Gotta Have a Hook Challenge

Hi all, ol' Duder's got a lot of irons in the fire. Recently I've been participating in an open art challenge put on by WotC art director Jon Schindehette on his blog Art Order. It's been a lot of hard work and a lot of fun. Here is the assignment brief:

Description

Setting - A cavern

Characters - A Male Dwarf Fighter and a Hook Horror

Scene - The dwarf has just delivered a mighty smack to the hook horror and knocked it backward through a stalagmite and/or stalactite.

Details: The dwarf is wearing heavy scale mail armor. Wielding a warhammer and a heavy shield.

These are the thumbnails I started with: I chose number 3 as it felt the most dynamic and engaging to me: 

Here is the B/W drawing and value study that will serve as the foundation to the final painting:

 Next will be the final color phase coming up in the next couple of weeks.