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One who dreams along with a child

Quentin Blake’s illustrations have brought many of Roald Dahl’s books to life. Somjeet Dey profiles the artistic genius who was the first Children’s Laureate

When we talk about giants, we imagine them. With little or no difficulty we paint the awe that they bring out. But, what about a Big Friendly Giant? My thoughts, just like yours, get blurred in the contrast! Thankfully, we have the British illustrator Quentin Blake, who etched an enduring image for millions of readers and followers of this widely accepted and lovable character. Not only the BFG, Matilda, Willy Wonka or Little Billy — all of Roald Dahl’s subjects get their ‘character’ through his drawings. Dahl’s books would seem incomplete without his illustrations: the story seems to melt into them. At a time when a book gets noticed only after its film versions come out, it should be recollected that it was Blake who had first visualised Dahl’s brilliant characters and their even more brilliant antics. It is for him that many a book has moved on from being mere reading material to compulsive bedtime companions of children across the world.

At first glance, one gets the feeling that all of Blake’s drawings are done at a great pace. Each of them has their share of crudeness and sensitivity in measured proportions. He catches people, animals and birds in the weirdest of actions. That is the key to the hilarity in his pictures. But according to the artist, although each part of his illustration is done speedily, the entire layout takes a considerable effort in planning, conception and co-ordination with the story. He never shies away from repeating his drawings until they reach the level of perfection and roundedness that fits the storyline and dramatises the moments. The end result, of course, is a wonderful blend of words and pictures.

Quentin Blake had started his career as an illustrator with Punch in the 1940s. Since then, he has illustrated over two hundred books by as many as eighty different authors. He is surely best known for his works with Roald Dahl. Without his sketches, understanding Dahl’s extravagantly bizarre characters would be almost impossible. The two great minds worked for about fifteen years and doled out side-splitting and eternally memorable books for children. My first encounter with the duo was in Danny the Champion of the World. It is written in the crisp and lucid style typical of Dahl and hilariously well-knit by Blake’s illustrations. From an old gipsy wagon to poaching pheasants at night, each subject and each moment brims with life in the pictures. Blake’s drawings, which are actually reflections of his fondness for simplicity and his unmistakable understanding of a child’s mind, are the real ‘spark’ to Dahl’s innovative and honest writing for children.

Blake, in his seventies now, has worked with authors like John Yeoman, Evelyn Waugh and Michael Rosen as well. He started illustrating books with his friend Yeoman’s A Drink of Water. The touch of Blake’s versatility is evident in Michael Rosen’s Sad Book. The book gets the desolate and quiet look it accounts for through the drawings. The cover in which a vagabond is loitering around gets an extra dimension when Blake adds a spilt bin and a stray dog to the picture. Suddenly it’s no longer the tale of a tramp, but a saga of loneliness, aimlessness and a hole in your middle that refuses to be filled up by whatever you do. It’s hard for us to understand how Quentin Blake brought unseen tears to the cover to a book that’s about Michael Rosen’s dead son. It is easier for us to wonder if he used the same brush to paint Danny and his father’s glowing companionship as he did to illustrate the bond that snapped between Rosen and his son.

Ranging from Trunky’s fight with the Enormous Crocodile to the bereavement of Rosen, Blake portrays them all with his bevy of dip pens and waterproof black ink. This kind of genius is not measured by the precision of brushstrokes alone. It is manifested in the complete sympathy he feels for his subjects.

At the beginning of his career, Blake was typecast as a black and white illustrator. Then he got a novel idea of putting things straight. He himself wrote and illustrated a lyrical story about a young man who played violin and changed the colours of things surrounding him. The result was Patrick and it was published in 1968. The book showcases Blake's mastery of paintings and drawings which he picked up during his time at the Chelsea Art School as a part- time student. Apart from adorning the books of contemporary authors, Blake has established himself as an author- illustrator through his own books. All his own books are stories in pictures. Blake takes the liberty of using his own words with sketches to the most dramatic effect in these. Mister Magnolia is the story of a man who played trumpet and made friends with frogs and toads, while in The Story of the Dancing Frog, he narrates the antics of George, a frog, who takes on to the stage as a dancer. Of all the characters that Blake has produced over the years, the diabolical Mrs Armitage, paired with her faithful dog, is the one with the greatest fanfare. Blake makes her ride a bike or drive a car and sends her to the beach in search of the Big Wave in a series of publications. Genius as genius is, Blake did not confine himself to working with children's books only. He has worked on classics like Don Quixote and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He collaborated with over a thousand students and school- teachers in France and came out with A Sailing-Boat in the Sky. Humanitarian issues like racism and pollution and war are dealt with in Blake’s own charming way in this book.

Quentin Blake’s relentless efforts to entertain children made him the first Children's Laureate in 1999. Three years later, he won the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international acclaim for children's literature. He had the rare opportunity to draw on the walls of the National Gallery in London during an exhibition in 2001. It is a befitting tribute to the man whom The Guardian hailed as a 'national institution'. All said and done, his accolades are trifle, considering that he is an artist who appeals to and is accepted universally. He is the soul who makes an album out of a book, an event out of an incident and a dreamer out of a child.