Year of the Snake

Speedrunning my annual Lunar New Year illustration...again!

Jan 29, 2025

Remember when I promised in last year’s Lunar New Year post that I would manage my time better to avoid having to rush through my annual LNY illustration? Well here we are again. But to be fair this year I’m swamped with client work and I’ve had to squirrel away hours here and there to work on this illustration!

For those who are new here, I have an annual tradition of making a personal piece for Lunar New Year featuring each year’s zodiac animal. It’s something I look forward to every year and a chance to challenge myself and push past my own boundaries.

Here’s a look back at my zodiac illustrations from 2024 to my very first piece in 2020:

To be honest I’ve been dreading working on my Year of the Snake illustration, largely because the way I interpreted the Dragon last year was quite snake-like. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to change it up this year! But one idea that I couldn’t get out of my head was the Legend of the White Snake, and how I could play with visuals from this story.

For those who aren’t familiar with it, you can read the full myth beautifully told through Shaanxi shadow puppetry here. The myth, which has been retold for centuries, essentially tells the tale of a forbidden love between a man named Xu Xian and an immortal white snake spirit, Bai Su Zhen.

I’ve always loved mythology and it’s often one of the first places I turn to for inspiration when I’m left to my own devices. So it was an easy decision for me to go down this route with the excuse to dive into a lush and magical world. I wanted to bring my own version of this story to life—with a sapphic twist!

✦ Ideation + Sketches ✦

With very little time to work, I threw a reference board together and scribbled out two thumbnails before jumping straight into the final illustration.

While doing research I initially wanted to go the Beijing Opera route for the look of Bai Su Zhen and Xu Xian, but I ultimately decided to go for a romantic swishy-robe Ming Dynasty-inspired look instead.