Armando Huerta (May 19, 1969 – May 2, 2020), also known as the “Dark Lord Of Pin-Up” (DLOP), was a Mexican artist known for his extremely detailed, erotic illustrations and paintings of women. In his book Better Nasty Than Sexy (Extended Remix) he described himself as “The World’s Most Dangerous Pin-Up Artist, The Master of Disaster, The Pope of Erotic Art, Optimus Prime-Time of the Pencil and Airbrush, Non Plus Ultra with Macabre Techniques … in a few words, the Dark Lord Of Pin-Up”.
Early Life
Huerta was born on May 19, 1969 in Mexico City, Mexico. He was the first child of Isabel Arellano.
In 1977, Isabel took Huerta to the movie theater to watch Star Wars. He credits Star Wars for inspiring him to become the artist he eventually became.
Biography
Huerta started drawing from an early age. He began drawing nude women at the age of nine after he stole a Playboy magazine from his uncle.
In 1993, Huerta began working for Coca-Cola and Playboy Mexico as a graphic designer. This is the year he first learned how to use an airbrush and paint pin-up girls. Huerta cites Hajime Sorayama as being the “Master of Masters” and learned his technique by following a tutorial in his book Sorayama: Hyper Illustrations (Vol 1).
In 1997, Huerta submitted art samples to four different comic book publishers including Ricky Carralero from High Impact/ABC Studios in Miami, Florida, who he chose to work with because he was the only one who spoke Spanish. Huerta signed a one-year contract with Carralero to produce 18 pages of art each month and two covers for his Double Impact comic book series. According to The Comics Journal article titled Bad Girls and Bad Blood: The Dark Side of Indy Comics (October 2003, issue number 256), Carralero didn’t pay Huerta for the first five months. After that, Huerta would receive “a couple of dollars only”. Carralero promised Huerta that he would bring him to the United States and make him famous which he never did and instead, decided to take credit for Huerta’s work, paint over his signature and replace it with his own. Carralero then sold the stolen paintings to Village Comics in New York City and Robert Bane of Tamara Bane gallery in Beverly Hills who referred to him as “an artist of extraordinary talent and great vision.”
In December 2001, Huerta discovered that his paintings were displayed on over 50 different websites around the world with Carralero’s name on them so confronted Carralero about the fraud. According to Armando Huerta – The Exclusive Interview, Huerta stated that Carralero responded by saying that “he was obligated to do it because his partner John Ulloa obligated him to do it. Then, the next time he said he never knew about it and Ulloa did all of it, made the website and changed all the names.” Huerta got fed up with Carralero’s lies so launched his own website Better Nasty Than Sexy in 2002 in hopes that people would discover the truth about who the real artist was.
In 2002, Sandra Galligan from XXXTREME contacted Huerta and offered to help reclaim his name. She flew Huerta from Mexico to the United States on January 5, 2003, and became his manager.
In 2003, Virgin commissioned Huerta to paint 5 pin-up girls for their Virgin Cola bottle labels.
In 2005, Kevin Eastman commissioned Huerta to paint Julie Strain for the cover of Heavy Metal magazine (Summer 2006). Huerta titled the painting Peacemaker. Strain stated that Hajime Sorayama and Olivia De Berardinis came to her house and studied Huerta’s paintings with jaws open in “pure amazement and a hint of jealousy.”
In 2007 at San Diego Comic-Con, Jenna Jameson met with Huerta’s manager to discuss working with him to produce a comic book and line of products based on his paintings Heavenly and Hellish. Jameson stole Huerta’s comic book idea and went to Virgin Comics who published a limited series of comic books titled Shadow Hunter featuring art by Marvel Comics cover artist Greg Horn.
Jenna Jameson tattooed Huerta’s Rouge painting on her right calf.
In January 2008, Skin & Ink Magazine interviewed Huerta and gave him the title “The Bad Boy of Pin-Up Art.”
Airbrush Action Magazine featured Huerta in their May/June 2009 issue and labeled him the “leading pin-up artist.”
Larry Flynt commissioned Huerta to draw an illustration of Miley Cyrus for the July 2011 issue of Hustler magazine. Huerta also had a featured gallery in the December 2012 issue.
In 2013, John Stagliano commissioned Huerta to create a series of designs for his Evil Apparel line of clothing which he helped promote at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo.