If at first you don't succeed, try again three and a half years later

The recent Chemical Science cover below was developed from a concept I used for candidate cover art three and a half years ago with the same client, the Mankad Lab at The University of Illinois - Chicago. It was originally made for a JACS cover (see bottom image), but as I now understand, JACS editors generally seem to prefer eye-catching images of chemical structures, with minimal interest in the metaphorical, whimisical, or comical. My client had the idea to reprise it and lo and behold it worked!