CG

These images were my attempt to create interesting visuals only with the tools that Blender provides, using materials, atmosphere and light to shape the result with minimal post processing.

Created in Blender with node based materials.

I started these images by collecting references and then drew a series of digital sketches of the character and the world I wanted to show. You can see some of those here.
Atmosphere and mood were the main focus, I wanted to create a mysterious world with an eerie atmosphere that makes you wonder what kind of place and person are shown in the images. I made a few atmospheric and compositional sketches that explored those ideas in a more direct way. Ultimately I decided to not show many concrete things in the images as I believed it strengthens the mystery that I wanted to achieve.

After deciding on a rocky desert environment, I designed a character that would not seem out of place in such a location.
I then had to create the 3D assets. The terrain was made using World Machine. I created height, flow and diffuse maps with that tool.
To make the terrain more exotic and different to deserts on earth, I added vertical spires to some of the rocky parts by painting directly into the heightmap. The terrain mesh in the renders is a subdivided plane displaced by that heightmap.
The character is based on a model from Daz3D which I posed and exported. I then used Marvelous Designer to create the clothing and animated a sequence with wind blowing to give me options for a nice shot of the cape. I looked at real garments when coming up with the patterns to make sure that it would hold up if I wanted to repose the character afterwards.
The goggles and additional hard surface assets (excluding the handgun) were modelled in 3ds Max

With the modeling done, I assembled the scene in 3ds max and explored different shots to render.
I chose shots that support the goals I set out at the beginning and showcase the work that I did.
I wanted to show my work on the materials I had made using the node editor inside 3ds Max, particularly the glasses and cloak as well as the atmosphere I had set out to showcase.
Some paintover was done in Photoshop for the hair and terrain after rendering was complete.