#ang chen

If you don’t know about it, Ang Chen did on Artstation a series of artistic reinterpretation of the characters of American Gods - while it was just a class project from what I understood, the drawings themselves became very popular, even being reused by other fans of AG.

So I thought of giving my opinion on them. Just for fun. Enjoy Xp

Bilquis 1

Bilquis 2

Odin

Mama-ji

Hinzelmann

Zorya sisters

Czernobog

Anansi 1

Anansi 2

Technical Boy

Media

Gods lineup

These are concept arts and sketches done by Ang Chen for his version of Bilquis, that you can find here:

https://americangodstalk.tumblr.com/post/618292341012299776/the-designer-ang-chen-did-several-years-ago

I actually like these concept arts much better than the final drawing. They are still not perfect, and I wouldn’t use them as official Bilquis designs, but they are still very interesting to see.

We have a more barbaric and violent Bilquis, which has a male face grafted onto her vagina. We have a Bilquis showing what seems to be a strange parody of a male organ (which can be either a good idea to show she represents all forms of sex, either a bad idea if you think it diminishes her stature as a female power).

We also see a shorter, stouter and curvier version of Bilquis, evoking a more ancient representation of goddesses (especially of goddesses of fertility - such as the prehistoric Venuses). And you also get to see in these sketches a Bilquis with a more Arabian/Arabic/Middle-East outfit, including jewelry and veils. All interesting and good ideas that were unfortunately scrapped out.

The designer Ang Chen did, several years ago, designs reinmagining the characters of American Gods into a dark, sci-fi, alien/fantasy style. 

You can see more of his art here if you want: https://www.artstation.com/angchen

This is his design for Bilquis. Ang Chen went with the principle that all the gods have a “divine” form and a “human” form - and all Old Gods seems to have monstrous divine forms.

As a human, she is a “dominatrix sex worker”. Now, they stayed true by the book but give her a little update. I think the dominatrix idea works very well with how Bilquis has her clients “worship” her, and the parallels between her human design and divine design are good. But gosh... the whitewashing. Seriously, does this ring “Queen of Shebah” or even “Middle-East” to you? 

As a divine creature... I am honestly not a big fan of the design. Ang Chen explained that, since she is a goddess of lust and sexuality, and since she “eats” people with her vagina (he specifies that she devours the adulterers as a form of punishment for their “sin”, which is... wrong, since it is misinterpreting the novel), he wanted to put a great emphasis on it by making it this giant opening/mouth. 

Here is Ang Chen’s rendition of Czernobog for his designing class - his task being to reimagine the gods of American Gods. 

I absolutely love this concept. Here Ang Chen mixed up Czernobog and Bielebog into one being, taking the idea that they are “good and evil twins always fighting the other for dominance” to a whole new level. They are now siamese twins - I especially love their human form (but I have a big thing for siamese twins, so it must play in it).

I also deeply enjoy the idea that Czernobog, when “dominating” carries around the corpse of his brother around. My only question is - why a centaur? Is there a mythical connection between a horse and the “bog brothers”? Given the rest of Ang Chen’s work I guess it was chosen mostly out of an aesthetic pleasantness than mythological connections. 

If you want to see more of Ang Chen’s works, here’s his Tumblr:

https://angchen.tumblr.com/