#1 Naivety

For this work, I created this innocent, fairy-like figure that is controlled by the hand. The vortexes on her wings indicate that she is gradually destroyed/sucked into the dark side of the world. I kept the color of her skin and the hand quite clear, with hints of red and blue to make it more interesting. The color on the girl also implies scars. I originally painted the wings almost all back but then switched to the vertexes for a clearer sense of suffering and corruption. However, I still finished it off with some bright stars in. the background to reduce the sense of despair. The overall tone of this work is mild and blue to shadow a melancholy feeling. 

#2 Praying 

For this work, I portrayed the female to be praying towards farther away. The sword in the background indicates that all the violence she's facing. I purposely made the sword not stand out from the background to show a positive message in this work. The main theme is still about hope, I referred to some traditional Chinese/Asian clothes and accessories through research and, the sky lanterns in the background symbolize good wishes by tradition in Asian culture as well. This work brings up the topic that domestic violence is scary and hurting, but there's still hope, as long as people don't give up on themselves. The colorfulness and complication of the girl's dress also give a nice contrast about beauty within adversity. I was playing around with the background and thinking about making the sword more obvious, but I decided to just give a hint of it to champion the theme of this work.