It the same process I use when practicing digital art when basing from stock images. But your skills are much more advanced. At first I thought this was an awkward pose for carrying daggers to strike. It seems like an impractical way to deliver a slash to an opponent but then it's just for the sake of practice so it's not bad at all.
What made this post a lot more interesting is the process shots and thought process behind. I like the textures that overlay the main character, the snowy or smoke effect thing suits the image well.
Thank you for your kind words! I do think theres some commonality among most artists when it comes to process, particularly with photo reference, but there's always a few small differences that end up makign big changes.