Dominic Carter talks to the master artist and author about his career, working for the biggest in the business, and his stance on AI

SETTING OFF “Becoming an artist is like starting a journey,” says Jean-Baptiste. “It’s not the result that matters, but how you give back to the world through the prism of your imagination.”

For over 30 years, Jean-Baptiste Monge has been busily honing his craft and working with a selection of the most-renowned creative studios across the planet, all while managing to maintain his independence as both an author and an illustrator.

We caught up with him to learn more about his career, how he’s managed to balance his creativity and integrity throughout his varied works, and why he’s concerned about the dangers of AI-generated art.

Hi Jean-Baptiste! You’ve been active for over three decades. How did you get started, and how did you get to where you are now?

I’ve always felt a strong attraction to pictures and imaginary worlds, and therefore, by extension, a strong interest and curiosity for drawings, paintings, sculptures and writing.

I was born before home computers, games consoles and other crazy hightech gizmos, so my culture and learning process came from books. We did have a TV at home but no video recorder, so the limited access my brother, sister and I had connected us to national channels.

By chance, there were sometimes great movies for us to watch, or sci-fi shows and excellent cartoons. Rarest of all were the fantasy movies, like Willow or Legend.

Five of us lived in a tiny flat. I shared a bedroom with my brother. We didn’t have a table for leisure activities, the only table was the dining table that was used for homework. I couldn’t draw at home but I did practise in my exercise book at school, much to the despair of my teachers, who considered me a hopeless dreamer.

I didn’t have the chance to enter a real academy of art because it was too expensive, although I would have loved to do the animation school at Les Gobelins. Instead, I attended one that was close to my home. I didn’t finish but I learned how to work hard. And what I really wanted to learn, I discovered by myself.

"I’ve always felt a strong attraction to pictures and imaginary worlds"

I had a friend, Erlé Ferronnière, who was in the same situation as me. We decided to team up and work together. When I was 23, I released my first book alongside him called Halloween. It was a real book of self-taught illustrators, with quite an immature style. It met with success though, and the basis