This picture is part of a series of illustrations, the Cascade years, that are introducing my science fiction project: the Shared World. They briefly summarise the 2020s to 2060s, to present the state of the world during the period 2069-2099.
In the late 2030s, the huge ecological restoration program undertaken by China in the northern lands along the Yellow river, known as the “Great Green Wall” was collapsing. A series of droughts followed by wildfires, due to both climate change and local productivist policies, ruined decades of reforestation efforts. The massive sandstorms previously known as the “yellow dragon” which covered vast expanses of China in yellow dust came back even stronger.
In the early 2040s, Beijing is facing the yellow dragon again.
making of: I used a flux generated image (made with leonardo.ai) as a working base. Then re-framed it and changed composition, fixed many AI generation issues (typically shapes interpenetrate, which doesn't seem to be a problem at first glance, but it turns out to create false volumes, distorted elements), repainted and relighted it. Usually I don’t keep a generated picture as is, rather using elements of them to compose something original but this one was a lucky output, so I wanted to see where it goes. In the end, I don't find the image very artistically accomplished, but it does illustrate my idea of a powerless city under a cloud sea of dust.