Although I studied art in school and painted with oil paints for many years, when I saw some street artists making spray paint art at super natural speeds, my forgotten dream of painting a galaxy was awakened.
I was so excited by some of the cool techniques and the possibilities of spray paint art, which would allow one to achieve in minutes what would have take days and weeks.
And the big bonus, no art training required! Everyone can make spray paint art with just a little practice!

In a week or two I will share a more complicated spray painting, you can see small portions of it above, and throughout.


But to start, let”s make a warm-up painting in just 5 minutes using only a few colors, how’s that?

Tools and Materials to make spray paint art:
( Some of the helpful resources are affiliate links. Full disclosure here. )
- respirator mask for painting – If you plan to do a lot of spray painting or other types of finishing, it’s very important to use a mask!!
- Spray paints: I used Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch, and Metallic Blue which is widely available. In this painting I used black, white, yellow, pink, orange, and metallic blue, but you can pick any colors, such as green and purple, which we will use in the next one!
- Poster Boards: Make sure to use the glossy side for painting this!
- plastic pots, cans, lids, of various sizes, anything with a round shape and a raised or hollow side so it does not touch the paint when placed over the painting
- newspaper, and a small piece of thick paper such as magazine cover
- gloves

First we will start with the simple steps of creating a floating planet.
Step 1: spray paint shapes of some planets
Place some of the circular objects where you want the planets to be, and gently spray a little black paint to mark them.


Step 2: add colors and textures to your spray paint art
Start with the first planet, use 3-4 colors, and start with either the lightest color, in this case yellow, and quickly go to the next shade – orange, then, blue, and the darkest – black, overlapping the adjacent colors. don’t be concerned about staying within the planet makings. You can also go from dark to light colors, which creates a lighter planet.

While the paint is wet, quickly crumble a piece of newspaper, open it, and lay it on top of the painted planet area, very gently run your fingers on top of the paper. This will lift some of the paints and create a cool texture on the planets. Lift the paper and here we have the start of a planet!
Here is another sequence of the steps with different colors – After all the planet areas are painted, we will cover them with those cans and lids, and create the space around them.

Step 3: spray paint the background details
Starting from one corner using dark colors of black and blue, then progress to lighter colors of orange, yellow and pink. This creates a feeling of light moving through space.

Now we can lift the covers, and move on to the final and super fun steps: stars! Spray some white paint onto a small piece of thick paper, there should be enough paint yet not too much that it drips. Face the paper down where you would like to have the stars, and tap with your fingers on the back of the paper to create clusters of stars.
And those comets! They are the easiest – just place the can upside down, face the nozzle toward the direction of the comet, and give a quick tap on the bottom of the can.

Here’s our 5 minute painting! Next time I will share a painting which uses different colors and a few additional techniques to create a galaxy, plus some tips and tricks!
Have fun and happy spray painting!

Mine didn’t turn out so nice 🙁 The paper trick ended up making deep grooves instead of making a nice color blend and pattern. Was disappointed! I’m going to try some different things and see if I can get the texture you have!
don’t be discouraged! it takes a little practice and fine tuning, but i promise it really gets easier! 🙂
Wow you are Simply Amazing this galaxy looks like a real Photo with Spray!!
Simply amazing! Thanks for the share.
I made one for me, one for my best friend, and when my mom saw them she had me make two for her! I’m giving it as a birthday present to my friend tomorrow! Thanks so much for posting this! Very easy and fun!
Is this kind of painting be possible in a canvas?
yes, definitely! =)
This is an older post but I just saw it and love it. I gasped as I saw how it was done. So cool. I will get to this project next Summer. I want to be outside when I use spray paint. Thank you for wowing my day. I can’t wait to find out what else you have done. Thank you for sharing.
thank you summer!! happy painting! =)
This has to be one of THE most amazing tutorials I’ve seen – so unique and absolutely beautiful! Though I have a feeling mine wouldn’t look nearly as awesome as yours 😉 xoxo
Very cool! What a fun project. It came out great!
Wow, how neat and creative.
This looks amazing, I really really love, not sure I could manage to do this but I’d love it in my bedroom 🙂
Wow! This is amazing. You’re so talented!
ahh, I’ve seen street artists do this too!! SO CRAZY!!!
This is soooo cool. I’m always amazed at the work people can do with spray.
Whoa! This is an amazing tutorial! Thanks for this share!
That looks really amazing! I can’t believe how good it looks and how effortlessly you did it!
That’s amazing! I have actually seen people doing this on the streets downtown here too. So so cool.
I’ve seen people do this live before its so cool!
I always think graffiti when I see spray paint. These are awesome!
These are incredible!! You should take your talents to Etsy and sell your art!
HOLY COW! This is so awesome!! Seriously – great work!
That is amazing!! What a neat technique!
That is beyond awesome
I remember seeing street artist do this in Vegas a few years back. We were all just in awe of how quickly he made each piece.
I love that you made it into a post. Pinning!
I can’t believe you did that with spray paint! You are crazy talented. I’m not sure mine would turn out quite that well.
Never, in a million (light) years, would this have occurred to me. But gosh is this awesome!
So beautiful! I’ve never thought of using spray paint this way.
I’m not sure I’d have the patience to learn how to do this. But holy cow it is so cooL!
Wow! How beautiful and cool! And all from spray painting. I look forward to the next picture you do!
OH MY HECK! I always see this at the fair and want to learn how to do it. Impressive.
I saw a street artist do this in Russia and it was soooo cool! I love it! Great tutorial!
russia too? that’s super cool! =)
Very cool! Isn’t it fun when you wake up a passion and it just all works out, even better than you planned! I’m loving this idea!
well said kristi! yes i love the synchronicity and flow of life! xx
This is so amazing! I have seen these on various social media sites. Thank you for the tutorial!
thanks melissa! =)
that looks so awesome! though i don’t know that i would be able to pull it off. we see these guys on fremont street in vegas all the time making art with spray paint. it’s really fascinating!!
thank you esther! street art is so cool! =)
Holy. Cow. How talented you are!!! It looks like a piece of art I could have bought for hundreds on a budget. Amazing!
thank you kayli! you are so kind!
Wow! That’s is so crazy! I’ve always wanted to do something like this but thought it was so much harder than it actually is! Thanks for the tutorial!
thank you jordan! it is quite easy!
Wow!!! I would have never thought to do this! Looks like a fun project I could do with my kids, too! Thanks for sharing!
have fun mandy and use masks!
Amazing technique Ananda. Thank you for sharing your skills.
La Verne@hopeandsalvage
thank you la verne! look forward to your new projects too! =)
Cool and awesome
glad you like it justin! =)
Beautiful! You give the artists in San Francisco good competition!
can’t compete with their speed, but now i can customize it! =)
Whoa! I remember watching someone doing that in New York, and wondered if I could do it. Love this tutorial so much. I am going to try this!
thank you julie! have a lot of fun! =)
I am speechless. and thank you
thank you so much brenda for your kind words! =)