My second grade students created these paintings last year for our annual art show. They were a huge hit with the parents! They took quite a while to complete, but were totally worth it. I found that breaking the project into small steps made they come out nicely.
First students chose an animal to create. I gave them tons of reference materials to choose from, and some students created imaginary animals. They sketched their animal onto a piece of tag board. We then spent a period painting the the fur/skin of the animal. I demonstrated how to paint an out line around the edge and then fill in the fur . Once their animals were dry, the students selected a blue, green, or purple tone of paint to the background. Some students had to do several coats of paint to the background. Lastly students used glittery paper to add vegetation. We worked on overlapping stems and leaves that wouldn't totally obscure the animal we worked so hard on.
I would definitely do this project again, as the came out so nicely!