"Courage" - A painting for the Month of Love Chellenge

I've been invited to participate in a challenge this month called "The Month of Love". Each week will have a different topic and anyone is welcome to join in. You can check out more of the art and the next challenge topics on the official website: monthofloveart.com. This first week's challenge is "Heroes" (February 1-7)

Heroes, Protagonists and Idols. Who do you love to see kick ass and/or chew bubblegum?

Courage

When I began brainstorming ideas for this first week's topic of "heroes" I kept coming back to the heroes nature and not to one specific person. In many of my ideas and word lists the theme of a hero being someone who protects the innocent, regardless of their own abilities, kept coming back to me and stuck.

I started with a quick sketch of a woman with a child fending off a dragon and went from there. Initially, the woman was going to be a knight but I decided early on that I wanted to make her more vulnerable and also a part of the larger world I have been creating (more on that later).

You can find this piece up as a print in the usual places: InPrint and Society6, as well as my new Redbubble store.

A WIP stage. I decided to ditch the bundle she is holding onto and the cape was still leftover from my early knight idea and didn't fit the character I was now creating.