Sketch
Rough thumbnail explorations. Defining silhouette readability at small sizes before any detail work.
Space Stones
From a blank canvas to a fully realised slot game,every symbol, background, and interface element hand-painted in Photoshop.
What is Space Stones?
Space Stones is a fully hand-painted slot game built from scratch,from initial concept sketches to a polished, production-ready UI. The project spans the complete visual pipeline: symbol design,background art, UI components, and animation-ready assets
Every piece of art in this project (with one exception,a 3D sphere rendered digitally and then painted over) was created entirely in Adobe Photoshop using a custom brush set, with an emphasis on physical texture, painterly light, and gemstone realism.
Building the visual language
Theme & Mood
The brief called for a space-themed slot that felt premium and mystical. Rather than going for the typical metallic sci-fi look, I leaned into a darker, more organic direction,gemstones as cosmic artefacts, glowing with internal energy against the void of space.
Symbol Hierarchy
Slot games require a clear value hierarchy readable at a glance. The symbol set was structured in three tiers:
From sketch to final paint
Every symbol went through a rigorous four-stage process to maintain consistency across the full set while allowing each piece to have its own personality.
Line & Form
Clean linework, establishing the primary shapes and internal faceting of each gemstone.
Paint & Light
Full painterly rendering in Photoshop. Building up layers: base colour, ambient light, specular highlights, inner glow, and edge glow.
Polish
Final adjustments: contrast boosting, rim light strengthening, adding surface cracks and imperfections for physical realism.
Setting the scene
The game background was painted as a single large composition,a desolate alien landscape stretching to a deep space horizon. The scene needed to be atmospheric but non-distracting, drawing the eye toward the reel without competing with the symbols.
Low Luminosity
Kept the overall scene dark so bright gem symbols pop in contrast.
Atmospheric Depth
Foreground rocks with near-black values fade into a glowing mid-ground with planetary bodies.
Colour Harmony
Purple and teal nebula tones echo the dominant gem palette without clashing.
The project also proved the value of a rigorous symbol hierarchy designed from the first sketch — a decision that made UI integration seamless and will allow future expansion (new symbols, bonus rounds) without breaking the visual system.