These are some thumbnail sketches I started with.
This is a piece I did using gouache paint and to play around with value and texture.
This is the final piece I ended with!

I had fun playing around with the gouache paint, especially for creating different hues of black, white, and grey. I also used pieces of a magazine I had for the legs and head. As for the animal body, I used my medium brush to create different patterns like I did in the prior piece. The brush helped created dotted and splash textures. The concept I was going for was having a being surrounded by a out of experience world.