Here’s a bit of detail to show the beginnings of a colour scheme for the scene. Of course, as soon as the scene is done I can start populating it.
The different surfaces are on different layers - for example, the horizontal floor surfaces are all one layer, and the walls are another layer. So I’ll be able to tweak them later if I want to
Very cool idea and style. There’s a whole bunch of fun things to look at. Very cool mdavid 
Mark this is progressing so cool. It is really awesome… i find myself wishing to wonder around searching for a property to purchase…i’ll open up a bar and call “Marley’s” hahaha…where i wiill be serving delicious foods and have a cinema next to it :D.
snap
ow any way fantastic, i feel this one is special already!
Marley
Looking good Mark. I think that painting something like that would drive me a little crazy!
Oh btw, my husband walked passed the Mac a few moments ago and saw the city, I showed him your aliens and he thinks that it is awesome. So thumbs up from the general public as well. 
More and more wonderful, it would make a great poster, or even a wall painting, one could spend hours looking at it.
Hey Mark, great scenario for the alien fest :D, I love the all intricades roads and floors on your image, really cool !! ( and love the holes for plants and palms, cool touch!! :D) I think that colour can be work really well for your image and you have a lot of room for contrast when you work with the aliens and humans on the city. Really great work Mark ! Cheers my friend!! 
Dragneye
Hey thank you Drew. Once the crowd of aliens fills the scene there should be a lot more to look at
LightSovereign
Thanks Marley. I’ve always liked the idea of illustrating scenes which allow the eye to ‘navigate’ from one part to another. I’m really glad that seems to be happening for you. I love the idea of a bar called ‘Marley’s’ in there too … got me thinking…
miketche
Thanks Michael. Much appreciated
makaron
Hey thanks Mona
Pearlyking
Thanks Bill. I appreciate that a lot
Nekomouse
Hey thank you Bronwen. Yeah, I suppose at times it drives me a little bit crazy too but then having so much time to do one illustration takes all the pressure off, and that turns it into a much more enjoyable process. And best wishes to you for the big day too.
Giokr-2027
Thank you very much. Every illustration is something of an experiment so I must admit that I’m keen to see it finished too! I’m really glad you like the layout
Thaldir
Hey thanks buddy. When it’s all finished I might get it printed nice and big on photographic paper and put it on my wall. Well, I keep meaning to do that with all my challenge entries. One day I will get around to it
Ferx
Many thanks buddy. You have totally picked up on my strategy for the colouring. I have kept it very monotone because I really do want the aliens and humans to stand out. My untested theory is, their contrast with the scene’s colouring might even make them look a little bit more alien too
Another day, another pathway to another platform. But I’ve finally finished the colouring of the main scene now. And once again I’ll post a bit more of close-up so you have a better idea of how it looks right across the scene
Here’s how it looks at 25% resolution. Or at least, the enlarged version you see when you click on it is 25% resolution.
The flattened version of the entire scene is a bit under 93 Mb, and of course I’ll be using that flattened version to pile the aliens onto from now on. Considering that the image size is 7635 x 5580 px and containing very few flat colours, that isn’t so bad.
Of course I’ll now start populating this scene with humans and aliens.
I’ve deliberately kept the colouring of this setting very limited because as complicated as all those pathways and platforms are, I don’t want them to dominate the appearance of the image. Instead, the aliens will be brightly coloured. At least that’s the plan anyway.
However, just in case my strategy turns out to be wrong, I’ve kept layered copies of the scene files so I can easily make changes to the colouring later
To stop file sizes from going up too much while I add the aliens, I’ll now chop the scene into bits and work on one bit at a time
Genious design Mark! That’s absolutely fun to watch!
I like especially those weight-support poles and parasols which add a lot to the whole design!
As a personal note, I would go for a slight color separation between the city and the
background hills, but again, that’s only my point of view!
Can’t wait to see the alien crowd and humans in your city!
Looking real good, Mark! I love it how you always keep attention to the technical aspects - as the baloons holding up the pathways. No room for inaccuracys here!
You’re doing splendidly so far.
