Attempts to make a realistic planet

[Tipidemica]

I have made attempts on making a realistic picture of a planet. This is the best one I have done so far, is there any advice for helping me make this better? I am using GIMP.

I also just made this one:

[Liyelan]

It depends, what's your definition of 'realistic'?

Either way, very nice job on both of them! If I were you, the next step would be to work on your AA skills, it's a bit noticeable on the bottom picture especially.

[Sungai Pusat]

All the advice I can give (I'm not exactly the best on photoshopping. ):
1. Make mos of the planet with water. At least for habitable ones.
2. Make diversity of climates, terrain and stuff the norm.

[WokaStates]

I think the blue planet is perfect for a start (both of them are great btw). You will need to add some small details on the continent and add more colors and reflections on that "ocean". The "light" the planet emits can also be redesigned to have more hues of blue. The same goes for the green one.

I also suggest to work on an image of a higher resolution, so that you can add more details that will be more easy to be seen.

[Oterro]

By realstic, do you mean habitable? If not, why not try a gas giant? They're pretty, and I imagine they'd be fun to draw.

[Tipidemica]

Thanks guys for the constructive criticism. I actually just tried to make a background for my Desktop with this skills, since it is a 1600 x 900 screen, and this is what I got:

http://i52.tinypic.com/2lut8o8.jpg

I think this turned out pretty well, although I didn't add climate or textures to either of them. I think usually the Textures are the things that throw me off. Becuase it seems that turned out perfectly for what I was wanting. Although, I may need to figure out how to make better atmospheres and clouds on the planets. The textures on those planets I remember that I forgot to have fixed up the edges of the continents.

[Sociobiology]

adding some weather is not a bad idea, every shot NASA has has could cover

any transparent material takes ona blue hue if thick enough thats why the sky and oceans are blue, so if if you want another color think about what would cause it.
mars red because it has no water and is a reducing atmosphere

most continental margins are created by all 120 degree angles (give or take) this is a side effect of how plate tectonics work and the lack there of is an easy way to spot fake planets.