This is the last of the older pieces I’m posting here, and is a black and white vector line drawing of the Rod of Asclepius. Also known as the Staff of Asclepius, this symbol combines a rod and a snake, which were the elements associated with Ascelpius, the Greek god of medicine and healing. Today this symbol is widely used within the medical field (along with the similar cadeuceus symbol, which combines a rod with two serpents and often a pair of wings also).
Rod of Asclepius. Digital.
This drawing started as a rough pencil sketch in my sketchbook, and I later decided to outline it in Illustrator. I can’t recall why I decided to draw this symbol in particular, other than that it has a snake and I like drawing animals, plus I have an interest in symbols. The snake and rod have doodle patterns and a stylised look, in a simple monochrome colour scheme.
I remember spending a crazy amount of time on those little ovals on the snake’s belly! These days I think my drawing style has loosened up a bit, but I’m still prone to getting bogged down in tiny details like this. I think it partly comes from spending a few years drawing my colouring books in Illustrator, as for me vector art really lends itself to that kind of (unhealthy) perfectionism. It’s so easy to spend far too long tweaking anchor points, plus the line quality is by default very smooth and flawless. When I switched to Procreate on my iPad for outlining my books, it took a while to stop myself trying to replicate that perfect vector line style in my hand drawn lines. I still want to loosen up my drawings more, but it’s a work in progress 🙂
This Rod of Asclepius artwork is available as prints in my shop on Pixels.com.
