I've always thought of Alucard (of the Symphony of the Night installement in the Castlevania game series) as a true milestone in the look of Castlevania. Not only is it artist Ayame Kojima's first project in the series, but almost a template when it comes to the look of future heroes in the series.
I modeled it compeletly in Maya, using Photoshop and Zbrush for textures, and finally rendering using mental ray.
The background is a mix of several images from the sprite-based games, and pieced em to make a vague background. I added faint lighting effects in photoshop to both character and background.
Critiques of any kind are most welcome