Snazzy Sunset Fox behind the scenes

I will art-nerd a bit about this most recent piece. Here we go! :D

I usually start with the character and then either wing the background or base it loosely off of what is in the reference photo. But this time I liked this photo of a sunset so much that I painted the whole backdrop first.
Sort of. :S
At some point I added a quick silhouette of Lucy to try out different placements to see what works best for the composition

I did the light and shadow on her by just adding a multiply layer as always and set it up so it only applies to her body. Then I completely filled it with a cold grey and erased away the parts where the sun hits her. :>

At last I added some glowy color dodge to those lit areas to make them more saturated and warm.