If I were making this I would emphasise the vertical lines a bit more. Perhaps I went a bit too far with my edit :P



I think the outline around the smoke diminishes the effect of the style.

Also, I'm not too keen on the orange, I think it's a bit too saturated.

The missing outlines seem to help a lot, along with the longer tail.

Thanks guys!
It sure looks better with a longer trail, although it ruins the panoramic format.
Colors: I'll try toning down the orange. It's the blue I was most worried about.
Flames: tried, was not convinced. I might add some pure white, but I'm not too happy about it.

Sorry I didn't elaborate on this when uploading (it was late, I was no longer thinking straight...) but my intention here is mostly to experiment with these lines.
So the comments about the outlines are welcome!

I sure don't like my outlines, but just removing them takes away some volume and texture, I guess. On photographs, these clouds have a really sharp edge, and look softer inside.
Is there a way to keep that edge feeling?

I'm also interested in how to blend the vertical and horizontal lines. Presently it's random, I've tried a few things but not hard enough to be convincing so far.

I'll do more tries tonight; meanwhile I got to work a little... :(

i like the older shuttle. much more iconic and i can easily tell its a shuttle.. little bit harder for this one. of course i know its a shuttle cause i know the work, but it might take someone who didnt know a few extra seconds...
the clouds look much better. much smoother somewhat than the first one.. except the one on the right looks a bit weird, it might be that darker yellow, as it looks pretty luminary-like. also, the smoke coming from the shuttle again.. haha. looks like a skyscraper/fantasy mountain like thing now! i mean it looks sick but i dont think thats what youre going for... i honestly really liked the three lines you had before. simple and effective. the ones you have now just look like too much. i know lots of people talking about making art look realistic and stuff, but when working on such a small scale simple and iconic things (whether they compromise reality or not) come out the best. also, its art. it can be absolutely anything you freaking want. not saying youre thinking like this or whatever; just wanted to say that.

I preferred the original clouds. The current ones have too much contrast, particularly on the left side, and they generally feel more solid (usually a good thing, but not for clouds!)

Hm now that I've seen the reference...maybe something like:


(very quick sloppy edit)

?

Wow, there's something there for sure!
Actually, orange was supposed to be light from the sun(set) out of the picture to the right, and ivory light on the inside of the cloud comes from the rocket.
Now we have 2 sunsets: why not?!
The exhaust doesn't look bright enough against the night sky. Not that it really did before...

I would put the sun just a little higher or lower so it's not a perfect half circle.

Thanks guys!
I'll leave this aside for the moment, because I'll be away for 2-3 weeks (to the blessed lands without connexion and almost without computers - just a Mac (yech) laptop (yech²), not that good for pixels! I'll try though!).
I keep it in mind and definitely will get through with it. My final idea is slowly taking shape.