[JammyB]

Now then,

I'm a bit of a newbie fool when it comes to art but I'm trying to draw a picture with a nice planet in. At the moment, I feel I've cheated really because I've done a gas planet so as to avoid any real detail (I've used lots of blur and smudge etc to make the swirling clouds like Jupiter).

So, my friend dissed it a little and thinks maybe it would look cool with some craters etc. Problem is I don't have a clue how to draw them. I've got some reference pictures of the moon off the net but can't recreate what I see at all. Can anyone give me some helpful hints as to how I might go about it or point me to a site that does?

Ta very much.

[Impaler]

The insides of craters should be darker than the rest of the surface, since when the object impacted, it created all sort of magma flows. There should also be a tiny mound in the center, from some physical thing that i'd have difficulty explaining.

The ridge around it should have lots of variation in height, and the shadow next to it inside the crater should show that. The shadows cast by the rim should be very small (1-3 pixels at the most), seeing as you're looking at the object straight on.

My advice is to get as many reference pictures of the Moon as you can, and study the hell out of them.

[William H. Daniels]

One of the big things to remember is that most planets and moons with lots of impact craters have little or no atmosphere. Atmosphere is what diffuses light, causing fuzzy shadows, so these planets and such have very sharp shadows. Look at your moon pictures and note that even from a distance, the moon has some VERY sharp features.

Also, almost all craters are round. I learned this from reading Larry Niven. Fill a shallow pan with flour (not glass, pref. aluminum). Take a slingshot or something and shoot ballbearings or marbles into it. (Wear eye protection! LOL) You'll get round craters every time, regardless of the angle of impact. It's really wierd.

Craters will sometimes be eroded by later impacts.

If you can't recreate what you're seeing in the reference photos, try harder. Working from life is hard. Working from photographs should be easy, as the image is already flattened out for you. Concentrate on shapes of shadows of craters, not the craters themselves.

The only reason I know so much about craters is that, some time in 1989 or '90, I took it upon myself to study crater-drawing. How's that for a niche? I have no idea why I did it, I just felt like drawing craters. I filled up sketchbooks with craters and reference photos.

Hang in there. It will come to you.

[BlackPool]

I suggest that you imagine what a crater looks like and hold that image tight in your mind for a few seconds. Then disgard it forever and tell yourself that that is NOT what they look like at all. Then, look at the photographs again with a fresh mind with no preconceptions and ACCEPT what you see. Believe me, it's those preconceptions that are holding you back.

[Sa'ge]

hehe BlackPool.. that's kind of an interesting technique. Do you find it actually works, just telling yourself that?

Anyway, I agree that it's preconceptions that are holding you back Jammy. Stop trying to draw craters, and draw what you are seeing in the reference photos. All the shapes, and colours that you need, are sitting there, right in front of you.

Oh yeah, and thanks for all that great crater info William. Time to go play with the flour!

[William H. Daniels]

No prob. BTW, I highly recommend "Lucifer's Hammer" by Niven and Pournelle (and Barnes?)

It puts all these "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" concepts to shame. Puts a different face on asteroid/comet impact.

The big one is coming! Run for the hills!

[exo13]

Back a few months ago I made starscape for a cover for a book. If you have a wacom tablet, there are a set of plug-ins you can download for free at their website. It's called pen-tools. I used a little 3-D chisel to make all of my craters. Even if you don't think it's a good idea for your particular piece, the plug-in set is still a great download. It works for Corel Photopaint, Painter, I haven't tried it with photoshop yet but I assume it'd work. (I recomend it for what it's worth)

[buyuu]

Well, this might be useful: Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon

[geoman2k]

maybe try making a darker circle/oval on the panet, then erase th part that the light wouldn't hit. then use the smuge tool with a very small brush and smuge the draker part outward, makeing "cracks" in the cratter. i dunno if this would look good... i've never tried it... kinda a wild guess

[JammyB]

Thanks for the tips everyone, very helpful. I'll give it another shot and if I have anything presentable I'll post it up (though that may take a while).