Inspirations

My two loves as a child were reading and drawing. The story let you get sucked into a different world and the illustrations fuelled the imagination further. I will always argue that one of the best book collaborations was between Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake. Quentin Blake is my number one inspiration. His work always seems so effortless yet as an artist you know that every line is nearly always carefully thought out bit by bit and it may actually be the 5th or 6th attempt you see because something wasn't quite right the first few times. I was very lucky a few years back to visit the Magic Pencil exhibition in London where some of Quentin Blakes original work was on display. If you think the illustrations in the books are great, seeing the originals is fantastic. You become a self appointed critic where you follow every line and analyse every mark, colour etc. Once again you find yourself sucked in and you wish you could meet the illustrator in person to ask the many questions whirling around your brain. One book I will be ordering from Amazon soon is 'Beyond the Page' by Quentin Blake himself (Sept). Here he writes about his projects since 2000, describing working processes, collaborators, his travels plus his various projects and commissions. It also states hundreds of illustrations so I can't wait and think it will be fascinating to read.