A world of your own

Charlie Marshall uses playdough and Photoshop to create her own planet

The chances are we’re probably not going to make it to space in our lifetime to photograph some undiscovered planets! But you can still come up with your own! This planet, believe it or not, has been made from children’s playdough and Photoshop trickery!

I used shop-bought playdough, but you can make it yourself using warm water, salt, flour and food colouring. I mixed three colours together (and no, I didn’t tell the kids who messed up their playdough!), then rolled it out into a rough square. Don’t mix the playdough too much, but rather look for swirly patterns as you fold it. Once you are happy, take a photo from a bird’s eye view next to a large window for nice soft light.

Make a circle

Open your image (or use mine on the disc if you don’t want to shoot your own). With the Elliptical Marquee Tool, hold down Shift and draw a circle that fits inside the boundaries of the playdough. Press Ctrl/Cmd+C to copy the pixels in the circle, add a new layer, and then press Ctrl/Cmd+V to paste into a new layer. Add another layer, but this time fill it with black (Edit > Fill… select Black). Move this layer below the circle layer you just made, so the circle sits in the middle. (Reposition to middle if necessary.)

Add a gradient

To give your planet a shadow, add a new layer and go to the Gradient Tool, selecting the Foreground To Transparent option. Make black your foreground colour. Draw a line from the bottom-right corner towards the topleft corner, and release. If need be, use the Move Tool to get in position. Now add a Layer Mask and, using a brush at around 50% Opacity, sculpt and create the 3D look.

Add some stars

Once you’re happy with the planet’s shadow, press Ctrl/ Cmd+Alt+Shift+E to merge all the layers together into a new layer. Go to the Brush Tool. Make sure White is selected as the foreground colour at 100% opacity, and click small brush dots around the planet. (Vary the dots between 10 and 30 pixels in size.) Finally, add a new layer, go to Edit > Fill… and select 50% Gray. Change the Blending Mode to Overlay and use the Burn Tool to soften the edge of the planet, then make any final tweaks.