(click here for a high resolution version of this illustration)

i thought it would be fun to do a series of drawings depicting what a future where humanity has colonised the solar system might look like, so for today’s illustration i started with the planet mercury.

here you can see an armada of spaceships approaching a city hidden inside the craters on the north pole where the sun never reaches and even water ice can be found. of course, mercury isn’t exactly the most hospitable of places in the universe even with a permanent shelter from the sun, so it would probably be more useful as a scientific outpost rather than an actual colony (like antarctica), but given all the volatile materials blasted onto the mercurian surface by the sun i suspect geologists would have plenty of science to do.

doing wildly different styles and subject matters for each illustration has really impressed upon me why so many popular online creators have found one thing that they can absolutely nail and do it over and over again. trying new things is hard. especially when you have no idea how you’re going to get to the finish line. i just hope it pays off and i actually get better at illustration cuz i’m way too lazy to keep challenging myself like this forever.