I added more texture, and obscured the details a bit to give this image a harsher, more painterly feel.

Although I liked the idea of a storm brewing in the distance.
The purplish background from earlier versions felt too passive for me.

However, now a battle wages up in the heavens as well!

Using the circle select tool in Photoshop I created four layers for different values. I then applied the airbrush tool using the lightest color first with a large digital brush and then layering above it. Once I merged some layers I touched it up using the darken or lighten choices in the brush menus. Using a smaller brush size.

I inverted the select tool and did the same for the background.

After I flattened the whole file, I added a blur filter to soften the hard edges the select tool created.

Some quick doodles based on "Shadows of the Vulture".