Although this is listed as a photomanipulation, it should be noted that the only actual "photo" in it is a royalty free stock of a some clouds. I smudged them quite a bit though.
As for the rest of the image, its a combination of a little bit of everything. Some painting, some pixel work, alot of stocks made by me (planet, city at bottom right, etc)
Not a whole lot of time went into this, it was just a quick hour piece I put together, though I quite like the outcome. I mainly tried to work on the colors. I'm still not satisfied with them (mainly some ugly browns hidden in there) but its close to what I envisioned when I started out.
Edit: there is also a slightly cloudy fractal I rendered real quickly and used as a basis for smudging as well. I left a few parts visible for my own amusement I suppose.
Edit2: I may update this piece if I figure out a way to fix the lack depth without too much hassle.