The Making

This is the process of my last artwork :

First, i make a thumbnail based on my idea. The rough thumbnail is a bit hard to understand. It doesn't matter.

Then, i'm starting to block-in areas based on the previous thumb, defining light & shadow, perspective and did several color experiment. 

I also did a bit studies of smoke. For example, about the armor and what color smoke is. Fortunately, somebody has already found the answer. http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2012/12/what-color-is-smoke.html (thanks alot).

Gurney explained that against a light sky, smoke will appear orange.

At this point, i felt that the color of the sky is not too good. So, i did some slight color adjusment to the image and make the sky brighter and more blue. After that, i did some rendering and details.

Add some more details, effects, motion & radial blur, smart sharpen, and the piece is considered done.

I hope this steps are helpful. :)