This project can be done with any media on paper. Here we've used finger paint. A great way to begin is to ask students to think of an animal in an environment. We always have animal books on the reference shelf to help.
I get the students thinking about all the different elements they will have in their picture. An animal. Some vegetation. The ground. The sky. I give the students full and half sheets of paper and they draw the outline of each object on the paper, leaving lots of room around it. It has to be a drawing that makes sense as a very simple shape, such as the fish below.
Because we need room for making textures on the reverse, and for easily cutting the shapes, the students might only want one or two shapes on each piece of paper, depending upon the sizes. For things like the sky and ground, they don't need to do a drawing. Then they separate all these elements onto different pieces of paper by cutting or tearing down their larger papers so that every element is on its own paper.
For the next step, the students turn over their papers and create textures on the reverse, covering all the paper, and using colors and textures that make sense given the subject. The sky and ground, or anything large, can be dealt with simply be painting a piece of paper that is large enough.
Once the paint dries, the students turn the papers over and cut on the outlines, so that they have textured and colored shapes of their objects, without any drawn lines, or details. They collage everything together to make their picture, laying it out, first, and then gluing it to a larger paper or board once they are satisfied. They might want to paint a few minor details, such as the eyes on the fish below, to finish the piece, if they feel it needs some accents.
