Making Comics: Nebula Background

My online buddy and fellow space enthusiast, tkrobert, asked how I created the nebula background in my recent space illustration (see Wednesday's post), so I thought I'd share that answer with you guys.

It's a remarkably easy process. The ship is, of course, on its own layer(s). So, to create the background:

1. Set background layer to solid black.
2. Go to nasa.gov and search their gallery for "nebula." (Their space images are generally free for personal and commercial use - just don't use the NASA logo or photos of people.)
3. Once you have an image you like (look for things with nice, abstract patterns and high-contrast areas), paste it into your image editing software on a layer between the black background and the ship.
4. Photoshop/GIMP, etc.: Play around with the following filters: Poster Edges, Stamp, Find Edges. Mix-and-match effects until you get something nice and abstract. You might also want to play around with Levels or Contrast. Then I convert the layer to b&w. Personally, I like the strong posterized look (sharp deleniations between the colors, but you can easily go for a softer, more gentle look).
5. Adjust the nebula layer's opacity (usually 30% - 50% works well.
6. Just move the nebula around until it works with the composition. 

A side note on composition: In the case of a ship being dead center of the frame, I tend to put the brighter parts behind it, near the exhaust areas. Also, because I planned to use those white motion lines in front of the ship, I left that part of the background completely black (note that there aren't even any stars). I did this to simplify things, because those speed lines quickly clutter things up.

I spent significantly more time playing around with the white lines than I did creating the background (in this case, I used some version of "find edges" filter in Clip Studio Paint (not Photoshop) because I wanted to do all the work in CSP.

I learned/self-taught myself this technique when I was working on the illustrations I created for the Galaxy Prime Role Playing Game.