I will often hire and photograph models when I need to create human characters. But when I need to create a creature, spaceship or alien I have found that I get the best realistic detail when I do a small-scale sculpture out of clay. I then photograph the sculpture in a carefully controlled lighting setup. In this way I make sure that the lighting for the subject matches precisely with the lighting that I will use in the background. This ensures that the foreground characters will visually integrate with their surrounding environment, and look like they naturally belong there.