I always render the floor since it's the most tedious to do. walls are not so bad so I don't worry about them but other than a few highlights from other light sources (like in the nabi pic and some of the DM java ones) the rest of it is all done by the computer. then I do the lighting and shadows and the character etc..
Fur on the other hand is not that hard... it's a bit tedious as well since it has to be done twice, once on a multiply layer and once on a screen layer. basically you do your chacacter as normal witht he underlying mucles and shading. Then create a multiply layer do a selection of the areas you want to have fur do a fill with white then a noise (make a lot so it's half half) then go through and start smudging (with a medium-big brush) them with the grain of the fur.. as you would expect to see it. then on the next layer you do it again but with a screen setting. Then you play with the opacity of both untill it looks good.. then after all layers are collapsed you can go in and do the edges where the fur should poke away from the body make sure it's not any bigger than 1 or 2 pixels.
(looks up at the "detailed" instuctions) heh.. sheesh, any want my recipie for a beef pasta dish too.. heh..
so anyway, might be getting that job at the college. The postition is now officially open and funded. I also got snaped up by a new games company. you can go check out their first game which is quite good.
www.yamisoft.com