject, you can do pretty much whatever you want.