The Pavement Special, The Canis, Mongrel Logic, Character Design Kerryn Hewitt The Pavement Special, The Canis, Mongrel Logic, Character Design Kerryn Hewitt

The Design That Almost Broke Everything

Spineless was supposed to be a small protest piece. Instead, it nearly broke the visual coherence of The Canis. Five days, multiple redesigns, and one accidental stress test of the entire world later, the condition has arrived.

A conceptual piece showing the range of art style successfully converging in one world, a world map showing characters, jellyfish, geometric eyes, geometric designs and dripping psychedelic trees.

A conceptual piece testing if art styles can hold in the same world

When I set out to build The Canis, it was to try and solve a few problems at once.
I didn’t anticipate creating one instead.

Enter, the jellyfish.

I did not choose this design. It popped into my head one night.

I have a real fondness for political cartoonists. I grew up on Zapiro in South Africa and enjoy many of today’s artists.

The jellyfish concept was my own little protest. I shelved the idea for a couple of weeks until the jellyfish suddenly slotted into place within The Canis. A condition. Spineless. The enchanted ones.
It represents what confronts us. What we’re up against in The Canis.

Jellyfish nightmares

Model wearing Spineless design by Mongrel Logic, featuring a condition from The Canis. Red and blue split design on organic cotton, representing systemic pressure and the forces that spread.

Spineless

I kept waking up at 5am with the jellyfish fading behind my eyelids. Hating it.
It took me 5 days to do. 3 of those were 7.5 hour sit ins.

The one that ended up on garment is the second third version.

I couldn’t see why. Was it conceptually weak? Probably. Was it good? I don’t know.

Nearly broke The Canis

Five minutes after I’ve built The Canis, I’ve designed a character that broke it. I could not tell if it was pushing one style of art too far.

If I have, which style do I go with, do I need to redesign everything and pick one or will this evolution of story be legible?  My brain was a rolodex of symbols and iconography.



The irony is this is exactly what Spineless represents


The conditions that spread and fracture our systems, that push to the brink and force change.
I bit the bullet and released it into the wild. I still hated it.

I mocked up the world. I needed to see conceptually if it held. No one knows that the Raptor design is really a sleeping geometric creature. No one knows that the Sun Eater doodle has morphed into a formidable Token. No one knows how dangerous it is. The fragments are only just being unearthed.



It didn’t break


To my surprise, it held. Even if the AI concept mock-up has gone a little literal with Raptor…He was inspired by the Bio-Raptors from Pitch Black. Still some of the best creature sound design ever made.



Spineless


The enchanted. Because pressure always finds a form. The condition. Organic streetwear for those who recognise.

The next 5 designs are planned.
The next fragment is being unearthed.
I thought the jellyfish was going to break The Canis.

It didn’t.
I like it now.



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