Meet Samantha, she is modeled after a Red-Eared Slider turtle. She was just an idea I had bouncing around my head until I had  Moss draw her on one of her traditional streams. I liked the character so much I had Moss draw her again and now I had  Light_Snowpaw01 draw a reference sheet.

I've seen antrho turtles before and they all seem to have the shell be a removable and non-essential part of their body, almost like a piece of clothing. In real turtles of course the shell is a core part of their skeleton and I wanted that to be reflected in her character design. Thus while in real turtles the head/front legs and tail/back legs come out one opening, with her I wanted them to each have their own separate opening in the shell to make it clear that she cannot remove her shell anymore than a normal antro can remove their spine.

Just a few notes about her for when I give this to artists as a reference.

Her torso/shell is completely rigid, front, back, and sides. If it's not green, it's rigid shell. (Not counting her stripes.) She has no ability to twist or bend her torso.

While her arms have a good range of motion, her legs are more limited.

She walks with a waddle because of her rigid shell, but she can balance just fine.

Her shell goes between her legs front to back with an opening for her tail.

Her "breasts" are just part of her shell to make it easier to denote her gender. She has no nipples.

Her shell is quite heavy and thick all-around, but her limbs are very strong.

She is quite happy having a shell. It's a sort of security blanket to her, keeping her safe from the dings and dents of life. She will hold onto the rim of her shell sometimes.

I have her job as that of a construction worker, where her strength and hard shell could be seen as assets.