That final looks really nice!
I always love seeing other people's processes, and it's also great to see that 3d bases is really common, in the early days when I demonstrated how I used my bases I got told it was cheating XD
Are the sky experiments in the progress shots Zbrush or Keyshot or you painting? I don't use either of those things and only have some idea of what ZBrush is capable of and no idea whatsoever with Keyshot :)
Thank you for your comment, my friend! In the days of such evolving tools, I consider nothing as cheating as long it gets the job done :) Im glad such tools exist that help with faster and more efficient ways and especially when it comes to strict deadline gigs! so yeah, I also have heard that cheating thing going but, truly, it doesnt matter in the end as long you can convey the result you looking for. Its all tools in the end!
In the rendered scenes, its actually hdri sky maps in keyshot! it allows you to use any kind of photo and simply play around with the values ,sun highlights, etc! I find it extremely convenient and this kind of method is what I mostly apply on my commercial hired work and its a kind of pipeline that is extremely common in the industry as well!