Luis Royo Art
Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)
He is the most prolific contemporary dark fantasy artist. His artworks has inspired many Heavy Metal bands. He has also revolutionized our perception of what a dark fantasy artwork is all about. Today, I am mostly gonna focus on Luis Royo Dark Labyrinth collection. In his Dark Labyrinth, Royo taps into our darkest dreams, our darkest fantasies he brings to life. Here we see all the goons and monsters from our nightmares. So, sit back and enjoy the show. The first fantasy picture is a rough sketch of a pretty girl sitting on top of a bed. Her attire is post apocalyptic. She is currently wearing the mask of demon. Just imagine how scary that mask must be. Like one of those eerie scary movie moments, when the pretty girl turns around and you see she's a monster.
The next dark Labyrinth picture shows a strange man with a red cape. I am incline to think that he is a mage. Some of the pages of his book have strange runes. I think I see the twin snakes of life and death inside his book. Based on the color of his skin, he does not look too alive. If he is not a vampire, and he has a spell book, the only way to explain his odd blue skin color must be that he is a necromancer. Necromancer have a way of going back and forth between this world and the next. Some start getting that odd sulfuric scent of death.
The next dark labyrinth monster is this demon. This demon is of the traditional gargoyle variety. In the morning they become petrified statues hiding inside church columns. At night, they take to the skies. Most fear gargoyles however, if you are pure of heart (which is unlikely) you do not need to worry about running into one. These are repentant demons, guardians of the Gothic Cathedrals. Only the wicked are their targets. In this picture, a gargoyle is reaching down. He seems like a specter that has fallen straight from the moon. The entire image is quite romantic (romantic as in romanticism not lovy dovy). The moon highlights gives the skin of this monster a leathery feel.
Well, onto the classics. When one thinks of dark labyrinths and dark fantasy artwork the first thing that comes to one's mind (after minotaurs) is vampires. Lots and lots of blood sucking vampires. So here is the first vampire girl of Luis Royo. Behind her, you can see her hungry vampire brethren. Vampires are solitary creatures by nature. However, they tend to gather around in a group to serve a the elite (the most powerful) of their kind. Judging by her cross and pose, she seems to be the leader of this vampire group. She is holding this metal cross as if it was her scepter. She must have a lot of power to wield the instrument of a vampire's demise. Another interesting detail is her bat necklace. It looks super cool. The way they are walking in the night, gives me the impression that this vampire army is on the attack.
Here we see a lone vampire maiden. She has her hands wrapped around a metal sword stake. The patterns in this stake are quite elaborated. More importantly, the tip is bloody red. She must have killed one of her brethren (no one said that all vampires were pals). Her frail hands are also stained with blood. She must have gotten a lot vampires angry cause a black vampire bat is about to jump her. What I like best is her silky frail blood shot red dress.
Hey, you remember this one? Its the futuristic couple who like the use Gernica as a coat. Behind them you can see the infamous cubism painting. Look at the intense look on that cyborg. His fierce glare is contrasted by his protective arms around his girl. This one strong robot protecting his girl from the viewer.
The next dark labyrinth monster is this wood nymph. The tree branches are growing around her. Its pretty cool how they are piercing her skin. You can see how the vines are growing under her skin. The blood teardrop works pretty well. Overall, this is one beautiful fantasy image.
The following fantasy artwork shows a lovely fallen angel. The only light in this image comes from the super sharp fancy sword. Her gaze is so severe, immutable, she is ready to strike. Another interesting detail is her arm armor. Claymore users have at least some armor in their arms. The color of it is pitch black.
The following dark fantasy picture shows a maiden strapped to some weird wires. She reminds me a bit of the matrix life support system. These tubes seem to have been newly placed. I think she is drulling...This dark labyrinth image is pretty disturbing.
Now this is one disturbing dark labyrinth picture. Here we see a cute girl embraced by this disgusting mage. He is so into this girl that he is practically druelling. Another interesting detail, is the vague tears that are falling from the eyes of this mage. He seems so happy, so thankful to have her all for himself (can you blame him?). She does not seem to be resisting. I have heard that magic is a powerful aphrodisiac.
The next dark labyrinth picture is an allusion to the "to be or not to be?" scene of Hamlet. In the original scene, Hamlet while looking at a skull decided whether he was gonna send Ophelia to the loony bid. Following this traditional depiction, here we see this cute gothic maiden looking upon a monster skull. In her shoulder she has an upside down St. Peter's cross. What I like best is the weird feathery strands floating in the back of her head. The entire image is pretty mysterious.
Another fallen angel girl. This maiden has the coolest, sharpest metal claws. As you noticed, she only has those claws in one of her hands. It would be inconvenient to wield a sword with a clawed hand. Thus, the sword hand does not have any claws. Another thing that I like are her tattoos.
The following dark labyrinth image shows a monster bride. Her veil is adorned with the skull of a dead human. The ends of her clothing are stained with blood. I truly love the design of this wedding dress. It looks beautiful on her body.
The next dark labyrinth image shows a pretty maiden with a mask. She is similar to the first dark labyrinth image that I featured. The only difference is that this maiden is looking straight at the viewer. We can see her lovely masquerade mask.
Another lovely maiden. I think, its raining in this dark labyrinth image. What I like best is the highlights in her skin. They give her a strange sort of glow. The way her hair his parted on the side looks cute.
This is one super cool looking grim reaper. Around him I can see lots of fallen warriors. This grim reaper is harvesting souls in this battle field. This image was done 100% by pencil. The shadings look amassing.
Above we see a lovely close of a maiden's face. She has a pentagram (or symbol used in spell casting) on her forehead. On her right cheek, there are runes that resemble Hebrew text. Her earrings are made of albino baby snake. Her necklace shows a strange bat girl necklace in a Jesus pose. There is also her choker that has a stylized fortress, mountain and ocean. Behind her, the wall shows a giant pentagram. Her entire body is covered in white smoke. Perhaps she has been summoned. If that's the case, then she must be a demon.
Another vampire Queen. This one seems to be conversing with one of her colleague in his vampire form. Her intense glance implies that this bat is bringing her some news. Her bloody mouth shows that she has fed recently.
This is the last vampire of the Dark Labyrinth. In this scene, a vampire Queen is fighting a werewolf. I can tell she is royalty because of her cross scepter/ weapon. Her mouth is bloody hell. The entire image is super dramatic. She is bent on killing this werewolf.
The following dark labyrinth image shows a random maiden with half of her attire missing. The top that is shown is filled with blood. She is licking her finger. I feel sorry for the poor son of a gun that ran into her. The way she is glancing down implies that she had a lovely human feast.
Lets wrap things up, my dear chibis. The last image shows a warrior maiden resting on top of an altar. Judging by the pentagrams, this is a sacrificial altar. Perhaps, she was meant to be the sacrificed of the monster whose head lies in the foreground. The tip of her blade is stained in the blood of her quarry. It seems she is just resting on top of the altar (quite the odd place to take a nap).
I hope that you have enjoyed the pretty picture. I hope that my fun vampire and demon facts kept you interested (that is assuming that you read it). The next Luis Royo blog focuses on his Dead Moon work. So, stay tune. Bye, Bye.!!!
The next one is a warrior maiden with a sword and pet crow. She kinda reminds me of one of those Chosen Warriors of Valhalla. The crows are the familiars of Odin. He uses them to see the present. Behind her you can see an ancient citadel. It looks kinda roman. The red sky is kinda eerie.
Another Barbarian Theme. Here we have a cute Viking lady ridding a boat. She seems to have escaped that burning town over the horizon. Its funny how your eye is drawn to that burning town. Again I see Odin's crow over the horizon.
Methinks she is either the warden or a prisoner trying to escape. She does look imposing with that club made of the leg of a table. That color coat has some pretty neat patterns. Kinda reminds me of the clothing word my ancient shepherds. If you look closely you will notice that everyone is looking at the maiden in the foreground.
Meow... neat mask. This one too has the same red and blue mutant colors. They are not half bad. I can see an odd building or windows reflected on the eyes of this maiden. Her looks are futuristic. If you noticed she is wearing a wedding band.
Hey, I recognize that shoulder plate. I think that's the same blue and golden mutant colored maiden from before. It think she has picked up a fancy blade from the water. Lil maggots are falling off the hilt. Are those three suns? Pretty weird, in places with a trio of suns its very rare to get night. I sense twilight is about to fall...
The next cutie is a damsel in distress. She is in the process of being rescued by this stunning young man. you can see the hungry tiger about to jump him. You know, both do look like they are related. I mean the girl and guy, not the guy and the tiger (hehehehe).
This is a Chinese archer maiden. Her dress is decorated this the sacred Phoenix and Dragon. The golden and red patters on the white silk are amassing (really fancy stuff). She also has a traditional Chinese bow and Arrow. Inside the seal, we can see a tiger (perhaps her zodiac beast). The crescent moon denotes an ancient martial art. I see that sign often enough.
Another pretty gunner maiden. This one follows the post apocalyptic style. Her dress is made of tin nets and she is decorated with some metal ornaments. Those dark reddish colors work pretty well. Every piece of the artwork is combined in perfect synthesis.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading this blog as much as I enjoyed writing them. Its a great way to kill some precious time. Still, we all know that all existence is transitory. We are so overdue for a doomsday meteor. Its a real bummer that we have not turned to dust yet... enough depressing thoughts. I hope you find this art blog amusing.
