Was just playing around with gradients in PS when I made this ball. Then I thought it'd be a good idea to throw a character in it. At that point I thought it might be good for a wall, but it needed to be put in a scene and seeing as it was Adell inside the ball, why not have Laharl holding it.

No external media, textures or patterns were used except for the two scans of Adell and Laharl. Default brush set only.
For those interested here's some early versions before color adjustment:

images:
Ball in Progress

Lighting in Progress

...commentary?