Luis Royo was born in Teruel,
Spain in
1954. He studied
art,
painting and
interior design at the Industrial Mastery School and the Applied Arts School in
Zaragoza, and worked in industrial design during most of the 1970s. While working in interior design, Luis also painted, and some of his work was shown in
exhibitions in Spain.
In 1978, he started drawing comics for comic fanzines, and in 1980 his works were shown at the Angoulême Fair. In 1981, his work was published in more well-known magazines as Heavy Metal, 1984 and Comic International. In 1983 he signed with Norma Editorial, which results in his artwork being published outside of Spain. This gains Luis a few international contacts, and soon he's painting covers for books published by Berkley Books, Bantam Books, Warner Books, and many more. He also does covers for magazines, including Heavy Metal and National Lampoon.
1992 was the year Luis got his first book published. Titled Women, the book collects a number of illustrations he did since 1984. To coincide with the release, the original paintings were shown in a small exhibition. In 1993 a trading card series, From Fantasy To Reality, is released by Comic Images, which had various illustrations by Royo.
Malefic is Royo's second book, and was published in 1994 by Norma Editorial in Spain. Women is reprinted, and Penthouse devotes an article to it. In 1995 he paints some more pictures for magazines, books and comics, and his art proves to be quite famous, as it is even printed on t-shirts and posters. In 1996 he draws the cover illustration for Penthouse, and another article is devoted to him and his work. Soon after, more articles on him start showing up in various magazines, and Luis wins the Silver Award Spectrum III: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art. Secrets, his third book, is published and shows a Royo's vision of a dark future, with beautiful women and horrible creatures in breathtaking paintings.
1997 is marks the 20th anniversary of Heavy Metal magazine, and they ask Luis to paint the cover for the anniversary edition, as well as paintings of a character from Kevin Eastman's F.A.K.K.2 (who looks a lot like Julie Strain, which isn't a coincidence). A few more trading card series are published, and his first few books are finally published in the USA. In 1998 Royo publishes his fourth book, III Millenium, which again shows a very dark, apocalyptic future.
Royo's fifth book, Dreams, is published in 1999. Dreams collects images Luis created in the past ten years. The tone of the book is much lighter than his previous books. Beautiful landscapes with beautiful men and women fill the book, instead of images of a dark future. Prohibited Book, his sixth book, is published later that year, and features even more images of beautiful women than before. His previous books usually had an apocalyptic theme, but this book is more erotic and explicit, and is all about the women. 2001 sees the release of Evolution. This book collects various images from books, magazines and computer games Luis did over the years, including images from Heavy Metal, F.A.K.K.2, X-Men and Shadowrun. The book tone of the book is a mixture of all his previous work: beautiful women, an apocalyptic future, and comic themed paintings.