John Blanche interviewed by Leftlion magazine

So, Leftlion magazine (for those of you who don't know), is Nottingham's free arts magazine, regularly distributed around select cultural venues (museums, cafes, bars etc) across Nottingham. There's also a nice website for the Nottingham arts scene: www.leftlion.co.uk

I happened to see that #55 (Oct/Nov 2013) features a cover by a rather notable fellow - a certain John Blanche. It also features an overview of Games Workshop, and a 2-page interview with John himself. Interestingly, John refers to himself as an illustrator rather than an artist.

A typical John Blanche illustration, full of gothic imagery

I picked up a couple of hard copies for my self and a few non-locals, but if you want to check out the interview, a pdf version will be available on the Leftlion website shortly.

Explaining Games Workshop to the man in the street

John Blanche gives his thoughts on playing with toy soliders and his career

Having spoken with the Leftlion staff, it was happily revealed that John's cover painting is the first part of a new series, painted directly into a book. Jared at Leftlion said that there are two more that John shared with the Leftlion team and more to come. There's a couple of pics of John with the original up at the Leftlion facebook page.

In case you didn't know, the name Leftlion comes from the way that generations of residents of Nottingham have arranged a meeting place in Market Square outside the council house. "I'll meet you by the left lion"...

The left lion. Not the right one.