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Illustrator Quentin Blake meets young artist George Edge, aged 14 |
Top artist – ‘Don’t believe it if they say you’re no good’
Illustrator Blake urges young and old to draw and paint as he opens school’s exhibition
ONE of Britain’s best-loved illustrators, Quentin Blake, urged children never to give up art as he opened an exhibition of young people’s work at the Prince’s Drawing School in Shoreditch.
Mr Blake, 76, was given a hero’s welcome by up to 300 children and their parents at the event on Wednesday night, which he described as “impressive and rather overwhelming”.
Patron of the Campaign for Drawing, Mr Blake told the Tribune that too many people become self-conscious about drawing and painting and give it up.
“This goes for old people as well as the young,” he said. “They were told they were no good or they were not encouraged and they lose interest.
“I want everybody to draw and paint. It’s a wonderful means of self-expression.”
Mr Blake is famous for his collaborations with author Roald Dahl on books including James and the Giant Peach, and more recently with Little Britain star David Walliams on his illustrated book The Boy in the Dress.
The Prince’s Drawing School, in Charlotte Road, was set up by the Prince of Wales eight years ago with the express purpose of harnessing the artistic talents of young people aged 10 to 16.
Mr Blake said he was very interested in the techniques used by many of the young artists at the show.
“There are a lot of very good ideas here,” he added, “and a number of budding young illustrators.”
But he warned that moving into the world of illustration was extremely difficult.
“There is no job structure and you are working on your own,” said Mr Blake.
“You have to take your work around and hope that someone recognises something in it.”
He started out while still at school, sending cartoon drawings to Punch magazine. “One or two got bought – they were very small and not very good,” said Mr Blake.
“But being accepted by the magazine kept me going.
“In my case I did cartoons first and didn’t learn to draw until I was in my 20s.”
During Mr Blake’s tenure as the Children’s Laureate in 2002 he announced plans for a House of Illustration – a museum honouring the art in books.
After years of fundraising he hopes this gallery will be up and running by 2011, at a site behind the British Library in King’s Cross.
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