Hi Shawn, it really doesn’t matter that much; just do what makes you feel comfortable.
As for color, materials and shaders, one object can have as many different materials as you want, so no need to consider that…
What does matter is the modifiers. One object can only have one modifier stack.
Think logically. If you make a human for instance, you can make the hands and even the fingers separate objects, but (at least to me) that wouldn’t make sense (in normal cases). If the person is wearing a hat, it depends…is he/she always wearing it or maybe hangs it on a hook or whatever…You get the point;)
