Malefic

Some artists can portray words and charisma with simply a pencil and paint. "Malefic" is a remastered edition of Luis Royo's gothic and fantasy artwork. With two decades in print, this art work is presented his fantastic artwork in full color. With sketches, commentary, the best selling artists work will delight those who delight in gothic, fantasy, and science fiction artwork. Not recommended for young readers, "Malefic" is highly recommended for everyone else.

Royo has a style in which some of the pale parts of the picture are so white they give the object a strongly shiny appearance, such as swords, hair, and thin white cloth. This book has some of the best examples of that style. Another great thing about the book is that the last page has a list of all of the paintings, and if they are cover art to a book, the publisher and year as well. This is very helpful when I want to see the story that the art depicts. The descriptions beside the artworks are often difficult to understand.

I'm just discovering Royo, and have ordered half a dozen of his books in the past month. Secrets, Malefic, and Visions are all amazing! The quality of the artwork in Malefic is spectacular. The women are astoundingly beautiful, and the level of detail and realism is just breathtaking. Part of the reason I like these three books so much is that they emphasize fantasy themes, as opposed to the sci-fi themes found in Women, and the dark post-Apocalyptic themes of III Millenium. If you're new to Royo, get Malefic, Secrets and Visions - you won't be disappointed! The quality of the artwork in III Millenium is also good. Avoid Women - in my opinion, it's really cheesy and the artwork simply doesn't reflect the amazingly talented artist I've come to admire.

As the title states, these two books are quite similar in content. Detailed, photo-like paintings. Astonishingly beautiful women, sometimes depicted as fighting against Evil, sometimes as manifestations of Evil themselves - in both cases touched by or surrounded with light... amazing, other-wordly, fluorescent light, which could be the trademark of Royo. When I reviewed "Secrets", I wrote that if you only plan to have one of his books, get that one. Well, "Malefic" could be that one too...

Again the work of Mr. Royo is beyond comparison and with Malefic he brings a slightly new twist to his fans. There are more male heroines in Malific than any of his other works. Excellent displays of both genders in battle plus poetic quotes by the artist to accompany each work. We glimpse into Royo's mind through not only his art, but his own words, helping us to see his vision of each piece. A treasure.