As always, your comments are very welcome.

Incidentally, anybody out there feel like offering their own tutorial? It would be great if you could.

1. Create an A4 document in Illustrator and fill it with a Gradient (hitting full-stop or period will do this). Double click on Layer 1 in the Layers palette and name it 'Sky'.



2. In the Gradient palette click on the white handle to select it then alt-click a colour from the swatches palette. I've chosed blue here but you can obviously choose whatever colour you like. Now use the Gradient tool (hit G) to redefine the angle of the gradient. Drag downwards holding down the shift key as you do so.



3. Turn off the layer's visibility and then alt-click the new button in the Layers palette to create a new layer. Call this one 'Stars'. Now create a third layer – call this one 'Foreground'.



4. Select the foreground layer and then draw yourself a straight line that overlaps the artboard as shown below. Go to Effect> Distort And Transform> Zig-zag... and create yourself a curve. Below are the settings that I've used.



5. Now got to Effect> Distort and Transform> Twist and distort the zig-zagged line so that it begins to resemble an horizon.



6. This is important: Go to Object> Expand Appearance so that your horizon now becomes an editable bezier curve. Next use the Rectangle tool to draw a rectangle similar to the one below.



7. Bring out the Pathfinder Palette, select the line and the box and hit 'Divide'. This will create two separate objects. Ungroup them and delete the uppermost object. Now hit ',' to fill with a gradient. In the Gradient palette select the blue handle and and alt-click to fill with a new colour. I've chosen yellow but what the hell.



8. In the Control Panel at the top of the screen, make sure that the object's reference point is set to the centre. Then choose the Reflect tool (located beneath the Rotate tool) and double click on it and hit 'copy'. This will place a flipped copy of the object on top of the other one. Use the Direct Selection tool to play about with the shape and then send this object behind the other object (Apple-[).



9. This is what I've ended up with:



10. Select the Star Layer and use the Star Tool to create a simple star. Remember you can use the up and down arrows to add or remove points while you draw. Fill the star with a colour and then hit the new button in the Brush Palette. From the ensuing dialogue box select Scatter Brush.



11. In the Scatter Brush Options Leave the settings as they are for now but give the brush a name. Click OK.



12. Now select the Brush tool and draw yourself a squiggly line. Rather like this one below:



13. Now turn on the visibility for the Sky Layer so you can see what you’re doing. Then double click on the Star brush that you created in Step 11 and turn on Preview. Make all the settings Random. As you drag the sliders you will see a random star-field begin to form.



14. When you're happy with what you’ve created hit OK and also Apply The Brush To Existing Brush Strokes. Now, still on the Star layer, draw a box to fill the entire artboard. Select all and Choose Object> Clipping Mask> Create. This will get rid of any stray stars.



15. The great thing about Scatter Brushes is that you can make adjustments at any time. Simply double-click on the brush, make the changes and hey presto!