Gustavo Groppo published on 3DTotal his making of „ Once Upon a Time...“ where he detaily described his work. The inspiration for this work Gustavo found when he saw No Country for Old Men, cause he loves Western American landscape. Photos from 1970s were also a source for reference pictures. Gustavo said and showed that modeling elements were extremly simple. Some vegetations and stones that he used were models, that later Gustavo modified and for best visual results used the Hair & Fur system in 3ds Max.
At the end he explained how he managed a setting of V-Ray for rendering and Photoshop for post work. Gustavo used 3ds Max, V-Ray, Photoshop and Lightroom.
Source and full article: 3DTotal