first i cut out the elephant from the source image, the frog's head too. ajdusted the head on the body and did some color adjustments.
step 2 of 5
i added the shark fin and the rooster comb, ajdusted hue/saturation and color balance like in the last step
step 3 of 5
i added the tail. i used a soft brush to mask it, and drew the hairs. made some adjustments to make it blend in
step 4 of 5
here i made 2 copies of the finished creature. the first one is the underexposed one with low brightness, and the other was colored and made brighter. i started masking one of them to create some shadows and highlights
step 5 of 5
added shadows, put him against a different background. did some finishing touches