If you don't use a template, the problem you will face in trying to reproduce the looks of those images is that many individual techniques and effects went into the production of each image.
Rather than asking how to reproduce the overall look of even one of those images, I think it would be much more productive for you to separate that overall task into smaller pieces, and then develop good skills and techniques for each aspect. You should then put them together in smaller groups of skills before trying to immediately try to put them all together in one shot. Specifically, here are a few skills and techniques that come immediately to my mind:
Creating the antique tan background used in some of the images;
Creating appropriate typography;
Creating abstract, painterly backgrounds;
Masking and blending techniques;
Creating highly saturated brights in some areas;
Creating highly saturated shadows in other areas;
Creating pastel mid-tones;
Use of layer masks and layer blending modes;
Use of layer styles to accentuate some of the typography;
Brushwork and how to find and select appropriate brushes;
Simulation of realistic / appropriate shadowing and highighting;
Simulation of perspective and other 3D effects;
Edge effects;
etc.
For example, one example of starting with manageable chunks of skill-building is that you might start with a normal photo of a lion and we could guide you through the process of making the shadow areas (eg, around the mouth, the tip and LHS (his) of is nose) have blue-cyan colors. Another example of a very manageable "chunk" of learning might be to come up with a suitable antique tan background with darker edges.
I realize that this systematic approach sounds like a lot of work and a lot less exciting than working on the entire image right from the start, but, in the long run, the more systematic approach will pay off handsomely because you can use those same skills on other images that you are creating.
Tom M
