On to banner design for the YouTube Channel. Time to dust of the old skills, unused since 2005 or was it 2004. I don't quite remember, that's how long ago it has been since I have done digital imagery things. I guess somethings you learn in school do stay with you, even if they are lost in back half of the filing cabinet of the mind.
So this will take a bit longer I think. I'm not sure were I want to take it yet, so it will involve playing around and experimenting. So let's start with what I think I want shall we. That would have to be, to make the banner, science fiction to the max. There needs to be stars, endless universe, maybe nebulas, a few planets and well what's not more space opera than having a starship!
Let's begin and see what GIMP and my rusty skills can do.
I wasn't sure about this first design. That primary star and planet looked a bit odd and the scene looked a bit overcrowded with the nebula. I was going to put in a moon as well, but it isn't in there for the same reason. I think it will fit a starship coming in from the right hand side though. Would really enjoy putting in a few more planets and make it a larger star system. What do you guys think? I feel like its a not bad effort first effort, got a long way to come but we are getting there.
I think the stars are a bit dull. You kind of need to zoom in to see them. I am loving the blue gas giant though. I found a really useful texture website https://www.textures.com/. It essentially gives you x amount of free credits to download textures usable in anyway you choose, pretty much, except reselling them as textures (Their website has a full FAQ on what they will and won't let you do with it). I completely forgot about using textures to be honest and used some internal gimp effects on the previous planet. I'm loving what the texture pulled off. Bit of Gausian Blur and some motion blur really altered the ice texture to look like layers of gas.
I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to make planetary rings in GIMP, everything was coming out a bit like lines, but you know the internet provides (http://www.scottphotographics.com/creating-planets-and-planetary-rings-in-gimp/). That link takes you to Michael Scott's website and step 6 is were I learnt how to do the whole planetary ring thing.
Part of me is not liking that I seem to keep these planets to that lower left hand corner, but I guess it is as good as any.
So here is my third design so far and I am loving the ice planets. Main issues in this one really are the overcrowding. I was going to try and fix up the spacing so I can put in a star with GIMPS supernova effect and the use lighting effects to have the shadows across the planets, but then I won't be able to fit a space ship in. Once again the background stars seem to be a problem. Too dim.
Overall that is my first three designs, I am not sure were I will take the next design. I might try and go for a multi-planet view with better spacing. Experiment more with nebulas. Do I want asteroid belts? Naaah I probably don't want asteroid belts. Most importantly, I need to design and stick in a spaceship.
On a side note on the software I used: GIMP is a free open source editing tool. Pretty much download and off you go. If you need more scripts or bits and bobs just add em in there. It appears to have a huge crowd of people around it. So far I am really satisfied with the program, considering A. my rusty skills B. Macromedia Fireworks is extinct. It is a close enough substitute for my skills and knowledge so I can't complain. In all honesty in this case, it's not a case of you get what you pay for. It's a pretty damn good program and I am a happy chap. If this experiment is a success, I may move to photo shop or something else later.
Anyway, here there be planets. Feel free to offer any tips, thoughts and advice in the comments section. Have a great day!
P.S. This is actually surprisingly a really fun challenge. I mean I know stories will be my thing, but this has definitely been a fun adventure so far.
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