Luis Royo (born 1954 in Olalla, Spain[1]) is a Spanish artist, known for his sensual and dark paintings, its apocalyptic imagery, his fantasy worlds and mechanical life forms. He has also recently moved into sculpture.
Royo has produced paintings for both his own books and exhibitions and other media; such as video games, music CD and novels covers, tarot cards.
He is famous for his work collected in books published worldwide.
Shortly after his birth, Royo's family moved to Zaragoza, where he first started school, his first memories are accompanied with drawing which plays an important role in his life.
His practical standpoint, acquired from his economically humble family, led him to study Technical Drawing for construction. He soon discovered that geometric forms did not satisfy him fully.
Later, he began to study painting, decoration and interior design at the Industrial School and the School of Applied Arts, and combined with different jobs in interior design and decoration studios in 1970 and 1971.
During this time he also combined his work with paint. Influenced by the student revolts of May 1968, he painted large format tiles with social issues and made exhibitions from 1972 to 1977.
The discovery of adult comics with the work of artists such as Enki Bilal and Moebius captive him in 1978 and started drawing comics for different fanzines and comics exhibiting at the Angoulême Comic Fair in 1980.
In 1979 he left his job as a furnish designer, despite already having a child, to devote himself entirely to comics. In 1981 and 1982 began to publish in journals such as 1984, “Comix Rambla Internacional”, and sometimes, in “El Vibora” and “Heavy Metal”.
n 1997, the interest of Heavy Metal in Luis Royo was reflected in series of covers and calendars, as well as in their gallery, which was entirely dedicated to Royo. This interest culminated in a commission for the cover of the magazine's 20th anniversary issue and a series of illustrations on the character F.A.K.K. (Julie Strain) by Kevin Eastman.
That same year, Comic Images released two new collections of Trading Cards: ROYO SECRET DESIRES (the fourth collection of the artist) and ARTISTS CHOICE (along with other artists). To end the year, turn to republish MALEFIC and WOMEN in USA and Spain.
A year later, it appears his next book of illustrations: III MILLENNIUM. In this book, Royo renews the colours palette and gives us his particular vision of the end of the millennium. Also in 1998 presented his collection of tarot cards, THE BLACK TAROT (for which he designed new images and a personalized view of the esoteric symbolism of the cards). In 1999 there was the Heavy Metal calendar, his fifth collection of Trading Cards, under the name of III MILLENNIUM and III MILLENNIUN MEMORY portfolio. It was a year in which Luis Royo shows a clear evolution towards a more intimate style, monochrome and daring illustration.
Coinciding with the Barcelona Comic Fair in 1999, Royo presents a new album: DREAMS, a collection of all his work and varied worlds of the past ten years. What stands out most in this album is the versatility with which the artist is able to adapt to different themes and styles. The first vinyl figure based on the book cover was produced by Inteleg MALEFIC in 1999 and supervised by the artist himself.
The artist offered a new twist at the end of the year with even more daring work, publishing the first volume of PROHIBITED BOOK, with erotic content in which the passions, even the unmentionable is of great importance. This luxury publication in a smaller format than the other previous albums, offers images that are as sensual as elegant and provocative.
In 1999 his work was featured on the cover and the instruction manual for the PC game Starsiege: Tribes.
All these incredible images are copyrighted to Luis Royo.
Visit his website for more information luisroyo.com
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