I based the look of this here fella on one of the very common snakes in New England the Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi), the Northern variety in particular.

Drawn in pencil; colored in Photoshop with my tablet; background is a filtered image taken from a forest in western Mass.

P.S. before making a whole bunch o' crazy comments I realize that he looks like he's licking the tree, BUT HE'S NOT!! That was a visual booboo on my part :P