At this point I have a pretty firm idea of where I want the image to go both thematically and visually. However before the last stretch I had to allow myself the chance to explore the other possibilities in my head. 

The background showcasing the towns living amongst the landscape had a solid design from the beginning. I did want to look at utilising different shapes that could represent the area I live in more. Some alternative designs were more interesting both in color and composition (the iteration with the pink sky) however distracted from the main focus of the antenna on the hill. Ultimately the narrative/idea takes importance over squeezing out every drop of visual pizzazz. 

I'm particular to vibrant skies however after exploring some other variations of the colour I found that if too bright, the sky draws away from the focus point. I'm trying to work from a limited palette and still feel that the blue and purple accented with small hints of warm oranges/yellows feels the strongest.

For the antenna, I know I want the design to remain simple, friendly and appealing against the backdrop. In this constraint, I have been avoiding throwing cables, greebles and other such scifi extras into the mix (which is very difficult as I love that stuff!). An iteration I was particularly fond of was shaped like a lavender flower but ended up too complicated.
I iterated on the design by hopping into blender and mocking up the alternative shapes. Playing around with the shaders to achieve the luminescent/iridescent look was quite fun.
Sadly it looks like scifi lollypop won't win though!

I've made a few adjustments from the last composition, building on what I had already laid out (though I will have to re-paint a new base as the current version's layers are an organisational mess). The mountains in the distance are a little more easy on the eyes whilst still maintaining the graphic shapes. Currently they are suggested to be covered in pines, a type of tree that I enjoy to paint yet isn't what's common in the area I'm setting this scene in. I would like to incorporate more of the cliffs and biodiversity in flora of the Périgord Noir area.
As the scene is taking place in either late dusk or early dawn, the colour palette becomes limited to being influenced greatly by the sky colour and any artificial lights in the scene. I'm trying to stay true to this whilst also finding ways to bring in the suggestion of other colours, especially in the hives as currently they are quite cold and grey.
Between the foreground and the background, I've added a little more space to create breathing room. I'm walking the fine line between keeping it simple/readable and having enough content to effectively communicate the idea. 

Via a few little field trips around the area I asked some local bee keepers about the design of the hives and learned a lot about why the small stuctures look the way they do. There often needs to be a lower set entrance with a ramped floor to stop water from collecting and small staggered roofing to protect from the rain. I sketched out a few hive designs based on what I saw and heard, keeping the key features of artificial hive design in mind. I could go crazy with wacky out there scifi concepts but 1. I need to make sure that the audience can visually identify that they are bee hives without reading the description and 2. my personal taste lies more in hard-scifi with a hint of magical realism. 
An extra treat from my research was finding out bee hotels exist and are also adorable. Hives are for honey bees that live in a collective. The other genus' of bees are actually solitary and only require a small space soley for themselves. They still collect pollen and are an important part of the ecosystem. Clealy I must make a space for them in my sustainable world. Bee hotels can be varied in design and allow for a little more flare. I've placed a rough design in the scene and I like the base for what's there.

The Town in the background has been changed to reflect the local area more, incorporating small pockets of housing and commercial lanes winding along the verticality of the landscape. 
In the foreground I've added more lavender with the hope of being able to showcase the visual medley of aesthetics the plant can provide.

I was struggling with trying to accuratly layout the mushroom-like antenna so I jumped into blender and quickly modeled the main design and placed it into perpective. Turns out this saves a lot of time! The next phase is creating the iterations I need for the antenna design. I enjoy the current simple silhouette but know deep down that I haven't explored the potential possibilities. 
 

So I went in and roughly blocked out the image and quickly decided that the previous composition was a little flat. Though epic in scale I feel that the piece needed to be a little more intimate. I brought things down to the ground where we could get a sense of the surrounding area. The aesthetic of the BG town is still being workshoped but I am trying to base it off of the area I live in (south west France). I still need to find the balence of old and new. 
The color choice so far is an attempt to avoid the generic 'future colour combo' of green white and blue. (my brain really wanted to do that for some reason). At the moment I'm palying with the influence of the lavender. I'll test out some other combos next. Purple is my least favorite colour yet here I am.

The antenna's previous design was a little too aggressive in shape so I took inspiration from some interesting contemporary gas/service stations that had a round yet solid form. I will still need to iterate and create some alternate variations to see where I can take the design.

I put some little solar panels on the bee hives because 1. It's sustainable energy, 2. I can have some nice reflections interacting with the light, and 3. I think it's cute!
The lights surrounding the hill started out quite bright but I fought back my desire for extra glowing items so that they wouldn't draw from the antenna's focus. I also researched what lights would be most friendly to bees and it turns out that warm, dim lighting disturbs them the least. 

I threw in some stamped tree silhouettes last minute to test making the scene a little more nestled into the landscape. From this I came across an alternative, verticle compostion that could focus in more on our agents of change. I'm still deciding what could work better. 
I don't suppose anyone reading this might have an opinion on what works best?

When I imagine a sustainable future I don't picture massive maga cities but small communities working collaboratively. 
For me sustainability incorporates a harmony with nature. I was inspired by the copious lavendar plants dotting the landscape surrounding my home, populated by bees in a living ecosystem. 
From this reference, my agents of change are working together to both care for the local environement and setup new communication technology that keeps us all connected.

In my initial sketch I've incorporated the lavender and bee hives atop a natural high point. The new antenna being setup is supposed to be more visually appealing opposed to the towering masts of today.
For the surrounding landscape I want to showcase the small towns and villages nestled into the valley. Hopefully I can make it look cosy in the final painting!
I'm trying to avoid a standard daytime lighting setup, though I will need to make sure that the piece doesn't feel too dark or uninviting. 

Enjoying the process, looking forward to colour next!