Also here is a small "game" I made, just trying out some stuff for a bigger project. http://www.scirra.com/arcade/example/1321/aquarium#.T-OX7y5HC8I.facebook
For example (searching for "shadow matte pass maya") [ame=" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxBvwgEdRR8"]Maya tutorial: How to add Render passes | lynda.com - YouTube[/ame]
Focusing more on the structure would be better...didnt the blizzard example only show a moderatly sized shack?? Dont have the link handy but i believe there was a polycount too.
90 % of the time the best way would be to explode the mesh, just tell me if it answers your question here's a quick example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgYoXF6QmWw
You'd be surprised how far that doesn't take you in AAA dev. I remember hearing that Bioshock : Infinite's dev costs were around $500 million for example.
Your skin texture is to monochromatic. Take a look at http://studioproducts.com/demo/palettxt.html I think, that you should add some highlights and shadows (under hair for example).
hey @adeebalm, thank you very much man! The topology here is a complete mess, this is boolean concept modeling with some cleanup later on. It is not subd :) Here's the example shot:
After looking at the example engraved text I'd say do it by hand (you can use path-deformed text copy as a placeholder and place the individual letters accordingly).
Hey Andy great portfolio....I was pimping it on PC earlier today as a great example of what can be done with blogger (....and a scary amount of talent doesn't hurt either :) )