Mythos
St. Michael
Behind the Scenes
Archangels are described as beings of fire, so I chose to sculpt his arms and feet as flames taking human shape. The inside of his sleeves are meant to look like the “body” filling out those spaces is only made of fire. The sword is made of fire as well, as if it’s an extension of himself, just another shape this animate flame has taken.
In the Islamic texts, Michael is described as having peacock’s feathers, unique among his angelic brethren. Unlike the mundane peacock feather’s eye shaped pattern near the tip, each of Michael’s feathers was said to possess an actual eye, so that he could watch over all people and places everywhere, always monitoring danger and sin, so he could swoop in and mete out holy justice instantly. I didn’t love the image of the peacock feathers—but I do love the color scheme and iridescence of their plumage, so I painted the prototype accordingly. The face and expression are stylized and meant to evoke the style of Baroque artists.
St. Michael
In the late 90’s, people were going through an angel craze. From high-end porcelain figurines to dollar stuff knockoffs, angel statuettes were on sale everywhere. Knowing a bit about the lore, I decided to take a deep dive and research stories from as many religions, belief systems and myths as I could find, and then use what I learned to design a line of statues that were accurate to what is known about these ancient stories. I generated a dozen unique designs and took another through the production of a fully painted prototype. St. Michael has a compelling story and is recognized and cited in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, most often as the general of the angelic forces that cast down the great enemy, his fellow archangel, Lucifer.
Early Christians were so devoted to Michael and claimed that praying to him generated such great results, that the church essentially demoted him—canonizing him and his fellow archangels Raphael and Gabriel, even though sainthood is only meant to apply to humans who’ve lived pious lives and performed miracles during said lives—to avoid being labelled polytheistic or having the angels diminish Jesus or Mary’s prominence in any way. However, you can still find more churches named after or dedicated to him around the world than just about anyone besides Mary, so their actions didn’t lessen his popularity much.
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Please note, all Manifest Sculpt work is completed with traditional sculpting techniques—modelling and carving—rather than through modern digital techniques and programs. Consequently, the resin and bronze castings in this edition were also produced through traditional mold making and manufacturing processes. Final Manifest Sculpt commissions are available in a variety of materials, but they are not 3D printed and are not available as printable files. Copyright Notice: all work, including ideation, concepts, stories and their development, character design and production are the property of Carlos Soca unless otherwise noted, and all rights are reserved. Should you wish to discuss collaboration or licensing of an intellectual property or its design, please contact Manifest Sculpt.