Made a quick tag out of the LP so it could be posted here too What do you guys think? tag: lp: http://firywynter.deviantart.com/art/Hope-96113139
hahah well im speechless. i lvoe it, very creative and if someone does a good spacescape, thats like my kryptonite. very good job, and awesome LP absolutely amazing.
The main issue I'm having with the LP at the moment is how clearly the stock images are used, and the general lack of transition from one to another. While stock photography and the like is helpeful etc. to get you started with space-scapes, you're never going to develop while using it for your nebulas (particularly the top one). Too tall generally, and just, doesn't work I'm afraid. Focus on brushing, using textures/clouds if need be well and on more appropiately sized pieces. It's not bad, for someone new to the general genre, just not the type of project that you should be taking on at this point. Try not leaving your space background completely black and incorparating more colour, add more of a 'space dust' type of feel to it.
And one more thing. No more Lens Flares! Or, if you're going to use them (And heck, I still do) get the little buggers hidden away somewhere. In terms of getting your starting background, try just a dark blue or something, then do a white/black Filter-Render-Clouds on a layer above that, set to overlay and drop the opacity a bit as need be before adding your stars. If you really want to learn how to do stars well you should check out Alyns tutorial, helps a -lot- when you're starting with it. But aye, aside from that, make your canvas smaller and focus on having one light source so you can really hone yourself in on it.
They're fine to use as long as they're not obvious, IE you want to remove the little circle glows that come off them, and preferably the coloured ring. They can be used to good effect when just adding a bright spot or when made smaller, little bright stars. (Stick to the 3rd option down in Lens Flare, the white one)