Colony

Let´s begin the new year with a collage.
Haven´t done any since "Metropolis" I gladly accepted this challenge and started my work with assembling appropriate source material.
Most of the pictures I used here are from "stock-xchng" [link] .
It´s an excellent site with lots of great stuff.
I took 6 images and began "modeling" the terrain, still not knowing what I gonna end up with. I just knew I wanted to portrait what a colony on a mars-like planet would look like.
Cause the environmental conditions on such planet are devastating (sand storms and stuff) colonists would use the canyons/hills to build the colony right into the rock.
After that I concentrated my attention to the landscape, added some more hills, this huge waterfall, the river and the far regions behind the colony.
I even made sure the lighting is somewhat realistic. And here´s a small part I didn´t steal: I took the planets of my previous work "Conjunction" and they fit perfectly.
Finally I added the atmosphere, some clouds and stars.
That should be enough to answer 80% of your questions.
Enjoy