I'm also doing an illustrated novel! I think I've mentioned this before, but I adore your use of color!
So far I've only done night scenes for this novel, and have learned a lot about lighting in the process, though I definitely still have more to learn.
I tried something very different for this week's illustration, and while I think it looks cool at thumbnail size, I feel like the larger it is, the more "off" it looks.
Aaaaand here's my novel