Angelarium was a concept illustrator Peter Mohrbacher came up with around 11 years ago. Creating beings that personified abstract concepts like dust and memory was something that just clicked with him. Peter realized that there was already a mythology wrapped around this concept made it really easy to fall in love with.

Right now, I'm trying to design a large number of them but there is definitely a point where I will start digging in deeper on a more narrative approach to the project. The stories around the fallen angels is something too compelling to not approach when I'm already this close to it.
-Peter Mohrbacher

Each angel represents my feelings and associations with the property that they represent. I try to do my best to let my subconscious associations dictate the decision-making process. My hope is that by letting my feelings guide the process, that I'll be able to make more meaningful connections than I would if I were to be doing it in a more logical and controlled way. This usually means doing a lot of word association while I draw them out in pencil. That way, when I take them into the computer to paint them digitally, I have some organically generated material to work from.
-Peter Mohrbacher

The first point of inspiration to work on it was when I first heard the names. It was exciting to me to find that all these things we were familiar with had unique and beautiful names. My style is born out of a mix of 90s era Japanese character design, classic fantasy painting and the sublime surrealist fantasy that was born out of Europe in the 1980s. So I end up taking from Evangelion, Brom and Beksinski in fairly equal measure.
-Peter Mohrbacher

I think that the thing that young artists get stuck on is the idea that they need to focus on crafting themselves into something they are not. I don't think we get to choose who we are or what draws our eye. We don't get to have experiences outside of our own. There is no avoiding the fact that artwork needs to come from one's own experience and personal taste. It's more important to look inwards to your own feelings than to obsess about creating art that you think people will enjoy.
-Peter Mohrbacher

About Peter Mohrbacher

Peter Mohrbacher is an independent illustrator working in the Chicago area. His career to date had been tied strongly to gaming, but these days he create and manage an independent art brand called Angelarium. See more of his works on Behance or his website.