Quentin Blake : Teachers & Parents : Young Illustrators

If you are an aspiring illustrator, be inspired by what Quentin has to say about the way he sets about illustrating a boook….

How do you decide what to draw?

When it's a book for which someone else has written the words, the process begins when the typescript appears from the publishers. In a sense I'm reading the story as if I were two people at the same time: a normal reader, who is relishing a good story for its own sake; and an illustrator on the look out for good subjects to draw, good moments.
If someone is asleep in bed dreaming, you don't necessarily want to see them in bed, but you might want to look at the dreams. I try to get as close to what the writer intended as possible - to get on their wavelength. The text, not the pictures, must lead the way.
Sometimes, though, the pictures come first. Often, in fact, the shrewd writer has already incorporated moments which ask to be illustrated. John Yeoman, who I've worked with from the start, does this. And sometimes there are moments which can't be ignored, although sometimes there are hard choices to be made. Sometimes you choose to illustrate a moment, not because it will push the story forward at all, but just because it's such an enjoyable moment. In Matilda, for example, there's the moment when Miss Trunchball sends Julius Rottwinkle flying through the open window, scattering liquorice allsorts in his wake, or the episode when Bruce Boggtrotter eats an entire chocolate cake.

Sometimes the writer even makes changes to the story if the pictures seem to need it. For example, in the original version of The BFG, the giant was wearing a big leather apron and knee-length boots. They were only mentioned once, but of course they had to appear in every drawing. However when I did the first drawings, Roald felt that the apron got in the way when the giant moved and ran and jumped, and that the boots were just dull. So we sat down round the dining table to rethink the costume. But we couldn't agree what the BFG should wear on his feet. Several days later I received through the post a rather oddly-shaped and oddly wrapped brown paper parcel. Unwrapping it revealed a large sandal - one of Roald's own, which is what the BFG now wears.

How do you actually produce a drawing?

I do a free-wheeling sort of drawing that looks as if it has been done on the spur of the moment, although in reality it's not quite like that. I start with lots of roughs - some of which turn out to be quite close to the finished drawing, and some of which are discarded. For a book there's lots of planning. What goes on which page? Do the actions carry on from one picture to another? Do the characters still look the same on each page?
For about twenty years I've used a lightbox, which I find really useful. On the light box I put the rough drawing I'm going to work from, and on top of that, a sheet of watercolour paperÉ. Ready to hand is a bottle of waterproof black ink and a lot of scruffy looking dip pens. What happens next is not tracing; in fact it's important that I can't see the rough drawing underneath too clearly, because when I draw I try to draw as if for the first time; but I can do it with increased concentration, because the drawing underneath lets me know all the elements that have to appear and exactly where they have to be placed.'

how to draw

How long does it take to do a book?

It's almost impossible to say - some books are much more difficult and complicated than others. I can do three or four or five or even six in a year, of which perhaps one or two are coloured picturebooks, which take the most time. I know the drawings look as though they are done quickly, and in a sense they are; at least each bit of them is done quickly. But I spend quite a long time planning what they are to be beforehand, and I am prepared to do them over and over again if I haven't got someone's expression or features quite right.

Favorite books

Of all the books you've illustrated, which is your favourite?

This is a very hard question because I don't think I have one favourite book. Perhaps it is easier to explain if you think of all the books as a sort of range of hills, all different shapes, and some taller than others. How Tom Beat Captain Najork was exciting because it was the first book I illustrated by Russell Hoban and it was something I couldn't possibly have imagined; though I love Russell Hoban's The Raindoor, although I don't think it is so well known. (It ought to be!)
I like The BFG, and that is partly because in various ways it was quite difficult to do and I was pleased when I got there in the end; and partly because the relationship between the BFG and Sophie is very interesting and obviously was very important to Roald Dahl.
Of my own books I perhaps like Clown best, because somehow I feel close to the main character, and partly because it was a very interesting task to tell a story entirely in pictures without any words. I was pleased to do a book about city life without (I hope) it being dull and boring.

Do you prefer illustrating books written by other people, or the ones you write yourself?

I like them both, and I'm glad I don't have to give up one or the other, because they are each interesting in their own way. Illustrating a book by someone else is exciting, because when you start reading that typescript you really have no idea what you are going to find there, and it may be something that you would never have thought of. And it's very interesting to try and draw in just the way that matches the book. Is it very fantastic? Or very realistic? Or outrageously funny? Or sad?
The interesting thing about drawing my own books is that it's really a story in pictures, with the necessary words underneath. These books give me the opportunity to draw something that I realise I want to draw.