My skink project was the ultimate project for me to deep dive into many fields of the VFX pipeline. First I modelled it in ZBrush and Maya. Then I textured the model in Substance Painter. I rigged it basically to create a better pose and some basic animations. I used blend shapes for the breathing animation. Then I shot footage and then did some match-move and compositing in Nuke. For the rendering, I went with Redshift in which I'm still learning how to get better results.

Texturing phase.

Sculpting phase.

References.