Ouroboros

What’s the meaning behind my logo?

I got an interesting email yesterday from a curious reader who wanted to know more about the Ouroboros (or, more specifically, what it means to me) and why I use it as my banner.

It isn’t just a banner or logo or even some segment of identity for me. It pretty much defines my approach to work, life and everything in general. It defines the finality of constructs as well as the eternal nature of all things and the cyclical pattern I see in everything.

I didn’t just want to take someone else’s work and plug it into my page so I decided to draw out my own interpretation of the symbol. The creature has a very basic shape, so I didn’t have to, nor want to, do any extra embellishments.

I created the image in Photoshop using the ellipse tool and manipulating anchor points to get the head and body right. Then I applied a fiber pattern to the bottom layer and a selected gradient to the body to highlight it.

To create your own…

This is specifically for Photoshop, but I will keep the steps as generic as possible so you can use your own favorite editors.

Create a blank circle using the ellipse tool. Fill it with a dark color or pattern.
(We use a dark color to easily separate it from the other, non fill, areas. This doesn’t have to be the final color of your creature.)

Create another, smaller, circle on a layer above the previous circle and give it a light color. The light color, again, is to easily differentiate it from the other layers.
Move the circle slightly to the top right portion of the image. Then use the anchor points to manipulate the top and left side. Create a new anchor point on top, if necessary. Push those two anchor points outward.

Now you have the basic “body” of the creature defined as the sum of two layers.

Create another layer above the other two.
I basically winged it with the pen tool to create the head. But you can use an existing image to trace the pattern of the head.
Once complete, fill it with the same dark color as the original circle.

Create a new layer. Now, select the original circle you first created.
(Photoshop: Ctrl + Click the layer of the circle)

Then subtract the selection of the inner white circle we manipulated using the anchor points in step 2…
(Photoshop: Ctrl + Alt + Click the white circle)

This modified selection will be the “body”.

Now add the selection of the “head” layer we created in step 3 to this “body” selection.
(Photoshop: Ctrl + Shift + Click the “head” layer)

Our selections are now complete…
You can fill this selection with whatever the final color you want the creature to be…

After this is done, you an add final touch-ups etc… You may even want to turn your shape into a brush or pattern for easy re-use.

I didn’t want to go overboard with wings, eyes, scales, etc… The only embellishment was the texture. I think it gets the point across.

Update 03/22/08

A. Venefica has put together a marvelous explanation of the symbol. It’s far more concise than the Wikipedia article and explains with enough detail to still understand its meaning.

Update 03/24/08

"So if you put together your own country someday,
will you put this symbol in it?  

-Rick"

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