I have to say, I had the pleasure of being at the right place at the right time when *MonsieurFantasy joined deviantart. I found him through new traditional art, and was I surprised to find that I had stumbled upon the gallery of John Patience himself! Now many of you may be familiar with the work of John Patience, especially in the UK area. It turns out, not only does he create incredibly inspired and joyful work, he is absolutely a wonderful person to be around and chat with, and I am happy to present you this interview he so generously allowed me.

Please enjoy.


I have to say, your joining dA caused a bit of a stir! We're very excited to have you, so what prompted you to join dA?

I was looking for an outlet where I might be able to sell prints of my work, and my son Joe who works in computer games design pointed me in the direction of DA. "You could give it a try," said Joe so I did. I didn't take the trouble to inform myself about what DA was all about, so I was not prepared for what happened next....nice young folks remembering my work from their childhood, and saying so many kind things.

You've got quite a bit of experience under your belt, what advice would you give to the new artist?

That sounds like it ought to be an easy question to answer, but it isn't. I have arrived at the place I am at by working hard, but also by being very lucky. I did the working hard thing, minus the luck for about ten years. I developed my own projects and took them around the London publishers and got politely turned away. Eventually I did get lucky, and I suppose the point is that young artists need to be persistent and stay hopeful.
Also I think it is very important not to turn down crummy commissions. You could waste for a great deal of time waiting for the ideal commission to come along. Take what you can get, your drawing and painting skills can be developed on almost any subject matter. Also the broader the range of work you can handle, the better chance you will have of making a living. So whatever the commission give it a go.
And my final bit of invaluable advise is, get your work in front of as many art directors as possible. It's a numbers game.


Thank you, that is wonderful advice. What are your favoured mediums to work with?

These days I use acrylic almost all the time. It's a great medium, it can be used as a wash, (almost like watercolour) or as opaque body colour. It dries fast and I can overpaint with it to make nice textures, giving the image depth or on a bad day to paint over my mistakes.

Do you have a particular technique you'd like to share?

I used to try out all kinds of techniques; I've used marbling inks, printed textures, Acrylic texture medium with ink floated over it so it runs into the cracks. I really let myself go with all this kind of thing on a series of books called The Dumpies. The Dumpies where jolly little space creatures, but that was a long time ago. These days I just paint in the old fashioned way. Well that's not quite true I do still use an airbrush when I feel it will get the effect I'm looking for.


Do you color in or outside of the lines?

I colour both inside and outside the lines. I also colour on the walls and the carpet, and all over my clothes. I find this produces a great camouflage effect, so that if you were to come looking for me you would be very hard pressed to find me in my studio.


What is your favorite mythological creature, and why?

Well though they are not strictly speaking mythological creatures, I like fairies best. You can get all the expressions into their faces and bodies that you could with a human and yet you can distortify them in all kinds of fun ways, give them animal characteristics or make them resemble trees. They just offer endless possibilities!

Which of your own publications is your favorite?

That would be "Dream Time Tales" and "Enchanted Tales" I intended them to be one book but for financial reasons my publisher has divided it into two. He also stuck those titles on them which I don't much like, but what can you do?
Anyway they are collections of stories for girls, and they are definitely the best work I have done for a number of years. I don't know if I will ever get the opportunity to do anything quite so ambitious again. When I was asked to do the project I couldn't believe my luck. Having said that, following the book I am working on at present, I am promised a couple of nice fantasy projects. We shall see.


How are the fairies doing?

Ah tis my fairy infested house of which you speak. I am afraid that the fairies are doing rather better than I am. I They have the upper hand.
But as a matter of fact I have been wondering whether or not I should put an end to my fairy journal. It is the sort of thing that could go on for a very very long time. In fact I would like to take this opportunity to ask for opinions. Please drop into my place and tell me what you think. You can say either "Please continue" or "For pity's sake stop" No offense will be taken, and I probably won't take any notice of what anyone says anyway. So there.

To be honest, I rather enjoy the fairy journals. But for my last question, (referenced in comment somewhere) What is the meaning of life?

Now I remember you asked me what the meaning of life is, Oily old chum. Well you may be surprised to hear that I do know the answer to that one. The meaning of life is .................Oh, I've forgotten. Do you know I have exactly the same problem with my pin number!



I hope you enjoyed reading this as I did making this. John truly is an amazing person with an amazing talent, and I wish him the best! Make sure to stop by his page and truly experience what I like to call John Patience: Full Throttle . Believe you me, it's definitely a wonderful experience!

Now for some of John's favorites in the traditional Art Gallery!