“The main inspiration behind “Play” was our living room wallpaper. I have a very similar bear sitting on top of a CD rack in front of the wallpaper, so I thought it would be just a fun little project to model it and play with hair and fur. I also wanted to see how far I could push an image on my own, without a retouching team…”
http://www.3dtotal.com/tutorial/3d_studio_max/makingof_play/play_01.php