Sci-Fi Art Now Creator Interview: John Royle

John Royle is a freelance British comic artist living in the UK. His personal favourite comic charatcers he's worked on include Spider-Man, the X-Men, Wolverine, Ultra Force, Prime, Avengers and the Fantastic Four - samples of which can be found on his web site.

He's worked on many comic books and Illustrations for various publishers and clients including Marvel Comics (both in the US and the UK), DC Comics, Hewlett Packard, Royal Mail, Disney, Procter and Gamble, Panini, The Times, Paramount Pictures, Malibu Comics, Acclaim, Readers Digest USA, Aussiebum, Ge Fabbri, Muscle and Fitness, Film On and even the impressive sounding Euromoney Institutional Investor.

He recently drew a comic strip page for a campaign by cough medicine makers Benylin, which is appearing in several British womens magazines to promote a new brand in their product range, commissioned by ad agency JWT.

SciFi Art Now: What tools do you mainly use to create your art? 

John Royle: Pencil, ink and colour in Photoshop.

SciFi Art Now: What inspired you to become an artist? 

John: The cover to the 1960's X-Men #50 featuring Lorna Dane and the X-Men . Also, John Byrne and Terry Austin's classic run on the X-Men.

SciFi Art Now: What was the most useful piece of advice you were given when you began learning your craft?

John: Practice! Don't give up.

SciFi Art Now: Which artists most inspire you? 

John: J Scott Campbell, John Byrne, Alan Davis, George Perez, Jim Lee, John Romita Jr.... The list is endless!

SciFi Art Now: What is the appeal to you of science fiction as an inspiration for some of your work? 

John: I love designing aliens and hi-tech gadgets!

SciFi Art Now: Do you have a favourite piece of work or project you have worked on?

John: There's a recent job for The Times which was fun but I can't sadly show the image as its not out yet! It's a Cyborg man.

SciF Art Now: What most frustrates you about being an artist?

John: Some days you can just draw anything and its easy and fun , some days you get a block and you hate anything you draw but must carry on and get it right because off a deadlines.

SciF Art Now: What keeps you going despite the hopefully occasional frustrations? 

John: The good days -- and I can have a brew when I like!

SciFi Art Now: What advice would you offer to anyone starting out as an artist? 

John: Study the work of many varied artists, have fun and practice!

• Check out John's work at: www.johnroyleart.com