Luis Royo

Luis Royo was born in Olalla, Teruel (Spain). 

He began to exhibit his paintings in 1972 and to publish his comic work in magazines such as 1984, Rambla, El Víbora and Heavy Metal in 1980. In 1983 he turns to illustration, where he will reap his greatest successes and since then, he will publish his works internationally. Among other countries, he has done illustrations for the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, as well as book covers for the most prestigious publishers, Tor Books, Berkley Books, Avon, Warner Books, Batman Books and others. Magazines frequently use Luis Royo's art to illustrate their covers, such as the American magazines Heavy Metal and National Lampoon, as well as European magazines such as Cimoc, Comic Art, Ere Comprime, Total Metal and others. These would not be his only works in these years, he also began to make covers for videos and video games that have become iconic, such as Game Over, Turbo Girl or Navy Moves. 

From 1990 onwards and once consolidated in a privileged position in the international illustration market, he will expand his production of personal works. Most of these illustrations will be published in different media and supports, as well as in his own author's books. In 1992 he publishes his first personal book, Women, the American magazine Penthouse dedicates an article to him, and later a report on his illustrations. Heavy Metal also dedicates The Art of Heavy Metal to Royo. Comic Images publishes his trading card collection From Fantasy to Reality and The Best of Royo. 

In the following years, the author's books Malefic and Secrets will follow with an international launch. New publishers became interested in Luis Royo's work: Ballantine, Nal, Daw, Doubleday, Harper Paperbacks, Zebra, Fasa Corporation, Pocket Books for the Star Trek series, Penthouse Comix and the Fleer Ultra X-Men cards for Marvel Comics… Since that year, the work of Luis Royo appears in many formats and in many different countries (including Eastern European countries): calendars, posters, T-shirts, CD covers, mousepads, collectible cards, etc. 

In 1996, one of his illustrations was atypically published on the cover of the American edition of Penthouse magazine (replacing the traditional "Penthouse Girl" photo), and in Germany, together with an article on his work. The same year, numerous articles of his work appeared in publications such as La Stampa in Italy, Airbrush Action or Penthouse Comix in the United States. 

His third book, Secrets, was published in 1996. Heavy Metal's interest in Luis Royo will be reflected in these years by a series of covers and calendars, as well as in its gallery (which was dedicated to Royo), the commission for the magazine's 20th anniversary cover and a series of illustrations of the video game character from F.A.K.K. (Julie Strain) by Kevin Eastman. That same year, Comic Images publishes the trading card collection Royo Secret Desires (the artist's fourth solo collection) and Artists Choice. Women and Malefic are reprinted in the United States and Europe, and in the course of his future publications the reprinting of his books will be frequent. A year later, his next book of illustrations appears: III Millennium, his collection of tarot cards, The Black Tarot, and his fifth collection of trading cards under the name III Millennium and the portfolio III Millennium Memory are also presented.

Royo presents his album Dreams in 1999, a compilation of his genre work. It was followed by a new book, Evolution and also the portfolio Tattoos. The artist offered a new twist at the end of this year with a daring creation, the publication of the first volume of Prohibited Book, with erotic content. Conceived as a trilogy, this work is followed by Prohibited Book II, Prohibited Book III and, finally, the fourth book, Prohibited Sketchbook, which closes this collection with the sketches and pencils of the project. Fournier publishes a deck of poker cards. In 2002, the artist shows his preliminary works with the publication of his sketches and drawings in the trilogy of books Conceptions. His book Visions is published in 2003, as well as the portfolio Chains and Prohibited Sex. 

Fantastic Art, published in May 2004, brings together the most complete collection of the artist's illustrations. Published in two high quality formats, the limited deluxe edition is a good example of the importance of Luis Royo's work. It is followed by The Labyrinth Tarot, work in two formats: deck of cards and illustrated book. His book Subversive Beauty, was published in 2005, the Wild Sketches collection and three sketchbooks in manga format followed. In these years, having become a cult author, many heavy metal bands from different countries (Germany, Italy, Spain, etc.) adopted his images and used them for CD and album covers. His work also reaches the design of fantasy billiard cues, numerous puzzles, Zippo lighters, flags, posters, calendars and many other merchandising products distributed internationally. 

In 2006 Luis Royo together with Romulo Royo made a large fresco in Moscow (Russia), the great painting of a dome, the largest work done to date by the author. From this work is published the book Dome, which brings together the process and paintings. 

Later he published the book Dark Labyrinth and the American-Japanese company Yamato released his figure Medusa's Gaze, which will be followed in the following years by other new figures. In 2009 he publishes the illustrated book Dead Moon in collaboration again with Romulo Royo. It will be followed by Dead Moon Epilogue. In 2011 Luis Royo and Romulo Royo published Apocalypse, the first volume of Malefic Time. It will be followed by 110 Katanas and Akelarre, completing the trilogy of this multimedia project that brings together with its three illustrated books, novels, figures, manga, music, role playing, tarot, etc. and also publishes the illustrated book The Ice Dragon, written by George R. R. Martin, (known for his Game of Thrones saga) that becomes a bestseller according to The New York Times. In collaboration with Yamato USA and DC Comics, the sculptures of the classic DC superheroes are realized in a renewed design. In 2019 he publishes the chest Proyects with two books: Goddesses and Custom-Made. 

In his long career he has had exhibitions of his work in art fairs and galleries in France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Russia and the United States. Also, he has received awards such as the Silver Award Spectrum (The best in Contemporary Fantastic Art) and The Inkpot Award Comic Art (Comic-Con International San Diego) in the United States, or the Fantasy Award The Pilgrim in СТРАННИК, in Russia, The Millennium prize of the Fumetto Cartoomics in Italy or the Grand Prize of the Aragonese Comic in Spain (2018). 

Among his latest exhibitions are "Art Generations" at the Palazzo Ducale in the walled city of Lucca, organized by the Lucca Comics & Games fair, the exhibition space with more prestige worldwide dedicated to fantasy, "The Dream of Fantasy" at the European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM) in Barcelona, or "Komorobi Eterno: Japan through Fantasy Art" at the Spanish-Japanese Cultural Center of Salamanca. 

As a culmination of his artistic career, the Uffizi Gallery (Florence, Italy) has requested his self-portrait to add it to its collection.