October MOTM: eldritch angel - concept sketch + design commentary // sfw

thanks again to ciyu for suggesting a many-eyed, many-winged, objected-headed monster based on biblical angels! 

it seems that in the modern mainstream, angels are usually depicted in one of two ways. the first is as gentle, winged humanoids with benevolent smiles and glowing halos, come to deliver encouraging pep talks or to help. the other is the more martial version, with angels in roman armour and wielding swords to smite the wicked or protect the sacred. but this design prompt rests on the fact that there are other stranger types of angels mentioned in religious texts and depicted in art. (i decided to refer to this being as an "eldritch" rather than "biblical" angel, so that i could also draw inspiration from abrahamic sources that aren't part of the bible.)

do note that i live in one of the most atheist countries of the world and i have never been religious. my knowledge of religious things come from studying history, mythology, and archaeology, rather than ever having "lived" religion. for this reason in particular, step one towards designing an angel was to sit down and do some research. 

i was not surprised to discover that there's no established consensus as to the nature of angels, which beings can be classified as angels, exactly what they look like, or even what they should be called. definitions and interpretations differ between different abrahamic religions, ancient writers, and modern scholars alike. it seems to be an "all angels are celestial/heavenly beings, but not all celestial/heavenly beings are angels" type of thing. but it doesn't matter much for my present purposes, because this design is hardly an attempt at unravelling the exact nature of angels or accurately depicting any specific type of angel according to any canon. i happily mixed and matched features of cherubim, seraphim, and ophanim, along with little tidbits of other types of angelic beings.  in other words i focused on the weirder angels and disregarded those who are depicted as more humanoid and relatable, like archangels.

the wheel imagery references ophanim (aka thrones). in his vision of god's chariot, ezekiel 1:15–21 describes its wheels as "a wheel in the middle of a wheel" with "eyes round about them." each wheel accompanied a cherub ("living creature") and "the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels."  they return in ezekiel 10:9-17: "behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub." their appearance is "as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel" in "the colour of a beryl stone," and "when the cherubim went, the wheels went by them."

2 enoch also makes reference to "many-eyed ones," and the imagery of a multitude of eyes might symbolise the omnipotence of the all-seeing divine or the angel's own vigilance. it certainly serves to make angels look more eldritch and terrifying, and they do tend to evoke fear in mortals they encounter. the way i drew the eyes on the wheel head and the wings is directly inspired by various mosaics and frescoes, with the hint of an eyelid and the arrangement in rows along the upper edge of each wing. (on the other hand, the eyes on their body are shaped to 'blend into' the decorative surface.)

there's been several different interpretations of what ophanim would look like. my depiction of my angel's object head is specifically based on an engraving of ezekiel's vision of the chariot, showing three many-eyed wheels with all the spokes converging in the middle. that engraving, in it's turn, was based on a 17th century piece by matthäus merian the elder. the winged wheels in the background of my painting are inspired by other, more two-dimensional depictions of ophanim. i wasn't always able to determine exactly when and where they were made, but a few of them look like frescoes from eastern orthodox churches and judging by the state of preservation they were hardly painted yesterday. one show a single golden ring, without spokes but with four rather large wings, eyes dotting both the wheel and the wings. others show two or more interlocked rings, again without spokes but with 3-4 smaller wings, with eyes on the wings and/or the rims.

i also found a couple of depictions of angels standing on two wheels, drawn without eyes but each with a wing on the outer rim, and with spokes. i included this feature in the sketch, along with an alternate version of a wheel-based object head. instead of beryl i chose a gold colour for the wheels; either hue would have worked, but gold made the design look a bit more fiery. the concept sketch above also shows a wheel-shaped "halo" floating behind their ophanim head, but in the painting i ended up incorporating similar wheel elements into the background instead, and in the sketch each head has a 'regular' halo of their own.

as for the cherubim, ezekiel 1: 5-15 describes them as having "the likeness of a man" and four faces: a man, a lion (on the right side), an ox (on the left), and an eagle. they had four wings, two of which covered their bodies, and human hands poking out from behind them. it is said that "the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass," though i'm not sure if it's only the hooves that are brass-coloured, or the entire angel. in either case it inspired me to give my angel hoof-like feet. these cherubim return in ezekiel 10:1-22 and are described in the same way, except for replacing the head of an ox with that of a cherub and adding that "their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about [...]"

seraphim, on the other hand, are described in isaiah 6:1-8 as surrounding god's throne to sing his praise. "each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly." the etymology of "seraphim" can possibly be traced back to a hebrew word meaning "to burn" or "it burned," and thomas aquinas speaks of seraphim's association with fire, heat, and the inextinguishable brightness of their light.

revelations 4:4-8 speak of "beasts" that (like seraphim) chant "holy, holy, holy" around god's throne, describing them as "full of eyes before and behind" and each having "six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within." it also says "the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle." regardless of how these beings should be classified, it's interesting to note the recurring imagery of eyes, many wings, and the combination of human, lion, bovine, and eagle. in this context, each creature symbolises different things. the ox stands for taurus, earth, the evangelist luke, sacrifice, redemption, and domestic animals; the lion is associated with leo, fire, the evangelist mark, courage, royalty, and wild animals; the eagle with scorpio, water, the evangelist john, heaven, spirit, and birds; the man with aquarius, air, the evangelist matthew, reason, and humanity.

imagery incorporating lions, bulls, and birds of prey are of course widespread throughout many ancient societies, in which it seems likely to find the origins for angelic imagery. for example, the mesopotamian lamassu is a winged lion or ox with a human face, and humanoids with wings have a long history in mesopotamian and egyptian art.

in any case i wanted to incorporate the four heads of a lion, ox, eagle, and man, and had several ideas for how to apply them to my design. i thought about simply attaching all four of them to their neck, but it felt too obvious. i considered having the heads float in a ring over their shoulders, and that the angel could choose which of the four would face forwards as best would fit their goals at the time. i also considered putting the lion head on the right shoulder and the ox on he left (like oversized epaulettes), the human face in the middle and the eagle head on their chest (kind of like a decorative breastplate).

however, as already discussed, i really wanted to give them a wheel object head, so i needed to distribute the other four heads somewhere else. ultimately i decided that putting the different heads on parts of their body where faces normally don't go would be the most eldritch option. i kept the lion head on the right side, the ox on the left, and attached the eagle head to their back. their human face is on their right thigh, but you sadly can't see it in any of the artwork, due to the thigh being obscured. (the stylised sketch shows an alternative version with each head poking out from behind their wings; as already mentioned i decided to have fun with stylisation when drawing the sketch, and in either case the angel's form is quite unfixed.)

angelic imagery regularly includes or alludes to fire, lightning, and/or bright light. a painting of the annunciation by henry ossawa tanner depicts the visiting angel as a featureless streak of light. the eshim and the angel habib are both made of fire and snow/ice. sahih muslim (book 55/42, hadith 78/7134) describes angels as "born out of light." ezekiel's chariot vision begins with "behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures [...]" some translations use "electrum" instead of amber, both of which are bright, vibrant, and fiery materials. ezekiel 1:13 seems to refer to either the cherubim  themselves, or glowing orbs associated with the angels and the wheels: "as for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning."

2 enoch 12 speaks of another potentially angelic creature, the twelve-winged "copper serpents" called chalkydri. they are described as "marvellous and wonderful, with feet and tails in the form of a lion, and a crocodile’s head, their appearance  is empurpled, like the rainbow; their size is nine hundred measures, their wings are like those of angels, each has twelve, and they attend and accompany the sun [...]" in other words, contrary to their name they are rainbow-coloured rather than metallic, but the meaning of their name still inspired me. i ended up giving my angel a body inspired by the appearance of copper, brass, electrum, and amber, representing the bright and fiery aspect of angels without necessarily incorporating actual fire. the little flames of the background are also in reference to the coal-like orbs floating between the cherubim and the ophanim.

early angels weren't necessarily depicted with wings, but they eventually became a characteristic feature and a symbol for their heavenly nature. to the descriptions above can be added "the angels, messengers flying on wings, two, and three, and four" from the quran 35:1. i admit that i didn't worry about giving my design  a consistent amount of wings, instead letting the aesthetics and the needs of each composition determine the number. therefore this angel has 12 in the painting, 10 in the sketch, and 14 in the concept sketch. the way they carry their wings draw on the descriptions referenced above as well as numerous historical frescoes and mosaics. many depictions show one pair of wings stretched upwards, another to the side, and another covering their bodies, with their hands and/or feet poking out from underneath (though some literally just show a face surrounded by artfully arranged wings). they are usually posed rather unnaturally, which really inspired my stylised sketch. 

i didn't want my angel to cover their face, so most of their wings are splayed out behind them in an aesthetically pleasing way. a few pairs of wings are wrapped around their hips kind of like a skirt that covers their legs. i couldn't exactly have them cover their crotch area on the smutty painting, but you can still tell how their lower wings would curl around their lower body. the gold outlines of the feathers are inspired by the use of gold leaf in mosaics, frescoes, and icons. i noticed that blue, black, gold, and white was a pretty common combination of colours for angel wings, so i went with it, minus the white. it also hit me that the combination of blue with gold/brass can be seen as a nod to the angels made of equal parts fire and ice.

i also drew inspiration from a few different things that aren't associated with angels but that fit the aesthetic. the decorative and 'carved' appearance of the angel's body is inspired by ornate gold picture frames, heraldic mantling, stucco ornaments, corinthian capitals, and similar swirly decorative elements. the "holes" in their brass body is inspired by statues of cadaver tombs such as that of rené of chalon. it low key indicates that rather than being made of solid copper, their body is a hollow "shell." artfully flowing pieces of cloth features in renaissance art of both angels and other beings; i made them yellow to pull the colour scheme together. the style of the background is also inspired by renaissance paintings as well as frescoes from churches and ancient homes, with the bone white background, fading colours, use of pale blue, and a little wear and tear. the ox head is based on a specific minoan bull-head rhyton (libation vessel); the lion is more generically inspired by countless stone sculptures; and the human face draws on italian carnival masks. but the way the arms split in twain at the elbow isn't based on anything in particular -- it just makes them look a bit more weird.

on that note, i confess that i do wonder if this design came out eldritch enough. it certainly is strange, unusual, and otherwordly, but maybe the colour scheme is a bit too bright and cheerful, and maybe the design is a bit too ... pretty? then again, i don't know that "eldritch" necessarily has to equal "gloomy and spooky," and either way i had tons of fun researching and drawing them!

// art + character © me.