Being an indie painter is basically like being an indie filmmaker, indie musician or indie game developer. You have to give up a certain amount of stability and safety in order to gain both creative and financial control of your work. To me, that trade off is essential but I often feel like it’s not clear to people what I’m doing or how it fits into the landscape of this industry.
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A Brief History of Raziel
The Book of Watchers, is more than just a book about the Watchers. It's the first glimpse beyond the mysterious beginnings of Angelarium's larger narrative. One of the most important figures in this narrative is Raziel. He show's up only in the opening of Book of Emanations but he wasn't illustrated until after the book was complete.
Raziel is that which is not known. Which makes him a very familiar figure to us. We live our lives bathed in unknowing. The vastness of the universe means that we'll never really experience more than a small piece of it, the rest is Raziel's territory. He acts as a docent to the Infinite and transcribes all knowledge inside his book. That book is an important part of the Angelarium lore. You may have already seen it and not realized.
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Making Sathariel, Angel of Deception
After completing Series 3, I was in a spot where I needed to make something new for Angelarium. The table had been completely set after covering both the Emanations series as well as remaking all 12 original angels from back in 2003. The plan that I was shooting for, was to create a set of 20 fallen angels and give them their own distinct flavor within the Angelarium project. The first one of those was Sathariel, Angel of Deception.
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Azazel, Angel of Sacrifices
Calling anything complete is hard. As much as I've been looking forward to calling the Watchers series complete, I feel like I can only say that I've completed my work on it. There are 20 in total and Azazel is the final one.
The most favored of the Watchers, Azazel has the farthest to fall. Even still, his legacy endures. Despite his fall, we still remember his wings. Long after their destruction, the memory sticks with us.
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Samyaza, Angel of Pride
Samyaza's legacy is one that etched itself into the world forever. He stood at the head of the most powerful, wise and righteous band of creatures to ever walk the face of the earth. That sort of power would corrupt any of us. If only he hadn't succumb to it, there would be no bounds to what the Watchers could have achieved.
Despite the fact that Samyaza's actions brought humanity to the brink of destruction and doomed hundreds of angels to damnation. Despite this, I don't want to fully denounce his actions. His sin is pride, an emotion we all have a mixed experience with. It's a complicated feeling that comes with as much temptation as it does danger.
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Bezaliel, Angel of Shadow
The feeling of dread. We know something is approaching and as our mind fails to find a form for it, our own imagination becomes our worst enemy. That feeling of looking into the dark and seeing nothing is a familiar experience to all of us.
Walking alone, Bezaliel is stalked by his shadow. A projection of his inner self, manifested as something larger. Even though he can feel its presence, it waits silently in an unseen place.
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