15 Easy Outer Space & Galaxy Painting Ideas

If you’ve been following my paintings and drawings here on this blog, I’m sure you might realize that I love incorporating outer space elements into a lot of my art.

I love the striking calmness of dark colors, the stars, the moon, planets, and galaxies.

If you too are a space lover, here is a compilation of 15 easy outer space painting ideas to try out next in your sketchbook or empty canvas.

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What You’ll Need

Paint: I will be using mostly acrylic paint for this tutorial. I personally like to use Prussian Blue for outer space / night sky paintings because it’s the perfect shade of a dark midnight blue. You can also use Black. You will also need other colors, including Titanium White (for the stars)
Canvas or paper (I recommend Canson’s Watercolor paper)
Paint brushes
Jar of water for cleaning off brushes
Paper towel for removing excess water from brushes
White pen (I used a Gelly Roll pen)
Black pen (I used a Pigma Micron pen)

Basic Steps

Most of these paintings will follow the same basic steps:

Paint the background (I often use Prussian Blue). Feel free to use black, purple, or whatever color you like!

Create a splatter of stars by getting some Titanium White on a brush and flicking the bristles using your finger.

Paint the foreground or subject of your painting.

Add any fine details using a small brush, marker, or pen.

1. Planets

Create a painting full of colorful planets!

For this painting, I painted the background Prussian Blue, created splatters of white paint for the stars, and then painted planets using colors I liked. Finally, I also used a white Gelly Roll pen to create some larger stars.

Also feel free to do research and paint the planets of our solar system with more accurate color representations!

2. Moon

The moon is one of my favorite things to draw and paint so here is a painting of the moon to try out as well.

The paint colors I used for the moon were Titanium White and Matisse’s Mineral Blue.

Feel free however to use gray, black, or whatever colors you want to use!

If you need help creating a circle, I recommend tracing a round object (bottom of a cup or washi tape roll) with a pencil, colored pencil, or pen. Then, start painting inside.

3. Milky Way Galaxy

For this painting of the milky way galaxy, I used acrylic paint but feel free to use watercolor or gouache as well!

First, paint your background Prussian Blue (or black).

Next, create swirls using a bit of white mixed with your background color.

Next, create a yellow oval at the center and two radiating white swirls coming from each end of the oval.

Create a white dot at the center of your yellow oval.

Then splatter some white paint for the stars by flicking your brush bristles with your finger.

4. Rocket Ship

Let’s paint a rocket ship next!

Start with the usual steps by painting your background color, creating a splatter of stars, then using Titanium white to paint the rocket ship.

Then, use red (or orange) to paint the flames.

As for the black detailing, I used a Pigma Micron Pen (can be found on Amazon here).

5. Space Clouds

For this painting idea, we’ll be using a lot of water so I recommend using watercolor paper (I used Grumbacher’s).

First, paint your background color.

Then, use some watered down acrylic paint, gouache, or watercolor to create swirls of colors (I used white, blue, and purple).

Then, create your stars by flicking the bristles of your paint brush with your finger. I also drew some additional stars using a white Gelly Roll pen.

6. Astronaut

Create a painting of an astronaut jumping around on the moon.

7. Black Hole

In order to paint a black hole, start off by painting your background color.

Then, create a swirl gradient of a white oval at the center.

Create your splatter of stars by flicking white paint from your brush bristles using your finger.

Then, using black paint, create another oval at the center.

Refine the white around the black whole (using a white pen or more white paint), and you have your finished black hole painting!

8. Shooting Star

Here is a very simple painting of a shooting star to try out next in your sketchbook or canvas.

9. Stars

Let’s keep it simple and just paint some stars!

I used a white Gelly Roll Pen to draw the different stars after I painted the outer space background.

10. Earth

Create a painting of our beautiful planet Earth.

First, paint your background color and splatter some stars.

Then, paint a blue circle at the center. Use green to paint the continents (It doesn’t have to be exact as we will be covering it up with clouds).

Next, grab some white paint on a brush and create wispy, random spots for the clouds.

And there you have it: Your planet Earth painting!

It might seem difficult to make at first, but once you give it a try, it’s a lot easier than it looks.

11. Balloon

I guess balloons wouldn’t be able to float up that high in the sky, but we can imagine 🙂

12. Floating

An easy painting to try out of what it must feel like to float through outer space.

13. Turtle

A turtle is what actually inspired me to create this blog post.

I was watching a little turtle swim at the surface of a pond and wanted to create a painting of it swimming in outer space.

So here is the painting!

14. UFO

We have to have a UFO painting when we’re creating outer space paintings, right?

Here is a simple UFO painting to try out next in your sketchbook or canvas.

15. Space Cat

Cats are adorable and so fun to paint so here is our last outer space painting: An astronaut cat!

Thank you for dropping by this blog post!

I hope you were able to find some inspiration for the next painting you want to work on!

Have a wonderful day or night my fellow artists, and until next time!

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