The client arrived with a photograph of a temple door knocker cast in the shape of a snake, worn smooth by decades of hands. What drew them was not the threat in it but the guarding — a creature placed at an entrance to decide who passes. Early sketches chased anatomical accuracy and lost that entirely, so the drawing was rebuilt around the coil instead of the animal. The final line follows the arm's rotation, which means the serpent never fully reveals itself from any single angle.