I use Blender for the bulk of the work (modeling, rendering, etc.) and Substance Painter for the painting. On some of it I use Substance Designer which comes as part of my monthly subscription to Substance Painter anyway. The background is a High Dynamic Range Map and Blender uses that for lighting. 

I'm really close to being done on my spaceship hallway. I expect to have that posted maybe in the next week or two as I'm putting the final touches on it.

I've given it a bit more thought. I consider myself a "craftsman" when it comes to 3D modeling. I can model pretty much any machine that I can see from photos or what-ever. This sci-fi hallway I'm working on reminded me that there's a big difference between that and working from your imagination. I felt like this hallway really didn't turn out the way I expected. I think there's several reasons. Part of it is the way it was assigned to us; we come up with the concept for the pieces somewhat separately rather than having a grand vision and then figuring out how to divide it up. But I think it would have really helped to have some test sketches to try it out on paper first before spending 4 months on this only to find out it wasn't what I had really thought it would be.

But there's a big difference between an artist and a craftsman. And in this case, I think the craftsman renders reality where the artist creates new realities. I think someone who draws and paints (especially paints) learns to see these things in a completely different way. I think if you really want to take 3D modeling as far as it can go, it would be very wise to study drawing and painting to be able to paint models in ways that no software alone can, as well as to have a better understanding of things like composition and lighting and such.

So, one can obviously do 3D models that look very realistic without knowing how to paint or draw even a little (like me). But I know I sure wish I knew how to do it when fleshing out concepts, trying out ideas, and studying shape and form. And I don't think my work will ever really reach the level of "artist" without spending time studying art and that probably means painting and drawing. I just think that's a whole other level of creativity. In my case though, most of what I want to do is realism anyway. And in fact, I'll probably go back to coding once I get finished with this art program I'm in. (Although there are a couple specialty areas that I have not yet had a chance to model in that I could see myself spending a lot of time on in the future. For example, I have an interest in 18th to mid-19th century vehicles. So, I may continue to model that stuff just for the fun of it and to get good at it and possibly try and sell them in the Unity store or something. Think carriages, tall ships, and steam trains. Stuff like this may actually lend itself more to craftsmanship than art anyway.) If I need truly "artistic" work, maybe I can build a team and include people who are actual artists. But the more I do art, the more I appreciate people who are far more talented than I'll ever be.