How I Colored an Epic GALAXY SPACE SCENE in the Worlds Within Worlds Coloring Book by Kerby Rosanes

A coloring page like this brings a few opportunities to try something new and a few challenges that might intimidate a new colorist, we’ve got a space scene in our background, a completely different sky scene in the middle, and we’ve got the potential for some shiny surfaces on our spaceman.

To watch the full video of this project, you can see it on my second YouTube Channel HERE.

Here’s a breakdown of the steps I’ve included in this tutorial:

1. How to color a galaxy background
2. How to color a shiny spacesuit
3. How to draw a planet eclipse
4. How to draw a sepia monotone scene

How to Color a Galaxy Background

Instead of a simple starry background, I’m going all-in on a colorful galaxy background today. This is something that can be really fun to try, and there’s no perfect approach.

Resources Used:

Derwent Inktense Colored Pencils

Colors: 1210, 1220, 1300, 0720, 0700, 0230, 1700, 0210, 1100, 0840, 2110, 2300

Prismacolor Colored Pencils

Colors: 1006, 1011, 932, 901, 921, 1027, 1078, 938, 1003, 935, 929, 1022, 926, 132, 996, 989
Note: I didn’t use all of these colors

Other supplies

• Isopropyl alcohol
• Water brush pen
• Caran d’Ache full blender pencil
• Artistro white paint pen
• Faber-Castell Pitt Artist white pen

How to Color a Galaxy Background: Steps

I’ve chosen to use my Derwent Inktense pencils again for a base layer. You’ll notice I’m starting with the bright colors first, and I’m being quite rough with my lowest layers while I decide where these are going. Using the inktense pencils allows you to be a little less detailed, but I’m also keeping my layers fairly light and using a circular motion, so all of this means that I can rush through this first step and focus more on where I want the colors to go.

I’m not using any particular reference image here, but if you’re unsure of what colors to use or where to place them, a good starting point is to look at other galaxy photos (like these from NASA) or images online to see which colors naturally occur or look good together in these kinds of scenes.

And don’t be afraid to get creative and just have a go.

This still looks like a lot of scribbles at this point, but it will start to come together more as we bring in our darker colors and focus on blending some of these colors together more with some more layering.

My darker colors are all deep blues and I’ll finish off with some black later. At this point, I’m working more to blend my lighter pockets of color into my darker color, and in some cases I’m adding an extra color in between to given them a smoother transition – for example, I’m adding a purple between the reds and the blue, or a green between the yellows and the blue.

With the base layer of colors done, I’m using a water brush pen filled with isopropyl alcohol to activate my Derwent Inktense colors and blend my base layer

I’m being careful here not to just wash the alcohol over the whole area at once – because dragging the blue into the yellow or red will create a muddy color. So keep a tissue or piece of paper on hand to wipe your brush pen regularly in between colors.

It’s time to add some white highlights in our background. I’m using both the large Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen and the fine-point Artistro white paint pen to create dots in various sizes, all over the galaxy background of my coloring page. Usually I leave the white highlights until the very end, but I’m adding some white highlights now to create a sense of depth. These highlights will be covered by our next layer of pencils and will partially disappear into the background when we are done.

So, we could just stop here. And if you’re starting out, this is a great simple way to create a galaxy effect. But we’re not done.

I’m moving to the Prismacolor pencils now and my goal here is to refine some of these details. I’m adding some extra colors, enhancing areas that need a bit more vibrancy, working on some of these blends a little more – and more than anything, adding a lot of darker blues and blacks everywhere.

It’s the blues and blacks that really make this for me. I love the deep dark space with the splashes of color. And the stars – they are now perfectly in the distance like we planned.

Although my Prismacolor pencils have left some waxy line-marks because I’ve used up all the texture of the paper and I’ve been pretty rushed through this – so my Caran d’Ache blender pencil is the perfect finishing touch to smooth this out, and I’m just wiping away the excess wax build up with a tissue.

I’m finishing off the page with more white stars, this time with the fine-point paint pen only.

And the galaxy background is done. I’ll come back to the planets later. But next, I want to work on our spaceman!

I’m working with the Derwent Inktense pencils again, and I’ve chosen just 5 colors ranging from dark to light. A monochrome color palette is one of the easiest to work with, because you’re just coloring light and shadows.

I started with the darkest areas first, and again, just chose the areas that felt like obvious shadows. Any area that was already partially shaded in the linework, or any areas that would be covered or shaded by nearby objects are all places I made the darkest.

I kept my sky light, and didn’t color the clouds at all at first.

For the trees, I used a variety of colors, mixed among the leaves.

When I was ready to shade the clouds, I just followed the basic shading that Kerby Rosanes had started in the line work, creating a slight shadow at the bottom of each cloud and leaving the top of the shadows white. I also darkened the area of the sky behind and around the clouds.

Then I covered the base layer of pencils with the isopropyl alcohol in the water brush, but you can also try a colorless blender marker or water to do this. (I’ve avoided water so the colors don’t bleed through the page)

Once the base layer is dry, I’m doing some final touch ups with my Prismacolor pencils with just 4 colors that I matched to the Inktense colors as closely as possible. In particular, I’m focusing on adding stronger shadows, flattening areas with too much texture, and adding more contrast and detail.

And to help give my helmet it’s round shape, I’m adding a black shadow around the whole edge, feathering it by reducing the pressure as it goes towards the middle.

And then, blending it into the medium and lighter colors until it fades into the scene.

One final touch – it’s probably unnecessary, but a white highlight just reminds us that this is a reflective helmet and not a gaping hole in our spaceman’s head.

This page has taken me just under 5 hours – which is less than I’ve spent on some of my past coloring pages – because the Derwent Inktense definitely speeds up the process. Plus, this all gets easier with practice. So if you’re overwhelmed at the idea of ever being able to color like this, don’t panic! Just start somewhere, and give your creativity a chance to grow.

If you’re looking to stretch your creativity in new ways, check out my 100 drawing prompts in 100 minutes video, where I take on Moriah Elizabeth’s Create this Book HERE.