"Astrobelt"
Original digital artwork created using Procreate.
Final Artwork
The Goal:
The goal was to create a scene in space. Specifically one with a planet surrounded by a ring of asteroids.
The Time-Lapse:
I took a massive screen recording while I was creating the artwork. Below, I have split the time-lapse up into a few different sections explaining the significance of each one.
Creating the Planet
The whole scene would revolve around this one central planet, so I set out on creating that first.
Creating the Belt Path
Next, I created the asteroid belt path. A long black oval that would help me align the actual asteroids properly. I knew this was just a guideline layer and that I would hide it by the end of the project.
Creating the Asteroids
Once the belt was created, I embarked on creating the actual asteroids. Each asteroid was made on a different layer so that overlapping them in certain locations would be easier.
Creating the Asteroid Back Layer
I also had to create the black back layer for the asteroids. This was because the brush used to create the asteroids is a bit translucent. Without the back layer, if any asteroids overlap you can see straight through them and see the ghost image of the other asteroid.
Shifting Everything Down
I shifted everything down a bit because the planet and asteroids seemed too far up near the top of the canvas.
Adding the Shading
In order to create realistic shading, I imagined the location of the main light source for the planet at the top left corner of the canvas. I then went in and used black charcoal to shade all of the asteroids.
Shading the Planet Again
At this point, I thought the planet looked to purple. I was originally going for a grey/white planet so I tried shading the planet one more time.
Shifting Down Again
After adding the star at the top left corner, I thought the planet was too close to it and needed to be shifted down a bit more. It was a lot easier this time since I merged all the asteroid and planet layers into one layer.
Adding the Galaxy
The final step was adding the galaxy surrounding the planet and asteroids.