I have to say, this amazes me that it's a colored pencil drawing. Fantastic. I've tried to do space stuff before, but I've never been able to get it anything like this.

Well, it DID take seeing someone else do it before I could believe it could be done. c.c'

mind if ask you about any tips you might have on how I'd go about making something like this?

Well, for starters, I would say you need a good deal of experience on working on black paper. Its a world of difference from white paper since black does much of the work for you. Only advantage white has is that the lights will be brighter. =3 Pencil brand also important. Like I know I could not have done this with with my Derwent Studio pencils, but it seems my Prismacolors did the job ok. Also something that takes learning the feel of. Oh, and a big advantage I have over other artists is that I have the entire selection of Prismacolor Pencil colors, which is something around 144. That REALLY helps.

And of course, lots and lots of planning and careful thought. The labor on this was actually only around 5 hours if I remember correctly, but it was hours more just to make sure I knew what I was doing in my head. You definitely want a reference or two or more. I bullshit most of my animal stuff, but I would dare not do that with space art. c.c'

But beyond the above, I doubt I could say much more that would be beneficial. I am about 90-95% self taught in colored pencil. I learned much of what I do without a classroom. *I failed college drawing class and have no plans to try it again*

If it matters, the DA version of this lists the exact media/colors I used (which amounts to just over 30 colors):

http://eclipsisstudios.deviantart.com/art/Catastrophic-Cataclysm-166782401?q=&qo=

I tried to group the colors together in clusters. I usually let the different colors do the shading for me rather then trying to add blacks and whites to make one lighter or darker.

And on a final note, that many pencils can be an expensive investment, but of all the traditional media I have invested in, colored pencil was my second cheapest, with only graphite/charcoal being the cheapest. I invested in a special leather case that holds about 72 pencils at a time. It helps take care of them really well and keep them organized.

But then again, my biggest passion is my pencils. ^^ http://eclipsis.deviantart.com/art/Weapons-of-Mass-Creation-64494592?q=gallery%3AEclipsis+sort%3Atime+in%3Ascraps&qo=134 (sadly most of those are barely used) (and that picture is pretty old, I should take a new one)

the amount of detail in this is epic man

That was what always drew me to Space Art from the start. ^^ I just take it a bit further into my comfort zone with pencil rather then all this compy manipulation stuff. o.o

Yea I hear ya :3
Just wow though, how long did it take to make this piece of art?

In raw production time, 5 hours. But it was much longer if you include the careful planning. Regardless though, the picture was done in an evening and the next day's morning.

Wow you are good, I'd be stuck in the planning state all week myself xP

Lol, if I did everything I planned in my head, I would be popular like DarkNatasha only from the sheer amount of ideas that pass through my mind (macro, anthro, steampunk, cartoon, space art). Like I had a really awesome idea for a macro picture this morning (well, actually two because the two major concepts might not logically go together), but it would be a LOT of work to do. They would be takes on highly abused and cliched subject matter, only much more involved the the typical ones out there are.

cool and yea if I had the means to put down what ideas I had then I think I'd get a little bit of attention but I'm not too worried about that, I just want to make my watchers laugh or amaze them x3

I wish I was doing the same, but I tend to get a little carried away trying to get famous like I should not be doing. X3

If I got famous on here that would be awesome but I'm happy with just a few friends commenting and stuff and I like to entertain x3