Luis Royo

Luis Royo
Luis Royo at the 2010 Paris Book Fair
Born	1954 Olalla, Teruel, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Education	La Escuela de Artes Aplicados
Known for	Illustration, Sculpture
Notable work	Dead Moon Prohibited Book Malefic The Ice Dragon
Website	www.luisroyo.com

Luis Royo and "Dead Moon" books

Luis Royo is a Spanish artist born in 1954 in Olalla, a small town in Teruel (Spain), known for his apocalyptic images, sensual and dark atmospheres, his fantasy worlds and mechanical life forms.

He has produced paintings for his own books and exhibitions, also art for many different media such as video games, role playing games, covers for music CDs, novel covers, tarot cards, figures ...

Biography

Education and early years

Oriented by his humble family seeking a practical use to his love of drawing he was led to study technical drawing for construction. But soon he realized that all the geometric forms did not fully satisfy him.

Later he began to study painting, decoration and interior design combining it with different jobs in design and architecture studies in 1970 and 1971.

During this time he also combined his employment activity with painting. Influenced by student uprisings of May 1968 in France he painted large format paintings with social themes and held exhibitions from 1972 to 1977.

The discovery of adult comics that had place in France captivated him, and in 1978 he started drawing comics for different fanzines and comics that were exhibited at Angoulême Comic Fair in 1980.

In 1979 he quit his job as decoration draftsman, despite already having a child, to devote himself entirely to comics. In 1981 and 1982 he began to publish in magazines such as Comix International Rambla in 1984, and occasionally in The Viper and Heavy Metal.

International career

In 1983 he moves to illustration where he will obtain recognition and fame. With agency Norma Editorial his works began to publish worldwide. Among others he performs works for US, UK, Sweden and book covers for most prestigious publishers such as Tor Books, Berkley Books, Avon, Warner Books and more.

Magazines of United States recur frequently to the art of Luis Royo to illustrate their covers, Heavy Metal and National Lampoon, which are joined by european magazines such as Cimon, Cómic Art, Ere Comprime, Total Metal and others. These will not be his only works, he also makes covers for music discs and videogames.

In 1990 and once consolidated in a privileged position at the international market, he expands the amount of personal work to the detriment of commissioned work. Most of his own pieces will be acquired by different media and published in his compilation books.

In 1992 he published his first illustration book Women. In 1993 Comic Images releases a collection of trading cards with his illustrations, this edition is titled From Fantasy to Reality.

In 1994 the book Malefic is published. With this book we discover an author able not only to illustrate a world of fantasy, but also to create a story, a script around the character who gives the book its title. This same year the book Women is reissued in America and Penthouse magazine makes an extensive article about his illustrations.

In 1995, new editors are interested in the work of Luis Royo: Ballantine, Nal, Daw, Doubleday, Harper Paperbacks, Zebra, Fasa Corporation, Pocket Books for the Star Trek series, Penthouse Comix and Fleer Ultra X-Men cards for Marvel Comics. Since then the work of Luis Royo appears in many different forms and countries (including Eastern European countries): calendars, posters, t-shirts, CD covers, mouse pads, trading cards in The Art of Heavy Metal and the third part of its collection The Best of Royo.

The fantasy and quality of Luis Royo's work began to find its place in all types of media, and his name became increasingly known. In 1996 the American magazine Penthouse replaces their usual girl cover with his erotic illustration, it is also published in Germany with an extensive article about his work. The same year numerous articles are published in prestigious publications such as La Stampa in Italy and Airbrush Action in United States.

His third album, Secrets appears in 1996. The magic and female figure occupy the central role, the underlying presence of the tale Beauty and Beast permeates the book. This work was published by NBM for English-speaking countries. But there were more surprises yet to come that year for his fans, with a collection of illustrations Warm Winds, published by Norma Editorial in cooperation with Heavy Metal.

In 1997, the interest of Heavy Metal by Luis Royo art was reflected in a series of covers and calendars, as well as in their gallery, which was dedicated to Royo. This predilection culminated in a commission for the cover of the 20th anniversary of the magazine and a series of illustrations on the character F.A.K.K. (Julie Strain) by Kevin Eastman.

That same year, Comic Images published two new collections of collectible trading cards Royo Secret Desires, the fourth individual collection of the artist, and Artist's Choice with other artists. To end the year Women and Malefic are reissued both in the United States and Spain. In the course of its future publications the reissue of his books will be frequent.

A year later, his following art-book III Millennium is published. In this book Royo renews the color palette and gives us his particular vision of the end of the millennium. Also in 1998 he presented a collection of Tarot Cards, The Black Tarot, for which he designed images with a personal view of esoteric symbolism of the cards.

In 1999 he produced a calendar for Heavy Metal, his fifth collection of trading cards under the name of III Millennium and an illustration collection III Millennium Memory. It was a year in which Luis Royo displayed a clear evolution towards a much more intimate and daring monochrome illustration style.

Later same year a new album, Dreams, is published. It consists of a compilation of all his work and his various worlds of the past ten years. What stands out most in this album is the versatility with which the author is able to adapt to different themes and styles.

A new twist is presented at the end of 1999 with an even more daring work, the publication of the first volume of Prohibited Book, with an erotic content in which the passions, even the unmentionable, are the protagonists. This luxurious and smaller than previous albums format, offers images which are sensual, elegant and provocative at the same time.

The cover and pictures for the instruction manual of the video game Starsiege: Tribes are made in the same year. A new book brings back the large format with illustrations that combine his personal work and custom made, it is called Evolution. The theme reflects the times of past and fantasies of science fiction. A collection of illustrations under title Tattoos is released.

Prohibited Book II, conceived originally as a trilogy, was published in 2001. A book in which sensations are transferred to the reader through the erotic force. Following on from the first volume, we are offered a different view of sensuality, closer to forbidden dreams and secret desires. Card house Naipes Heraclio Fournier publishes a deck of poker cards with female illustrations by Royo.

In 2002 Luis Royo revealed some of his technical secrets in a new book Conceptions. This book contained a description of the creative process and offered a collection of artist's sketch, and pencil drawings. This sample allowed us to enjoy the study, the conception of the illustrations and the many alternatives which he consider before making the final work. Also the collection of illustrations Chains are published.

A new compilation called Visions is published in 2003. It has an introduction made by Kevin Eastman, the creator of the Ninja Turtles, the images are dominated by fantasy and the creative talent of Luis Royo, with the addition of dragons who occupy a privileged position next to the female figure.

The same year the last addition to the trilogy, Prohibited Book III is released. In this volume, the reader is trapped by the beauty, tenderness and passion of the images in which sensuality can be seen next to monstrosity, an erotism of the imagination more than of the acts themself.

In late 2003, the artist shows his work with a series of sketches and drafts made for custom made book illustrations. This art is accompanied by texts to enrich the reader's experience and facilitate greater understanding of the methods used by Luis Royo. This book also include color drawings to contrast with pencil sketches and is titled Conceptions II. A new erotic collection of illustrations is released to the market called Prohibited Sex.

In May of 2004 the most complete collection of illustrations by the artist is published in the book Fantastic Art. This edition has an additional limited deluxe format. Fantasy and reality come together through images that present his particular vision of the world, myths and legends what have shaped over time. It is a cosmic vision of reality where the future has to assume its own challenges.

Due to high demand after the Prohibited trilogy a recopilation of sketches and studies from early stages are published in Prohibited Sketchbook. It includes original drawings in which the power of images is evident, as additional appeal it includes sketches of illustrations which had not appeared in previous publications due to their strength. In combination with other works Luis Royo has spent four years developing one of his most personal works, The Labyrinth: Tarot. This new design shows the limitless perfection of the artist. Each image has been carefully studied, offering his personal view of all the symbolism and secrecy of each arcane, and demonstrates a huge level of investigation and documentation.

The Labyrinth: Tarot was published in December 2004, it had two formats consisting of an exclusive pack of cards and one with a book including all illustrations with explanatory studies of each card written by Luis Royo himself. The explanations delve into the hidden meaning of each arcane and their power over the fate of people. In conjunction to this project a new collection of illustrations called Tattoo Piercing is published.

At this point, already long since he became a cult author, music groups of heavy metal from different countries (Germany, Italy, Spain, etc.) have adopted his images using them for their CD album covers. Among his recent works are the last three album covers of Spanish group Avalanch. Already since 2001 his work has been reaching a wider spectrum of articles like pool cues, puzzles, zippo lighters, flags, posters, calendars and many other items distributed internationally.

A new book, Subversive Beauty, devoted to the feminine universe that takes us to different mythologies is published in 2005. The images that appear in this book are accompanied by short stories, their provocative beauty is adorned with a profusion of tattoos and piercing. Later on the same year a collection of three books of small format, Wild Sketches, containing around 600 quick drawings without planning that demonstrate the ability of Luis Royo to treat the figure.

In 2006 Luis Royo joined by his son Romulo Royo undertake a new project in Moscow (Russia). Consisting in a painting of a dome of over 80 square meters, the largest work to date of the author. As a result of this work a book, titled Dome, is published bringing together the process and the paintings done. This work involves the creation of a fantastic and sensual world where different scenes reinvent the sexual myths of classical painting, the dome is decorated with more than 40 large female figures embodied on architecture full of leaks and parceled perspectives.

Later same year the book Dark Labyrinth is published. A dark vision of the world of creativity by the author. Also the American-Japanese company Yamato launches its first Royo figure Medusa's Gaze, the cooperation with the company will continue over the years with more than ten different sculptures of female characters.

In 2009 he published the book Dead Moon in collaboration with Romulo Royo, this is a book with an epic and intimate story at the same time. The images display a range of different techniques, from graphite to the refined illustration and paintings of large format, to drive us towards a tragic and apocalyptic end.

Later in 2010 due to the acceptance of this book another one is release as a pre-sequel Dead Moon: Epilogue.

In 2011 a first installment of a brand new universe is presented with Malefic Time: Apocalypse. This project developed by Luis Royo and Romulo Royo presents us our world in a near future that has succumbed to corruption, greed and failure of the social structures. In the middle of this chaos and despair that the society is living we will follow a young protagonist Luz and discover the horrible creatures that inhabit the planet and makes the humanity think that the apocalypse has come to earth.

In 2014 a moving story, The Ice Dragon, that shows how friendship between a little girl and a dragon can break all the barriers written by George R. R. Martin, known worldwide for his saga of literature A Game of Thrones, with illustrations by Luis Royo is published internationally and becomes bestseller according to The New York Times. The second part of Malefic Time universe 110 Katanas is released to the market the same year as well as a new collaboration with Yamato company to perform a new design for sculptures of DC Comics superheroes.

Luis Royo has exhibited his work in galleries and art fairs of France, Spain, Germany, Russia and United States. He received awards such as the Silver Spectrum Award (Best in Contemporary, Fantastic Art) and the Inkpot Award in Comic Arts at Comic-Con International in United States, or the Fantasy Award CTPAHHИK (The Pilgrim) in Russia, The Millennium prize of Fumetto Cartoo Mics in Italy among others.

Published books by years

• Women (1992)
• Malefic (1994)
• Secrets (1996)
• III Millennium (1998)
• Dreams (1999)
• Prohibited Book (1999)
• Fantastix Art (1999)
• Prohibited Book II (2001)
• Evolution (2001)
• Conceptions (2002)
• Conceptions II (2003)
• Visions (2003)
• Prohibited Book III (2003)
• Prohibited Sketchbook (2004)
• Antología I (2004)
• Fantasic Art (2004)
• Conceptions III (2005)
• The Labyrinth Tarot (2005)
• Subversive Beauty (2006)
• Dark Labyrinth (2006)
• Wild Sketches (2006)
• Wild Sketches II (2006)
• Antología II (2007)
• Dome (2007, with Rómulo Royo)
• Wild sketches III (2008)
• Dead Moon (2009)
• Dead Moon Epilogue (2009)
• Malefic Remastered (2009)
• Prohibited Book Remastered (2010)
• Malefic Time: Apocalypse (2011, with Romulo Royo)
• Malefic Time: 110 Katanas (2014, with Romulo Royo)
• The Ice Dragon by George R. R. Martin (2014)

External links

• Official website
• Luis Royo's personal page
• Luis Royo, Official Editorial & Agency Norma