Gustavo Cabral (born July 20, 1963), better known as Ciruelo ('plum tree'), is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

artist,The book of the dragon
by Montse Sant whose work focuses especially on

dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

Biography

Ciruelo Cabral was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Argentina. He was born with

color blindness Color blindness or color vision deficiency (CVD) is the decreased ability to color vision, see color or differences in color. It can impair tasks such as selecting ripe fruit, choosing clothing, and reading traffic lights. Color blindness may ...

. At age 13 Cabral enrolled in Instituto Fernando Fader, an art school, where he began his formal studies. He started working as illustrator at age 18 for a graphic advertising company, and soon after began doing comic covers. In 1987 he moved to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

where he drew fantasy books' covers and inside drawings for ''Timun Mas'', a publisher that specializes in the genre. Cabral then widened his horizons and did work for companies around the world, including companies in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

. He drew the covers of the ''

Chronicles of the Shadow War ''Willow'' is a 1988 American high fantasy adventure film directed by Ron Howard and produced by Nigel Wooll. The film was executive produced by George Lucas and written by Bob Dolman from a story by Lucas. The film stars Warwick Davis, Joanne ...

'', a Bantam trilogy written by

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...

. He has also done music album covers, such as

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for ...

's '' The Seventh Song'' and The Flower King's Adam & Eve, and magazine covers for, among others, ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'' and '' Heavy Metal''. His artwork can also be seen in some

Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a Tabletop game, tabletop and Digital collectible card game, digital Collectible card game, collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards ...

cards. Cabral uses mainly

acrylic Acrylic may refer to: Chemicals and materials * Acrylic acid, the simplest acrylic compound * Acrylate polymer, a group of polymers (plastics) noted for transparency and elasticity * Acrylic resin, a group of related thermoplastic or thermosett ...

and

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

, but also a number of other techniques, including his famous and distinctive paintings on rocks, which he created and calls "petropictos" (literally: stone paintings). He has published four books with his drawings: ''The Book of the Dragon'' (1990), ''Ciruelo'' (1990), ''Luz, the Art of Ciruelo'' (1997) and ''Magia, the Ciruelo Sketchbook'' (2000). Ciruelo created the poster art for two Argentine films:

Eliseo Subiela Eliseo Alberto Subiela (December 27, 1944 – December 25, 2016) was an Argentine film director and writer. His works are considered to be in the ' magic realism' genre. Subiela was the father of actress, Guadalupe Subiela (who acted in her f ...

's classic ''

Man Facing Southeast ''Man Facing Southeast'' ( es, Hombre mirando al sudeste) is a 1986 Argentine science fiction drama film written and directed by Eliseo Subiela, starring Lorenzo Quinteros and Hugo Soto. The film was selected as the Argentine entry for the Bes ...

'' (1986) and the

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...

Fuego gris A list of films produced in Argentina in 1994: External links and references Argentine films of 1994at the Internet Movie Database {{Filmsbycountry 1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held ...

'' (1994), written and directed by

Pablo César Pablo César (; born 26 February 1962) is an Argentine film director, film producer, screenwriter and film professor. He began his filmmaking career in the Buenos Aires independent short film scene shot in the Super 8 film, Super 8 format, making ...

.Ciruelo shows high-flying art and fantasy
2013-08-13, Rosario 3 The art for ''Fuego gris'' was also used in

Luis Alberto Spinetta Luis Alberto Spinetta (23 January 1950 – 8 February 2012), nicknamed "El Flaco" (Spanish for "skinny"), was an Argentine singer, guitarist, composer and poet. One of the most influential Rock music, rock musicians of Argentina, he is regarded ...

's album of the same name, which was also the original

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

for the film. Cabral's work is represented in the 2002 collection ''Paper Tiger Fantasy Art Gallery''.D'Ammassa, Don (January 2003). "Paper Tiger Fantasy Art Gallery", ''

Chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

25'' (1): 30.

References

External links

* *
Non Official Site
(Spanish)

(English)

(Spanish)
Ciruelo Cabral's Gallery
on Inside Your ART (English)

Videos

El arte es la puerta
(Spanish)
La vida es arte 4/06/08
(Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabral, Ciruelo 1963 births Argentine illustrators Argentine speculative fiction artists Artists from Buenos Aires Fantasy artists Game artists Living people