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Description
Here's an animated GIF of my technique and process with the Centaur Death Dealer concept. Below I have outlined the steps I took to produce this; as they correspond with the frames you'll see in the GIF.

Step 1 - Here I'm roughing out the basic gesture and silhouette. At this stage all I know is I want to create a Centaur piece.

Step 2 - Started adding some details to imply armor. Thinking maybe some kind of layered leather or plate armor.

Step 3 - Drawing inspiration from one of my favorite artists Kekai Kotaki, I add a mask/crown that looks intimidating and something a Death Knight would wear.

Step 4 - Added more detail to the armor. I started getting a Death Knight Vibe at the last stage and I'm going to run with that now.

Step 5 - Introduce some massive heavy shoulder armor. The skull motif is consistent with the Death Knight concept

Step 6 - Added a big flowing cape to give the piece a little more diversity and something else for the viewer to look at. I also added some skulls on a chain to the belt.

Step 7 - Changed the weapons to matching blades.

Step 7.5 - A slight change to the forearm on the right arm. Made it bigger to match the left arm.

Step 8 - At this stage I introduce the skull motif to the weapons.

Step 9 - Wanting the character to appear more aggressive (like twin blades and that death mask weren't enough...) I decided to give the lower/horse body full plate armor. Blades are hidden so I can better illustrate what is underneath

Step 9.5 - Modified the right hind leg. Didn't like the way it looked with armor.

Step 10 - Bring the blades back so I can understand how the composition is working. There's a lot of motion and energy in this piece.

Step 11 - Added a hood and some fabric to the head area. This makes the character appear more as Death himself.

Step 11.5 - Here I fine tuned the contrast by adding more core shadow and some really bright spots to the metal.

Step 12 - Added a cast shadow. To do this I basically take take the figure and black it out completely. Then, using the Free Transform and Warp tools in Photoshop I finesse the shadow into place. Finally I use a large soft eraser on low opacity to lighten the shadow further away from the figure.

Step 13 - Some more minor adjustments to the value here. Also blurred out the distant parts of the cast shadow as it would be more diffused the further away it is from the casting source.

Step 14 - Using a nice Hi resolution texture I create a textured background, but I give it a 5 pixel Gaussian Blur to avoid it becoming too busy and pulling attention. I also add color and darken the figure so that the specular light pops from the metal more.

Step 15 - Using a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer I tweak the colors until I'm happy with the variant. The previous color scheme was inspired by the Death Knight class from World of Warcraft, and although I'm a fan I want this character to set himself apart.

Step 16 - Finally I add some atmospheric using a 1400 pixel cloud brush as a stamp. I have the angle jitter up to 50% so it creates random coverage. I then erase away from the midsection up. Keeping the feet almost completely in fog. This also helps pull the distant appendages away from the viewer. FINISHED.

To see the completed design please visit my gallery.

Description
Here's an animated GIF of my technique and process with the Centaur Death Dealer concept. Below I have outlined the steps I took to produce this; as they correspond with the frames you'll see in the GIF.

Step 1 - Here I'm roughing out the basic gesture and silhouette. At this stage all I know is I want to create a Centaur piece.

Step 2 - Started adding some details to imply armor. Thinking maybe some kind of layered leather or plate armor.

Step 3 - Drawing inspiration from one of my favorite artists Kekai Kotaki, I add a mask/crown that looks intimidating and something a Death Knight would wear.

Step 4 - Added more detail to the armor. I started getting a Death Knight Vibe at the last stage and I'm going to run with that now.

Step 5 - Introduce some massive heavy shoulder armor. The skull motif is consistent with the Death Knight concept

Step 6 - Added a big flowing cape to give the piece a little more diversity and something else for the viewer to look at. I also added some skulls on a chain to the belt.

Step 7 - Changed the weapons to matching blades.

Step 7.5 - A slight change to the forearm on the right arm. Made it bigger to match the left arm.

Step 8 - At this stage I introduce the skull motif to the weapons.

Step 9 - Wanting the character to appear more aggressive (like twin blades and that death mask weren't enough...) I decided to give the lower/horse body full plate armor. Blades are hidden so I can better illustrate what is underneath

Step 9.5 - Modified the right hind leg. Didn't like the way it looked with armor.

Step 10 - Bring the blades back so I can understand how the composition is working. There's a lot of motion and energy in this piece.

Step 11 - Added a hood and some fabric to the head area. This makes the character appear more as Death himself.

Step 11.5 - Here I fine tuned the contrast by adding more core shadow and some really bright spots to the metal.

Step 12 - Added a cast shadow. To do this I basically take take the figure and black it out completely. Then, using the Free Transform and Warp tools in Photoshop I finesse the shadow into place. Finally I use a large soft eraser on low opacity to lighten the shadow further away from the figure.

Step 13 - Some more minor adjustments to the value here. Also blurred out the distant parts of the cast shadow as it would be more diffused the further away it is from the casting source.

Step 14 - Using a nice Hi resolution texture I create a textured background, but I give it a 5 pixel Gaussian Blur to avoid it becoming too busy and pulling attention. I also add color and darken the figure so that the specular light pops from the metal more.

Step 15 - Using a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer I tweak the colors until I'm happy with the variant. The previous color scheme was inspired by the Death Knight class from World of Warcraft, and although I'm a fan I want this character to set himself apart.

Step 16 - Finally I add some atmospheric using a 1400 pixel cloud brush as a stamp. I have the angle jitter up to 50% so it creates random coverage. I then erase away from the midsection up. Keeping the feet almost completely in fog. This also helps pull the distant appendages away from the viewer. FINISHED.

To see the completed design please visit my gallery.