I used the clunky erase tool on my phone to make the background blurry and ethereal. The character is looking over out of curiosity, on the side of lighter colors, but that curiosity might push him over the edge and into a plunge towards the unknown abyss. Making two thirds of the piece darker and putting the subject in the light also draws the eye away from that dark, which is reflective of a tendency to look away from the looming harms and to ignore that which, though it may take up more space, is not as exciting.