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Under the Surface · Original Short Story ·
Organised by RogerDodger
Word limit 2000–8000
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The Hand and the Eye
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#1 · 1
· · >>GroaningGreyAgony
A not that obvious symbol for this story.

The colors and the lightening are pretty and vibrant, so vibrant that I'm wondering if that was "necessary". For me, the story this image is based on didn't call for something so shiny and almost "cartoonish".
That last adjective is a bit exaggerated, and from what I've seen, the Hamsa is usually represented with vibrant colors, but still, the narration was so detached that it almost felt impersonal to me.
Moreover, I'm not sure to get why you added the red veins. My guess is that in order to protect people and the country from Evil (aka terrorism), the eye can't blink - thus the red veins.

Anyway, nice and pretty work.
#2 ·
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A sinister perversion of a famous symbol, in a sense perhaps like the dark veins of hate embedded in many cultures. Nicely sanitized of realistic blood to protect the squeamish. Creative use of the border flourishes to show the bend lines in the fingers. Eight of nine Bézier curves.
#3 · 1
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>>Fenton

The Hand and the Eye

Woot! Thanks for the bronze. I was lucky to get it with so many other quality entries in the ring.

Graves struck my imagination the most, but finding a way to make a viable illustration wasn’t easy, even though the story itself provides plenty of visual cues. I first envisaged something quiet, such as a scene of the house where the arm lay on top of the roof and it was only just visible. I then thought that I should keep the gore to a minimum, and started searching for symbols. I found the Hand of Fatima right off and knew that I had to use it somehow, symbolizing our hopes for the future being corrupted by acts of terrorism.

I drew everything in Illustrator, using some fancy borders. I’d intended the eye originally to have its four muscles attached, which if the eye were rotating could cause it to resemble a swastika. I couldn’t get it to look right so I abandoned it. I also considered hiding a star and crescent in the highlights of the eye but decided against it. I didn’t want to lean too heavily on any one national symbol; as the recent events in Florida show, Western nations are not immune.

Thanks for the critique, Fenton!