For Pauline’s graphic design & illustration project also required us to do some research on two illustrators/artists. The first artist/illustrator that I decided to research/study is the illustrator Quentin Blake.

Blake’s work is pretty loose, even a little messy in style. This is because he doesn’t sketch anything out beforehand, he free hands all his illustrations in pen. When he adds colour to his illustrations, he would go over the ink illustration with watercolour paint. I think it’s fascinating that he doesn’t initially sketch any of his illustrations as most artists I know sketch their artwork first.

Blake’s freehand ink and watercolour paint combination is what makes his work so memorable. His use of watercolour paint for colouring allows him to very easily move between light pastel colours and layered, more vibrant colours in his work. It also allows him to create a nice looking texture at times as well. His most famous work is the illustrations he did for 18 of Roald Dahl’s books as well as his own two books Mrs Armitage and Mister Magnolia among over 300 other books.

I admire Blake’s ability to draw immediately without the need of sketching out what he’s about draw beforehand. It’s a skill I’m not all that good at but it’s something I’d possibly like to practice and eventually get good at in the future.  I had attempted to emulate that sort of ability in part of my concertina in the previous module as well as with some of my initial sketches for the 26 words we’ve done for this class.

Blake’s illustrations and books hold a special place in my heart as they were some of the books I grew up with when I was younger, I’ve always admired and enjoyed his unique art style even from a young age.