Environment studies

The reference pack:
https://www.artstation.com/a/15928156

A few words from the artist:
"My purpose was to create art that is similar to original pictures, with a little bit of stylization. I tried to copy the composition, colors, lighting, texture from the photo reference to learn more.
The environment design is kind of an uncharted area for me. So before I started to draw I watched a lot of different arts and timelapse videos of the process. I realized that a lot of artists started their work with separated layers. Background layer, mid-ground layer, foreground, plus some important elements could be in different layers.
First of all I changed the format and the composition of the art. I made it more elongated. Then I outlined the characters.
I decided to start with the background and then slowly move forward. I created the gradient of the sky on the new layers, then I sketched shapes of the background - buildings, then shapes of the mid-ground - trees, cars and then foreground - the main building on the left and the road.
Then I started rendering inside each of the layers. I tried different texture brushes, choosing the tone and colors. Then I sketched some details in each of the layers. Do you know what is the most important thing when you work on a big detailed project? Working strategically. You have to consider the logic of your actions. What should you do first? Which elements should you draw on a separate layer? etc.
The last part of the process was creating characters. I made the characters flat and simple to imitate the cartoon frame. The background is usually more detailed and realistic than characters in cartoons. I added the colors mostly intuitively. Then I tried to put them into context by adding a yellow tint.
The very last steps were: put green tint on the whole picture, made edges darker, put the grain and add the black frames above and below to emphasize aesthetics".