Sitting Toad

This image started as a simple scene to display the toad model but quickly turned into a project of it's own. The toad was modeled in 3ds max then detailed and textured in ZBrush. The ground was modeled in 3ds max and the displacement was created using the some height maps created from a bump map that accompanied the texture and using them as masks to detail in ZBrush. The water was modeled in 3ds max and detailed in ZBrush then taken back to 3ds max to touch up the topology. The tree shadow is a plane with a diffuse map and alpha placed above the scene. The rendering was done with VRay and Photoshop was used to adjust the levels and add a slight bloom effect.
Edit: I've also added some subsurface scattering to the toad materials so he has a more fleshy look.

Toad

This image was originally inspired by a post on zbrushcentral.com in which someone was modeling a frog. I started with a very simple base mesh in 3d studio max that was exported to zbrush for sculpting and painting. I brought the toad back to max for some renders and decided to make a simple scene. I added a ground plane with a simple rock texture and bump map. I wasn't happy with the look of the ground plane so I took it into zbrush where I used various altered versions of the bump map to mask and model the ground plane. I then exported a higher poly version back to max along with displacement and normal maps. Next I decided to add water to the scene. I used V-ray for rendering.