Inspired by Glen Cook’s Black Company series, there shall be no manta ray, instead, a weird whale-like thing, with a geodesic dome embedded into it’s back.
No tail, so it should be reasonably easy to animate, and I’ll be cheating by using Citygen to create the inside of the dome.

Still a little unsure about the finished design, I may try to sink the dome into it’s back, like a shell, but for the purpose of the animatic, this is a good start.

Some useful links, for my own use.

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/blast_wave/
http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/glass_orbs/
http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/planet_explosion/ Very useful!
http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/dead_planet/