Animals have always been a part of both traditional and digital photo-manipulations and collages. A trend that is especially popular is replacing human heads with those of other animals, or simply changing some of the elements of a human face or even adding something extra. Some perfect named examples of this are the centaur (a cross between a human and a horse) and a minotaur (cross between a human and a bull).

As with anything, these trends have developed over the years and with the likes of digital software such as Photoshop we have the ability to be much more creative, doing things that we never used to be able to do before. This post showcases an awesome collection of animal photo-manipulations, followed by a small selection of great tutorials.

This Old World

This fantastic and minimalistic manipulation (and the following two) were created by Pope Saint Victor Design. The illustrations you see here are quick illustrations completed in a very short amount of time.

Temptress

This Old World

Impossible Dream

Catzilla

"Catzilla" is a comical take on the classic movie "Godzilla". The manipulation is by Sebastian Niedlich, a photographer and manipulator.

I Have Also Seen This In Paris

Just like "Catzilla", "I Have Also Seen This In Paris" is another manipulated piece that includes very oversized animals in the middle of a city, overall making for a very interesting piece of work. The piece is by Ben Heine, a Belgian artist.

New Lands End

Laughing Frog

This hilarious piece of work by Sebastian Niedlich (link for artist page can be found above) is enough to make anybody laugh (or at least smile)! It was very a quick manipulation well worth the short amount of time spent on it.

Moo

Well, this is possibly one of the weirdest things I've ever seen - I'm not sure if you feel the same way? The piece is titled "Moo", which as far as I can see has nothing to do with the manipulation itself!

Flying Tortoise

Elephant Trash Sculpture

Paradise Typo

Fast Snail

This is definitely something you don't see everyday: a snail with a rocket on its back! The smoking effects and reflections in the rocket make this piece very realistic.

Based on Color

Life?

Beast!

"Beast!" is an awesome manipulation with a post-apocalyptic feel to it. The low saturation color scheme works tremendously well with the rest of the artwork.

Black Panther

Global Warming

This fantastic typography-based piece is to help raise the awareness of global warming. Several animals have been manipulated into the piece to increase how realistic the poster is.

Gone Wild

Espejismo Urbano

This piece by Cocodmor is possibly one of my favorites in this showcase. I love the tinted colors and how simple the idea behind the manipulation is.

Ariel

1Bird

Feathered Crow

JAT - Branded By Nature

This experimental poster makes use of abstract 'liquid'-style shapes to track the bird's movements through the sky, making it visually appealing to look at.

Feestje Ann De Gracht 2009

This great poster makes use of so many current trends: grungy texture, sci-fi style lighting effects, awesome typography illustrations and animal/human manipulations - wow!

Alien Plow'd

The Bronx Gig

Because He Can

Yet another super-giant animal (this time a chicken) strolling through the city. This piece was created by "The Short Straw" as a personal project.

Rain On Me

Gara Di Lumache

Pugsquirrel

This weird manipulation by Sebastian Niedlich is very strange but at the same time very cool, and hopefully nothing we'll ever see whilst taking a walk in the park - if you ever do, it's safe to say the world has gone terribly wrong!

Transition Of The Spirit

Wild Life

Supervivencia

My Exploding Pets

These fantastic illustrative manipulations by creative Kim Jerbo use so many great techniques and are just so pleasing to look at. I love how all of the animals are evaporating into thin air in the shapes of their own spots, marks and stripes.

The Isle Of Human

Urban Environment

Evolution

Animal (Related) Photo-Manipulation Tutorials

How to Create an Abstract Photo Manipulation

Learn how to create an abstract photo manipulation with a heavy 'hand-drawn' and 'painted' style.

How to Create a Dynamic Butterfly Inspired Photo Manipulation

Use stock images to create a digital illustration in Photoshop.

Blissful Landscape Photo Manipulation

Learn how to create a breath-taking scenery by combining two photos and applying several photo effects.

Design an Epic Fantasy Scene in Photoshop

Combine six stock photographs together using various skills and techniques to produce a fantasy scene.

Creating Medusa with Photo Manipulation

Using a portrait of a woman and several other stock photos you will be creating a portrait of Medusa.

How to Design a Dramatic Winged Dragon with Photoshop

You'll be creating a fantasy illustration in this tutorial by merging two images into one using Layer Masks and the Liquify Filter.

Self-Initiated Abstract Art

Using a little imagination and a few hours of your time, you can teach yourself how to create an awesome piece of abstract manipulated art.

Creative Photoshop Animal King Photo Manipulation

In this tutorial you'll be learning how to mash up a series of photographs to create a highly creative poster based on a famous painting from the 1800's.

Creating a Spy Fly Photo Manipulation

Learn how to create a dead "robot fly" with a very limited selection of resources.

Faking It In Photoshop

Get creative with some wildlife and a glass bottle and learn how to create effects reminiscent of Smirnoff's famous 'bottle as lens' advertisements.

How to Create a Mythical Create Photo Manipulation (Psd Plus Tutorial)

Learn how to combine several manipulation skills to create a fantastical creature from a human portrait.

Transform a Human into an Abstract, Painted Werewolf (Psd Plus Tutorial)

Bring a simple concept to life and give it a fantastic final result by following this tutorial through from start to finish.