QUENTIN BLAKE: HOW I DRAW

Quentin Blake has given us a new reason to love him and his work: he’s put up a section on his website called HOW I DRAW. Here’s a little taste of what you’ll find on his site:

“I do a freewheeling sort of drawing that looks as though it is done on the spur of the moment. Even a single drawing needs a certain amount of preparation and planning. Most of the time I need to do a rough in which I find out howpeople stand, what sort of expressions they have, how they fit on the page. For a sequence of drawings more planning is needed, and one needs to think of a number of questions at the same time (which is part of the interest of the job): is the method and medium of this drawing suitable to the atmosphere of the book? What goes on whichpage? Do the actions carry on from one picture to another? Do the characters still look the same on each page? In the attempt to combine planning with an air of spontaneity I’ve employed various techniques of which the one I have found most successful, and have used for the last thirty years, makes use of a light box.”