First blood!! first sketch
Haha, cool, you could take it either way and get a nice result at the end. Personally I like the absurd man-fish idea, but that's just personal preference.
For the whale idea I think your second last image post was going the right way about it. Having the ribcage of the whale painted up behind the ship (I'm guessing that's what those strokes of colour are?). The perspective on the ribs looks good to me, so I'd just paint them up all shiny and veiny. Or you could just put a hook and lure in your guy's mouth and call him a legendary man-fish...
like it