Untitled

First off, I have to say that this piece REALLY gets to me emotionally. I often find myself looking at art going "ooh, neato" and so on.

I took one look at this and my heart absolutely sank to my stomach. This makes me feel. It makes me scared, sad, anxious. It's suspenseful; makes me want to know what happens to her next.

You have several different elements combined that give this effect; the first and most prominent being the child's face. Her hair is dirty and messy, and her face is twisted with fear. She's holding onto that gun pretty fiercely, like she knows it's her protection, but she's still scared witless to have to use it.

The second thing is the wall. It's such a bland colour (which is good for this piece) and it's all grungy and scratched in places. To me, it symbolizes a broken home type feel.

I also like how the tone of the pink is grunged down a bit, I think it adds to the effect quite well. You took a happy hue and gave it a sad, forlon shade, and it looks very nice.

I also love the amount of detail and texture you can see on the wall, as well as the use of chiaroscuro.

The only thing I find slightly bothersome is the glare in the top left corner; I think it could stand to be darkened just ever so slightly.

Great work <img src="e.deviantart.com/emoticons/h/h…" width="15" height="13" alt="" title="Heart" />