Dolls

Recently, I finished a project in which I was to design and model (in Maya) a set of Russian Nesting Dolls. The theme for my family was Polka Platypus Family. Here are the sketches that I decided on. (Unfortunately my others aren't scanned/lost)My original drawings.

I threw some colors on them to see what would work and what wouldn't. I liked the idea of the monochrome colors at the bottom of this list.
This is actually an ambient occlusion render pass, but I wanted to show off my models.
I started creating my actual textures in Adobe Illustrator. This is the large doll. The accordion player in the polka band!
This is the middle doll. A bass player

And this is the smallest doll. A clarinet player.
After making an HDR (Radiance) image, I rendered out my dolls. It didn't quite capture what I wanted.
After uploading it into the picture of my room, it really didn't fit. Shadows were too dark, as well as an overall flatness of the images.
After tweaking my shadows, lights and materials, the dolls look much better!

If there's anything I'm learning, it's that being an illustrator is tough work! Also, how to UV map.