In the iconographic tradition, angels are usually depicted as rather androgynous, lacking the beards typical of male figures. They are often wearing armor of some sort, and carry swords, or staves.
At times, angels such as the Archangel Michael, above, carry an orb inscribed with "IC XC," an abbreviation of the Greek "Jesus Christ," representing the prefiguring of Christ.
They have two sets of wings: one for traveling in this world, and one for traveling between the heavenly realm and ours. Angels are ever in motion: with ribbons floating out behind them to indicate their flight.
The Archangel Gabriel below is based on an icon by my iconography teacher, Rebecca Taylor, which she learned from her teacher, Phil Zimmerman. The angel carries a scribes case and a scroll. The case is for writing names in the Book of Life, and the scroll bears the angel's words to Mary: "Rejoice, O favored one, the Lord is with you," right before saying, "Do not be afraid..."
An unnamed angel appeared at the empty tomb that first Easter morning. This icon is a study of a larger piece, which includes the sleeping soldiers, and the women, coming to care for Jesus' body.
You'll notice that the perspective on the "stone" is all wrong, not aligned with some focal point in the distance at which all lines merge into one, as we learned in art class in elementary school (I still remember drawing roads that disappeared off into the sunset, flanked by similarly shrinking telephone poles or trees...). Perspective in iconography is "reversed," with things often getting larger as they move away from the viewer, symbolizing the ever-expanding nature of the Reign of God. The consequence of this perspective is also that the viewer is that infinitessimally small vanishing point. Rather keeps things in, well, perspective.
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