CHARACTER DESIGN
TAMUATÁ WARRIOR
YEAR
2025
A few years ago, I went to my mother-in-law’s house for lunch, and for the first time, I saw a very peculiar fish. It looked like it was wearing armor — its scales overlapped beneath the skin like plates, and its metallic sheen was the final touch that made the thought pop into my head: “an armored fish.”
Since then, I’ve always carried that image in my mind — a warrior fish, perhaps an anthropomorphic knight swimming through the rivers and lakes of the Amazon, protecting nature from malicious humans.
For years, I’ve tried to design an interesting character based on it. I even lost an earlier file with a different design, unfortunately. But I think I finally managed to achieve a result that satisfies what I had in mind.
The fish’s name is Tamuatá (Hoplosternum littorale). I don’t remember the taste.
Early explorations on design and shape language. Initially I had two builds in mind: a slender and a bulkier one. After many tests and thoughts, I ended up going with the slender one since that was the look that I had in mind most of the time.
More explorations on design and shape language, as well as explorations on its borduna tool.
Earlier look, the tail-like structure would be some sort of vest similar to brazilian indigenous clothing and some clothing medieval knights would wear underneath the armor.
Some references used. The actual references file has many more.
Without appendages