Thanks,
@Apostate. Yes, the 'uncanny valley' is a very appropriate description, I already changed my location in my profile accordingly.
Hell actually only plays a minor role in my workflow (like in 'Hell, how did I yet again spend so much time on this shit?'). But I will gladly elaborate, it is rare enough that somebody actually wants to be exposed to all the boring aspects of 3d rendering:
I use a software called DAZ Studio. The company follows the 'Gilette principle' in that they give away the software and the base figures for free and sell the extra content like clothes, hair, etc. The figures are much like virtual marionettes: 'meshes' with 'bones' that allow for posing the limbs. The basic meshes are already quite good. They are modified by so-called 'morphs' that distort the meshes. For example, there are about a zillion breast and ass morphs for the base female figure, but also two or three face morphs. People who can do 3d sculpturing (I can not) make these morphs and sell them for re-use. Then there are meshes you can seamlessly attach to these basic figure meshes, most importantly hair and genitals (because the company that produces the figures sits in Utah and thus all their dolls are sexless). But there are other add-ons like demon horns, wings or tails, for people who like their dolls being raped by monsters or angels. Clothes are another category of figure-specific meshes. All meshes can be covered with surface textures, i.e., skins in the case of human figures. People make skins from photographs of nekkid humans and sell them. One can also put or project layers on top of the skins for effects like wetness or blood.
Now about my workflow: What I do is that I bring the figures and other meshes (props) together in the virtual studio, find a proper way of illuminating them and take a snapshot (the render). Before rendering one works in a pre-view mode that is fast to navigate around but does not faithfully depict the illumination.The render engine then depicts the scene by physically modelling the light more or less accurately. These rendering methods have greatly improved over the last 5 years, and that is why older renders often look much less 'real'. Rendering a single image often takes hours on a PC.
For me it all starts with posing a figure (and its add-ons like hair or clothes), often in combination with a prop (a mesh of a thing, like the cruxifix). Sometimes, like in the first render in this thread, I try to copy a photograph or even a drawing, but mostly I just play around until I like the pose from a particular viewpoint. This viewpoint, the camera angle is another important aspect. A pose may only look good from a specific angle. Thus I spend a lot of time circling around the figure with the virtual camera (which is a voyeuristic pleasure, actually). When doing so, I also I change camera properties, in particular the focal length (simulating a wide angle vs. a telephoto lens), and settle for an image aspect ratio (like portrait for crux images). The face is posed separately, there are lots of options to do so. There are commercially available sets of poses and facial expressions that one can use or modify. If there is more than one actor, I try to pay attention to their interaction. I see many renders where the male figure is bald and unlovingly posed, which to me ruins the image. I also put some effort in individualizing figures and sculpturing details (muscles, veins, faces) by means of the above mentioned morphs.
Lighting makes or breaks the image. In 3d one can use images (e.g., of a sunny day) as source of illumination, but one can also place point light sources or give meshes an emitting surface (e.g., to make glowing eyes or flames). The software I use also offers a physically accurate 'sun-sky' system for illumination, which is great for outdoor crux images. All these options can be combined. Like in real photography, there is a lot of cheating, e.g., if the shadows produced by the daylight are great for the pain-distorted face but too dark between the widely spread legs, one can place an inconspicuous invisible spot light. One does a lot of test renders during this phase.
Finally, I do some postwork in photoshop, basically like a photographer during image development: lighting up too dark areas, correcting colors or render artifacts, or even paint some bruises or whipmarks on bare skin.
So in case you are still with me: Thanks a lot again for your interest.