Run notes are where we say how a set of pieces was thought about, not how it was sold. This one is about the Guardians of the Innocent pieces and the single hardest question they asked: how do you put protection on a chest without it becoming a threat?
The problem with teeth
Draw a dog protecting something and the instinct is to draw teeth. Teeth photograph as aggression, and aggression on a garment is a costume — it announces something the wearer has not necessarily done. Protection, as the brand describes it, is a duty: strength exists to serve what matters.
Why the doorway works
A dog in a doorway is not threatening anyone. It is occupying a position. The whole meaning of protection is positional — you put your body somewhere so that something else does not have to be there. Once the drawing shows the position rather than the emotion, the graphic stops arguing with the person wearing it.
You cannot draw courage. You can draw where a body chose to stand.
What comes next
Each virtue keeps getting its own drawings and its own pieces. When there is something worth saying about the next set, it will be written up here.