I freaking love how the king and lain's designs kind of complement/contrast eachother. Lain is lighter, the King is darker. Lain has stripes, the King has spots. Lain has very smooth fur, while the King is way fluffier.
Something I've always thought as well, Lain's stripes look like waves. Might be a little bit of a stretch, but idk. Maybe because of the comic name, maybe because they are near the ocean most of the time, my brain just made that comparison. And the King's spots look like when the sea comes back? I dont know how to explain it, but they always remind me of the pattern in the water after a wave crashes.
Like this:
Idk if it was on purpose or not, but it conects them yknow. Its very neat. I've been thinking about that since the King was formally shown, and these last few pages Lain and the King are shown closer togheter, so the comparison was easier to make.
While almost none of that was intentional on my part (Their designs were meant to contrast tho), very fun analysis of their designs!!
I don't think I had a specific Design Purpose for giving Lain those stripes, I think I just liked how they looked+wanted more sharpness/contrast in his design.
HOWEVER, The King spots+big fluff mane was meant to emmulate ermine fur coats that royalty would wear
