Cosmic Islets

A casual sketch in Photoshop that I liked & decided to develop.

The sketch.

With the sketch (turned off) on its own layer, I flood-filled the Background with a very dark blue and then blocked in some nebulae.

Block-in of the nebulae.

I painted the nebulae just like clouds - hard and soft edges, light and dark juxtapositions. I constantly varied brush size, hardness, opacity and blend mode (Color Dodge for the bright areas, Multiply for the dark).

I then turned on the sketch of the islets and blocked those in also. I removed the spaceship on the side, as I decided to draw that differently later; I also modified the size, position & rotation of the islets.

Islets blocked in and adjusted.

Then I returned to the nebulae and worked on details.

Background completed.

On another layer, I added stars; all subtle, nothing strong.

Subtle stars on their own layer.

Finally, I completed the islets (added several more) and spaceships (one obvious ship & 2 tiny ones over the islet with the dome).
Final result: