Not sure if I will use this for the WC entry this week or not. But at any rate, I need to get my Blender juices going and posting this will keep my head into the project.
This is based off a concept drawing by Feng Zu on his website.
Not much done yet, but I wanted to post it.
I think I have the lighting set up down already, unless you all think I should change it.
Lots more to add.
BgDM
The lighting is excellent!! How did you do it ? AO?
What is that yellowish thing at the left ?
Anyway, keep at it, the material is very good as well
Hehe… not much to see yet… how about changing that awfull background color?? 
shul: Yep, AO and 1 area light. That’s all there is.
macouno: OK, bg colour changed. 
Slight Update:
BgDM
Cool!
Is it Area light + AO? <edit> Ops, you posted while I was posting… </edit>
It looks like
I’m using Sun with ray shadows + AO it is better (IMHO) since light intensity is uniform on whole scene… problem is that sometimes I forget to switch sun Layer on %|
Keep it up! You must catch me… I’m at 2.000.000 vertices
Stefano
Thanks S68.
As for the Sunlight versus Area Light, I prefer the area light, as you will not have uniform lighting in the real world. There will be spots of higher concentration and the area light gives me the look that I want as well.
2,000,000 verts already?! Man, you better hope your comp doesn’t burn up on you when you press F12. :o
BgDM
Here is a texture text for the stone work and the wood beam on the door.
Looking at this render, I really need to tone down the area light. Too strong and over exposing the image now. Also, need to work on the stone material some more to get the specularity down as well.
BgDM
I don’t really expect the stone to be bumpy. A stone dresser would love to use highly-figured marble or granite but would cut the surfaces smooth.
Also curious now what material you’re going to use for the doors.
If the stone triangles aren’t used to secure the wooden bar, what are they? Torch-holders? Maybe torches in them?
You are like texture GOD, right ??
Looks very good. the light is too strong, you are right… maybe a bit too yellow ?
I liked the softness of the texture from the beginning, although the current texture is very good I still think the earlier version of the sorrounding of the door was better, simpler and focus more attention on the door itself…
where are you taking this ?
its…its…JURASSIC PARK!!!..or maybe king kong
LMAO! No. Not even close. Just many years of using Blender and knowing the settings to get what I want.
As I said in my first post, it is highly influenced, (well, actually trying to make it), by this image by Feng Zu. He is one of the best concept artisits in the world.
BgDM
One thing that I notice about his concept-art is that he is very deliberately using converging lines (in this sense, converging toward a vanishing-point well above the frame) to create his “look and feel.” Nobody here is using a 4x5 field camera and the Schiemflug Principle to correct for convergence: this is a wide-angle lens positioned at near-ground level… framed very, very tight… for a very deliberate effect.
He has ruthlessly cropped away everything that can be supplied by your imagination, except the two side walls which are anything but dressed-stone. But the very tiny amount of foreground is nonetheless littered with a double-handful of stone chips, presumably fallen from those stone walls.
Observe those details and work them just as aggressively in your shot as he did in his. There is so much more than “just the props, ma’am” in any successful picture. 
Yet, if they’re doing their jobs, they’re overlooked.
sundialsvc4, this is very enlightning, I didn’t notice the converging lines before… I need to do some reading about that, sounds like a good technique to create the feeling of larger-than the picture effect…
bgDM, the reference draw is interesting - I think that you can either achieve the textures using the new procedural textures in 2.3.3 or create the actual blocks of stone and combine them together… the final pic should be a beautiful thing… btw, notice that the draw is using “blank textures” as well… almost no bump mapping
That’s great, BgDM! Lighting is fantastic! Keep up the great work! 
Feng Zhu is a wizard! But your interpretation is quite good. Maybe, when you’re finished, you could send it to Blur
And about AreaLight vs. SunLight: I often use an AreaLight, because of it’s multi sampled shadows. I agree, SunLight offers better control over intensity but allows only sharp shadows. I think, there was some BFBlender with multi samples on SunLight, but without AO though.
Yup, nice image and nice ref too!
I understand your preference for the ‘uneveness’ the Area light gives, and I would use it indoor, but outdoor?
Keep it up!
Stefano
UPDATE - MAY 26/04
Just a slight update for you all. Added the mountian/rock backdrop. I think it came out pretty good. Some more tweaks to the material and some vert pushing and all should be good. Then onto the more detailed stuff and some more texture work.
sundialsvc4: Great information and explanation on the reference image. Thanks for the insight.
shul: Thanks. I noticed about the lack of “bump” mapping on the drawing, but I feel it would be better to add more of an actual stone/rock feel to it, hence the look I have now. As for the stones, I may look at doing them individually and peicing together to get more of the drawing feel to it, but I may just add lots of vert sand extrude to make it look like that too. We’ll see.
rafael: Thanks.
Union S8: I think I would get laughed out of Blur. So not going to send it there.
S68: Thanks.
BgDM