Reference

I was looking for some references that could help me put things together. Basically I was aiming for a dramatic shot of an ancient passage, and so after doing some research I came up with these references:

Modelling

Most of the objects in the scene were poly modeled. I believe poly modeling is more flexible and a commonly used technique in similar scenes as it facilitates the process of laying out UVs later on. I had to use other techniques like Splines and Loft objects. I find it more convenient to set up the camera angle at early stages so that you don't have to model what is not visible to the camera. This is the camera angle that I chose:


Now it is the perfect time to move on and model all the details you want to have in your scene:


Since it is an ancient scene that we are after, it is a good idea to give your models an irregular shape. This can be done easily by adding more polygons to places where you want it to look and feel old, and then adding Noise modifier with reasonable values. It might look a bit exaggerated in viewports, but you have to put in mind the distance from camera, and GI calculation which blurs details due to interpolation:


More tiny details were added with the aid of Cut tool:



As for the awning (sunshader), I've used Cloth modifier. It started out with a simple plane, with enough segments to deform properly in simulation. Two cylinders were positioned below the plane to give it a shape of an awning stretching over a structure of support posts. In order to give it some wrinkles and folds, I've added Vol. Select modifier and on the vertex selection level I've selected areas where folds will most probably be. Soft selection had to be turned on to make it right. Wave modifier was added at the top of Modifier Stack. You can play around with values until you are happy with the result. To fine tune it even more, Noise modifier was used with a low value in Scale: