Normally, when I make illustrations, I work on the background first because it adds depth to any illustration - the more complicated, the better.

For Protogenoi, I decided to mimic acrylic and watercolor brush strokes for the background. I recreated brush strokes from an unfinished painting into Photoshop brushes. That’s what I’ve been using ever since. There are also a lot of free brushes you can use that are available online (you can check out DeviantArt or Brusheezy). 

I like using a mix of dark and bold colors for my illustrations so when I make backgrounds from scratch, I slowly build the colors. It’s a matter of trial and error to get the right mix just like in traditional painting.

The idea is to recreate a galaxy. So I filled the canvas with white dots and added a slight blur. The key is to make dots in varied sizes on a small area and then duplicating it after. I also added stars and several constellations (Delphinus, Vela, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Phoenix, Cassiopeia, Grus, Monoceros, Pavo, and Cygnus) I’ve researched online.

The “earth” patch is made by selecting the area and adjusting its color balance. Again it’s a slew of trial and errors before I finally got the colors I wanted. I finished the illustration with two vector hands which I’m still not completely satisfied with. You will most probably see me post an update of this illustration. :)