$60 - Caduceus, Modernized and Reaching Out to Touch

**Judicial** · 11:55 AM

Good morning from Palo Alto, California. We're seeking a simplified, stylized, and dramatically poised caduceus; very modern and light. Caduceus is reaching out to touch something promising with his left "hand" -- that is, the tip of his left "wing" -- towards what to the viewer would be the upper right corner of the frame. He's not pointing or grabbing, he's reaching out in the hope of being able to just touch. Caduceus should be in a single color -- HTML #33CCEE -- with no shading, shadow, or gradients. To accentuate his striving to touch the promising thing, his "chest" should probably be somewhat is puffed out, and his "head" might be somewhat tilted back.

Here's an old-school caduceus:
http://askdrwiki.com/mediawiki/skins...s/caduceus.jpg

The image should convey health, modernity, and gracefulness. It should be extremely stylized, with a minimum of lines.

No text.

We'll ask the winner to provide the image to us in two versions: light blue (#33CCEE) on white, and black on white. We'd need the original high res file for later manipulation. The image should be roughly 500 pixels wide by 600 pixels tall

We'll initiate the $60 payment to the winner via PayPal this weekend. If no suitable design is submitted, we (obviously) won't pick a winner, won't use any of the entries, and may re-stage the contest at a later date. But with all of the good work we've seen on Webmaster-Talk.com, we're pretty sure a solid winner will surface.

We're excited to see your good work! Thank you.

**uichid** · 10-01-2009, 02:05 PM

i'm not sure this is what you wanted, but this is my try

**Judicial** · 10-01-2009, 02:28 PM

uichid, thank you for posting. It happens not to really be what we're looking for. We're looking for something much more fluid and spare. It's a bit hard to describe, for which I apologize.

**serandfae** · 10-01-2009, 04:23 PM

Perhaps a suggestion, tell me what you think. People respond more to something more anthropomorphic, so what about the brushstroke (one solid color) of a man kneeling, left palm outstretched toward the viewer, right hand holding the caduceus like a cane? Done in a minimalistic style, I think that would convey what you're wanting the image to say. Somehow, I think trying to anthropomorphize the caduceus itself wouldn't have the visual impact you're wanting.

tim

**Judicial** · 10-01-2009, 04:38 PM

Tim, thanks very much for your post. You've clearly thought about this. I really would prefer to stay with the original concept. You are quite right that we're anthropomorphizing caduceus, and are certain that that can be done convincingly.

**serandfae** · 02:19 PM

Something like this?

tim

**serandfae** · 10-02-2009, 02:21 PM

Any feedback? I know you'd like to wrap this up tomorrow, so any comments you can make now might get you a few more entrants, plus get desired modifications to the current ones.

tim

**scorpionagency** · 10-02-2009, 03:29 PM

Here's concept idea

Feedback Appreciated

**JayGun** · 10-02-2009, 05:58 PM

Working on something.

**JayGun** · 10-02-2009, 07:08 PM

Finally finished. Let me know what you think.

-JayGun

**Judicial** · 10-02-2009, 08:20 PM

I'm very grateful to Ioana, Eric, Tim, and JayGun for submitting art. That said, I would respectfully say that nothing is really hitting the mark.

Caduceus should be in a person-like pose, yes. But should by no means look like a literal man. Also, it needs to pop, to feel more 3-dimensional. It should not look flat. Hey, he's really striving to reach out and touch something! Like that.

We're looking for something more stylized, modern, and light. Smooth lines, minimal lines. I'll post my best sketch of the kind of thing that I think we're sort of going for. While horrendous, it may be useful:

**Judicial** · 10-02-2009, 08:30 PM

I should add that we're picturing something computer drawn, not hand drawn.

**serandfae** · 10-02-2009, 08:51 PM

OK, I'll post something shortly. Much of my art involves optical illusions, and what I was going for was the suggestion of a figure without actually depicting it. The serpents, without changing their appearance, for instance, give the suggestion of chest, torso and legs, and the only true anthropomorphic thing is the hand. The plan was to make that more dynamic, as in flight, but I wanted to see if the initial concept was at least close to what you were envisioning. Saves wasted re-dos.

tim

**serandfae** · 04:35 PM

OK, here we go. You've presented a challenge, but OK, I'm usually pretty good at those. You want it to look somewhat 3-D, but no gradients or shading, and lines kept to a minimum. Got it, didn't use any of the above. You want it to look anthropomorphic, but don't want it to look like a man (!!!) Still got it. Made it look dynamic, and took out the hand, and the look of reaching out is achieved by the "head" and the negative space. Vectored, but can be converted to whatever format you require. If this isn't it, it can't be done for what you're asking.

Hey, if it's not what you want, no biggie, it was fun to do and something like this I can still sell.

tim

**universifier** · 10-03-2009, 03:26 PM

**Matthew_pov** · 10-03-2009, 03:47 PM

Serand. Simply amazing.

if not "IT" than what??

**Judicial** · 04:14 PM

I think I need to work on a better description and/or a better mockup sketch, because a winner hasn't yet emerged. Tim's ( serandfae ) work is wonderful, but for our (admittedly strange) tastes, it has too many lines and looks too much like Caduceus is taking off to fly away, as opposed to reaching out to touch something.

I'd be pleased to pick a winner if one posts by 5 PM (Pacific time) tonight. Otherwise, we will get to work doing a better job of describing what we're looking for, and may repost at a later date. Thank you!

**JayGun** · 10-03-2009, 09:14 PM

I know you don't want something hand-drawn, but my time is valuable so before I finalize anything I want to know if you like any of these concepts. If so, just tell me which letter you like and I can work on fleshing it out.

-JayGun

**Judicial** · 10-03-2009, 09:47 PM

OK, contest over as promised, but unfortunately without a winner! As JayGun correctly points out, an artist's time is valuable, so I will think carefully about where we go from here. Despite a not perfect outcome, I am grateful for everyone's suggestions. Thank you!