The Zora (WIP)

Getting to work on the last race for the Hyrule Kingdom headcanon, the Zora! owo Aside from the Gerudo, the Zora are by far my favorite race, especially the BotW designs, so I was super excited to work with them! I've actually already tackled their designs once before, as shown in the two smaller images there, but as per usual since they're a year old they needed an update, especially Ruto. Some quick design notes!

-As usual I changed the outfits of both Mipha and Sidon from their canon appearance and tweaked their colors to be a little different from each other design the similarities; Mipha has a more peach/pink tone to her while Sidon is redder, almost orange-ish. Both had their jewelry changed to some shade of gold to bring more pop to their designs, though I'm also considering gold being a metal only royalty wear in Zora culture. Not sure yet!

-Mipha's outfit is designed to be a bit more showy to give off her status as future queen of the Zora; it's still functional as Zora Armor given her prowess as a warrior, but Mipha is often taking on the duties of her father the more he hands her his responsibilities to prepare her. Meanwhile, Sidon has slightly more simplistic and more practical attire; it's Sidon who was chosen as the Zora Champion instead of Mipha. Sidon wears his symbol in a similar fashion of a cape.

-I had a bit of a challenge when I worked on Ruto. As seen in the older design (the one that looks complete), I had originally opted to give her more squid/octopus like motifs to better fit with the overall theme and appearance of the BotW Zora designs. Going back to it though, I didn't like how different it felt in comparison to the original design, so the blob for the redesign I'm working on is geared to be closer to her canon look. To keep with the idea of her being like the BotW Zora, I still gave her a tail, but instead of on her head it'll be a traditional one... sort of. I pulled some inspiration from Mantarays this time since her head kinda looks like one, and to simulate the long fins she had in her OG design AND show off her position as high priestess of the Zora, I gave her a sash. If you're curious, it both stays on and floats in the back like that thanks to a bit of magic uwu