Luis Royo

Luis Royo was born in Spain in 1954 and began his life as an artist from an early age.

As a young teenager he had already learned technical art and by the age of 16, he was devoting his studies to painting and interior design and was working on commissions from various design studios.
Upon discovering the art of Enki Bilal and Moebius in adult comics, Royo followed in their footsteps.Four years after the first gallery exhibition of his fantasy art in Paris, the artist was working for Heavy Metal Magazine and being commissioned to paint cover art for many publishers including Tor and Avon.

Royo's acclaim has continued to grow, and his work is found on posters, on tarot cards and in books devoted to his main passions: women and fantasy.

Luis Royo now lives in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona, Spain where he has returned to painting on
canvas, creating visions of an ever more personal nature.

Review by Arleigh on 11th of january 2011 on unobtainium13.com

Art is a word that has a broad meaning. It could mean art in the sense of how some people perceive music and films. Some people have begun to look at video games and similar entertainment media as art. I will always look at art, first and foremost, the realm of painters and those who create images on canvas and other similar materials. I also consider such individuals as purveyors of their own brand of entertainment. While some may not find entertainment when looking upon the works of masters in a gallery for others it’s the highest form.

To start of a feature that will profile artists who have contributed to the furthering of their craft I choose one of my favorite artists of any field today. The first artists chosen is Spanish fantasist Luis Royo whose work has spanned several decades. His distinctive style of blending the sensual and erotic female form with very dark and apocalyptics settings and background has made Luis Royo one of the preeminent artist in the scifi and fantasy literary world. Royo has done covers for genre literature and has even branched out to creating covers for heavy metal bands and video game titles.

Luis Royo’s particular style was first limited to sketches whose images then unveils fully once he has put brush (both traditional and mechanical air) to the canvas. Such pieces have become quite sought after by collectors. While he’s not averse to having his pieces sold to private buyers it’s usually a rare thing for him to sell from his own collection. Most of his artistic pieces owned by private art collectors have been those sold by owners who had contracted Royo to do the piece for them.

In the 1990’s he began to create pieces both in sketch and finished form and collected them into artbooks. These books usually had their artwork fall under a specific theme Royo had in mind to tie everything together. Such collected artbook like Malefic, Prohibited, Tattoos and Subversive Beauty have become fan favorites and one doesn’t have to look too hard to find them in bookstores and comic book collectible shops.

In the last couple of years, he has begun to branch out to creating his artistic pieces using other mediums. He has begun to bring his own paintings to three-dimensional life through sculpture which he saw as just a logical step in his evolution as an artist. Maybe he’ll begin to learn how to adapt his subversive beauties beyond canvas and sculpture and into the world of CGI. From this artistic genius I wouldn’t put it past him not to make that next step into the digital realm.

Dead Moon Project

DEAD MOON is a complex project which existed during a couple of years just as small drawings and sketches, and finally since last 6 months I managed to submerge myself in it completely.

My intention is to make a work with many forms of expression.

In this project I search for the fusion of naked drawing with elaborated work and even with a large size. An epic story fused with the Gothic theme.

Once upon a time there was a world, a big city with hundreds of back streets, palaces, sanctuaries tributed to Goddesses of all types. And people who came from all parts of the world. There was the flourishing Odoma, with the hillsides full of cultivated fields, flocks of calves, sheeps and horses, with its already remote forests and its wood cut and used in thousands of labyrinth-lined roofs sheltering dreams of the villagers. With its districts of craftsmen and merchants, to sum up: the great Odoma.

Its skin was always cold like the night, like the white Moon