Barba - Ray Mermaid

Edit:

I've finally named her! Barba. Which means 'Whisper' in Latin (we have a running theme...)

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This mermaid design was loosely based on this freshwater ray. Obviously, it doesn't look exactly like it (that was the point, really) I simply used the ray as a basis to work from.

It took about ten different attempts before I came up with this finalised design - the early ones looked very much like the actual ray itself, but I felt it was too anthro and a little too round. So, I went in a different direction and took only the basics.

This is what I ended up with - something that seems a little of a cross between a human, a ray and a dolphin. (As well as the colour, the dolphin bit comes in via the reproductive and excretion organs - I think I may have thought about these things a little more than is needed...)

As you can see, instead of making her torso seperate from the 'wings' of the ray, I decided to merge them. The arms are still completely able to move as a human's does, and her fingers are completely free, so she can still grip things. The 'wings' run the course of her torso and are almost completely muscle, so are able to be moved - not as freely as an arm, but they can be moved independantly of each other.

Enjoy! I'm actually quite happy with this. So far, she hasn't got a name - can anyone suggest? (Please - no 'rayanne' or 'raysan' or indeed, anything containing the word 'ray')

Mechanical pencil, fine line pens and karisma colour pencils on daler-rowney heavy weight cardstock.