Katie Quenneville – dream-inspired artwork

Katie Quenneville, on how she creates her distinctive images:
My creative process, hmmm, that depends on what I’m doing.
For my 3D work, I generally go off of something I’ve seen, either a picture or a dream. From there I do research and rough sketches. Once that’s done, I start the modeling. Everything is done in Maya, with the occasional exception of textures and bump maps, the aspects that make everything look pretty. Otherwise it’s a gray model.  I personally choose to model everything in a separate file, then combine it all into one once each piece is finished. The last stage is adding lights and cameras and rendering it out to composite. As easy and simple as it all sounds, the whole process from start to completion can take up to three months.
My photography is generally spur of the moment. I always keep a camera with me, so if I see something interesting or the sunset/sunrise is particularly beautiful, I take a photo. When it comes to pictures of people, I’ve tried the “create a backdrop, fix the lights just so and pose the person” route; but I find that the best photos of people come when the person is comfortable, in their element and not aware of the exact moment I take the picture. 
Katie Quenneville is on Deviant Art here: http://castle-kate.deviantart.com/gallery/#_featured and also on Facebook under her name.