Hi,
Your project is great.

I'm very interest with this project, because it is about illustration so I want to join in this contest.
But, before I start, I have question about
1. what media do you looking for?
and of course 2. what size of it?

Waiting for your response as soon as possible so I can start working on this great project.
Thanks and regards,
Widyaguna

Thanks for your interest. I would be open to any media, although I was initially thinking it would be a digital drawing, but again I would be open to any as long as the animals are in color and look real. As far as size goes I would ideally like the resolution to be high enough to where we could blow it up to be more of a banner above our exhibit. That being said, the art work could fit on a 8.5"x11" sheet of paper if the resolution was good. Please let me know if you have any other questions and thanks a lot for your interest!

Could you upload examples of "Professional looking images" of animals?

Contest prize of $110 don't cover amount of work (8++ realistic looking animals with many details).
Maybe you could purchase stock images of animals that can be used in design and upload them here. Or you can choose more simple drawing style. Or greatly increase designers' reward.
Best regards

is it okay to have four animals on each side

Yes, 4 would be fine.

Hi any updates