Dying Planet

First we'll be creating the surface of the planet by using two textures from cgtextures.com.

The first one can be downloaded here.

With your texture open in Photoshop, increase the contrast to sharpen the details.

The second texture can be downloaded here. We'll be using this one for the cracks on the planets surface.

Open it in photoshop, desaturate it, and bring up the brightness and contrast.

Place this texture on top of the first one and resize it so it covers the whole texture.

Duplicate the cracks layer and hide the duplicate. Change the original layers blending mode to Multiply.

Merge the cracks layer with the rock layer, then duplicate it.

With the top rocks and cracks layer selected, go to filter>stylize>emboss...

Set the height to 1px and the amount to 500%.

Change this layers blending mode to Overlay.

Out texture is now ready to be transformed into a planet.

Make a circular selection, then go to edit>copy merged.

Open a new document and paste in the selection.

Back in the first document, unhide the cracks layer, and hide the other two.

Using the same selection, copy the cracks layer.

Paste it ontop of the planet layer, and hide it.

With the planet layer selected go to Filter>Distort>Spherize, and set the Amount to 100%.

Do this twice to give your planet a fully rounded appearance.

Next, unhide the cracks layer and spherize it twice.

Now go to Select>Color Range, and choose shadows.

You'll now have a selection of all the cracks. Invert the selection then delete it to leave just the cracks.

So you now have your planet in one layer, and another layer for the cracks.

We'll have a break from working on the planet for now, and create the backdrop.

First increase the size of your canvas.

Create a new layer below the other two and fill it with black.

Then add another layer, and go to filter>Render>Clouds.

Lower the cloud layers opacity to 13%. Add a layer mask, and draw a large radial gradient to fade out the edges.

Finally add another layer and use a very small white brush to paint a few stars around the planet.

The background is done, next we'll add some shadows to the planet.

Duplicate the planet layer and turn it black.

Add a gaussian blur set to 100 pixels.

Set its opacity to 80%, and scale it down a little.

duplicate the layer, and scale it down a little more.

Next we'll add some lighting effects to the planet.

Double click on the planet layer and apply the following layer styles...

Now double click on the cracks layer, and apply the following layer styles...

Finally we'll add some light bursts.

Duplicate the cracks layer, then go to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur...

Set it to Zoom and set the Amount to 90.

Duplicate the light bursts layer and apply another radial blur. Set both layers opacity to 50%.

Then move the cracks layer back up to the top in your layers panel.

Here's the finished result.

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