Luis Royo – Underground in Magenta, Heavy Metal Magazine Cover Original Art, 2002

Artist: Luis Royo (1954–)

Title: Underground in Magenta

Year: 2002

Publication: Heavy Metal, September 2004, Vol. 28, No. 4

Medium: Mixed media

Size: 15.75 × 11.22 inches (40 × 28.5 cm)

An original Luis Royo painting created in 2002 and subsequently selected as the front cover of Heavy Metal magazine, September 2004.

The composition is quintessential Royo: an armed female warrior stands before monumental skull-like forms, with an intense magenta-red landscape cutting through the image. It combines the sensuality, dark fantasy and science-fiction imagery that made Royo one of the artists most closely associated with Heavy Metal.

Artist: Luis Royo

Luis Royo is an internationally renowned Spanish fantasy and science-fiction artist whose work has appeared extensively on Heavy Metal magazine, alongside covers for National Lampoon, Cimoc and numerous fantasy and science-fiction publications. His major books include Women, Malefic, Secrets, III Millennium, Prohibited Book, Evolution, Conceptions, Visions, Fantastic Art, Dark Labyrinth and the Malefic Time series. Heavy Metal itself describes Royo as the most prolific cover artist in the magazine's history.