This is a commission requested by a client who is currently developing some sort of card game centered on angelical figures. The project appealed to me because I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of angels –something I briefly mentioned when discussing the Dr. Strange ‘thank you commission’ I made for a friend of mine a while back. Like faeries, our modern society has a totally ‘decaffeinated’ concept of what an angel is supposed to be or what it is supposed to look like. There is a reason why in the Bible the very first thing a celestial envoy does once it appears before a mortal, is trying to prevent said mortal from s#@$%ing themselves in fear!
When I was young I found a graphic novel made by a Mexican artist, Edgar Clement, called “Operación Bolívar.” It was a really wild story intermixing the history of Mexico, traditional folklore and religious iconography in which the archangel Michael was the bad guy (!) and I was really inspired by Clement’s masterful use of collage ink art.
Later in life, with the advent of modern videogames, I became a fan of the Darksiders videogame series. Darksiders tells the story of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, and how they are the ones in charge of preserving the balance in the eternal battle between the forces of Heaven and the legions of Hell. The inspirational artwork for the first two games was done by Joe Madureria, who is widely admired in the world of superhero comic books, and is probably the one who can draw the most badass angels you’ve ever seen.
So I used all this as inspiration to create my own angel warrior. The process was pretty straightforward, and not too different from a traditional comic book artwork, with broad ink brushstrokes defining the figure and the texture of the armor. Overall, I am very pleased with the result (though the background could use some improvement) and I just hope the client will be able one day to get his project off the ground.
In the meantime, I have seen that with Dungeons & Dragons remaining as popular as ever, a lot of players seek to have an image of their own D&D character. If you are one of these players or know someone within the D&D community, perhaps you might want to consider contacting me so that I’ll be able to help you recreate your rogue ranger or dwarf barbarian just the way you imagined it.
Absurd by Design 