hi!
i have been trying to create a snail like the reference and have created the model. i want it to look as close to the reference as possible but i dont know how to texture it, how do i do this?
Welcome!
To get this effect, you can plug a fresnel node in the emission of the material. Your model is less detailed, so you won’t have all the beautiful ridges of your reference, you would need to sculpt them.
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thank you,
when i try to sculpt smaller details like that nothing shows up or it looks really pixelated, idk what im doing wrong
sorry im new 
how do i fix that
You need more polygons to sculpt a model. You would need to subdivide it or remesh it. If you are just starting, you should search for beginner tutorials.
Have you modeled this snail yourself? The shell might be more challenging to detail than the body. I am assuming it’s a cone-like shape that’s been rolled into a spiral? If it is, I can think of 2 ways to do those ridges, but it depends on your level of knowledge.
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If you have rolled this spiral yourself, you could model the ridges before rolling the shell, when it’s still a straight object.
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Do you have any knowledge of UV mapping? This is the way that would give you the most control, though it has a learning curve to it.
In any case, if you are approaching this without any notion of sculpting or texturing, I have to temper your expectations a little. don’t expect to be able to re-create this image perfectly in the short term. You will be able to make something for sure, but at this point it will be more a learning experience than a straighforward re-creation.
You are at a level where you need to first build up your understanding of the software and get to know which tools are even available. Most projects in 3D art require a combination of multiple tools working together to reach the result you seek. I can help answering specific questions, but if the problem is that you don’t know an entire sector of Blender, I won’t be able to explain its entire use in comments and I cannot replace tutorials or classes.
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I tried making the shell to see if I could. This is quite a challenging object to re-create!
Here is what I managed to make. I also include the file if you want to take a look, though I am not sure how much you will understand.
shell.blend (998.7 KB)
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Did you make the shell using a tutorial like this one? I based mine on it.
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Thanks for your help!
I did model the shell myself after a tutorial. Which method did you use to create thw ridges on the model you made?
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In this case, I just selected the edge loops and expanded them manually using the shrink/fatten tool. I manually added a bit more depth in the larger sections and less in the smaller sections.
However, this looks a bit too smooth and lacking detail to me. If I was doing this project more seriously, I would probably do the ridges with a displacement texture. This would allow for more detail and a less even look.
You can still do it manually like I did if you aren’t familiar with texturing, it’s just a bit harder to control the exact look and shape of the ridges.
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i added ridges to the shell and i added the fresnel node
should i add more, smaller ridges to the shell. if so how
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In my case, I could do it easily with procedural textures, because I left my shell as an open tube (with the small end tucked in to hide it).
But yours seems more like a solid object, so I would rather do them with either sculpting or texture painting. How did you make the spots on the snail’s body? Maybe a similar way could be used to add finer ridges to the shell?
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the shell is hollow
for the body i used a vornoi texture and a bump node
if i did that how could i get the ridges to all go the right direction?
For the texture to follow the curve of the shell, you would need to unwrap its UVs in a very specific way. This is going to need a bit of knowledge about UVs.
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If the shell is a tube open on both ends like mine, you can mark a texture seam on the inside of the spiral (select this edge loop, then “mark seam”). It’s a bit more complicated if one end is capped, as you would need to separate the cap in the unwrap (surround it with seams).
Then, you unwrap the UVs (UV → unwrap → minimum stretch). You should get this in the UV editor. If it shows up in a diagonal, rotate it so it’s straight.
Now, if you use a texture with UV coordinates, it will follow the general curvature of the shell, because it gets mapped to the unwrapped version.
However, the UVs we have just created aren’t completely straight, so the following won’t be perfect. To fix this, we need to use the “follow active quad” tool.
1- Pick a face in the UV editor that’s close to being straight.
2- Straighten each side so it’s perfectly straight. You can do this by selecting each side one by one and scaling it to 0 on one axis or with the align tools.
3- Select all the UVs, making sure the straightened face is active (selected last so it’s highlighted). Now use (UV → unwrap → follow active quad). Every face of the UVs will be straightened to follow the orientation of the active face.
Now, any texture that’s applied with UV coordinates will follow the curve of the shell.
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