2025 is the year of the wood snake or wood serpent, so to celebrate the Lunar New Year, we worked on what’s becoming an annual project. I worked on this project during several live streams which you can find below if you want to see the full process. The Year of the Serpent represents transformation and growth.
Final Art
Sketches & Notes
Getting the way the snake weaved through the letters exactly how I wanted it was the hardest part. I started with an infinity loop and overlaid it on the stacked text, and then broke apart that shape to create the two snakes on top and bottom. I wanted the final result to vaguely have the infinity symbol reference but still feel organic. I also wanted the snakes to feel like they had weight where they twisted and turned through the numbers. The font was chosen because I like how it created a star shape at the center where they met when stacked, and the shapes of the numbers also resembled the shapes in the snake.
I tried a number of styles for the snake skin, more or less detailed, and went with the middle result. The one with the least amount of detail, number 3, was really interesting but it lost the resemblance to snake skin. The first one was too detailed and distracted from the snake.
