Free Will Commission Sky Underpainting

Following up on my last post, the underpainting for the sky in the Free Will commission is finished. I'm currently editing together a bit of the video footage of the process, but in the mean time, here are a few images. 

I realize that liquid-fueled rocket engines such as SpaceX's Merlin and Raptor do not leave a smoke contrail behind (it's more of a solid rocket motor thing), but for compositional purposes, the contrail is essential since it tracks the rocket's trajectory up and to the right (starting intentionally directly behind the group of kids on the right). Let's call it 'taking a little creative license'. Also, given the size of that contrail (compared, for example, to the cityscape on the right which is actually closer to the viewer than the launch), that rocket must be enormous!

Another small note: the fires burning in the background on the left are probably too bright in the underpainting, but that is one thing I find hard to accurately judge in monochrome.