Quentin Blake
Quentin Blake
Sir Quentin Saxby Blake, CBE, FCSD, FRSL, RDIis an English cartoonist, illustrator and children's writer. He may be known best for illustrating books written by Roald Dahl. For his lasting contribution as a children's illustrator he won the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books. From 1999 to 2001 he was the inaugural British Children's Laureate. He is a patron of the Association of Illustrators...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionCartoonist
Date of Birth16 December 1932
You see, I don't draw from life at all, but I do look out of my window a lot.
I love the sea, but I avoid any sort of seaside resort that has skyscrapers or seaside entertainments.
Television is kind of a disappointment. I often want to watch it, but I find it quite hard - I don't like soaps, reality TV or celebrity chefs.
I don't have anything interesting to conceal or reveal in my private life, and it is really only my work and professional life that I want to talk about.
I don't feel as if I belong to an age group.
Being positive may be a character defect of mine.
Guinea pigs are quite difficult to draw, I think, because they're so furry.
Inspiration is some mysterious blessing which happens when the wheels are turning smoothly.
I've never quite worked out how to do holidays. I've got a house in France which I suppose is a kind of holiday house. But it's really only so I can go on drawing when I get there. I'm never far away from the feeling that I want to be getting on with something.
I'm trained as a teacher; that's the only thing I've got a certificate for.
As an illustrator you need to understand the human body - but having looked at and understood nature, you must develop an ability to look away and capture the balance between what you've seen and what you imagine.
With my pictures, what I hope is that it encourages the reader to imagine more pictures of his own.
If you want to read and you want to draw, that helps you to express yourself.
A lot of my travel is at least partly work, visiting schools and libraries, especially in France.