Frequently asked questions about the new Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, opening in May 2026 in Clerkenwell, London.
General Questions
Illustration is art with a job to do – persuading us, telling us stories or giving us information. It can be made with anything: pencils, pens, paint, collage, clay or digital tools. You can find it in picturebooks, videogames and graphic novels, on road signs and in medical textbooks. Once you start looking for it, illustration is everywhere!
We believe that illustration makes the world a more curious, equal and compassionate place, and can help us explore our shared past. So we’re on a mission to empower everyone to illustrate their stories, explore the imagery around them and use illustration to examine the way we live and work.
Quentin Blake (https://qbcentre.org.uk/quentin-blake) is an artist, author and illustrator. He had his first illustration published in Punch magazine in 1949 when he was still at school. Since then, he has written and/or illustrated more than 500 books, been a teacher of illustrators and created murals for hospitals, galleries and community spaces. He still draws every day and he is currently working on a new exhibition of large-scale portraits.
Quentin is the founder of our organisation and we work closely with him to share material from his 40,000-work archive at the Centre and at museums and galleries across the UK.
The Library, garden, shop and café are free to enter. The Library includes illustration activities and original artworks, along with over 1,800 books.
You can also purchase a ticket to visit our three special exhibitions here(opens in new window). Standard adult tickets are £15 or £16.50 (inc. donation) however we also have a range of concessionary tickets available.
Everyone is welcome to enjoy the exhibitions at their own pace but we recommend allowing around 90 minutes to see all three exhibitions. You may also wish to leave time to explore the library and garden and to visit the cafe and shop. These spaces can also be enjoyed without purchasing an exhibition ticket.
We have worked closely with access consultancy Earnscliffe Associates(opens in new window) and our Access Advisory Panel to ensure that the Centre and its programmes are welcoming and accessible.
Before our opening, we will add detailed information on the Centre’s location, facilities and programmes to this website.
Find out more here or contact us at access@qbcentre.org.uk.
Visitors can pick up a sensory bag on arrival or try the activities within the special exhibitions. The Library includes books and games for children, as well as activities for all ages. Outside you will find playbenches and a heritage trail.
Check our What’s On pages for information about forthcoming family events.
Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration is based within an industrial heritage site called New River Head. It is a unique place with a fascinating history.
Find out more here.
The architects for the centre were Tim Ronalds Architects. They were supported by a team of specialist engineers and designers. You can read more about some of the people who designer the Centre in our Journal.
House of our Illustration was our first gallery, within a rented former goods yard building in Kings Cross. We were open from 2014 and 2020 and you can read about our exhibitions here.
Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration is our permanent home, offering more space and a free offer alongside the ticketed exhibitions and events.
You can find out more about our history here.
We made the least intervention possible to make the abandoned buildings that house the Centre welcoming and accessible. During the restoration, material currently on the site was reused and new materials were sustainably sourced.
We are powered by an air source heat pump that produces no carbon emissions. We consider sustainability throughout our operations, from smart recycling to exhibition materials.
Our site was originally a waterworks that was fuelled, at different points in its history, by wind, horse-power, coal, steam and electricity. We invite illustrators to make work in dialogue with this heritage and the climate emergency today.
Current opportunities can be found here.
For updates on our opportunities, sign up for our e-newsletter and follow us on Facebook(opens in new window), Instagram(opens in new window) and LinkedIn(opens in new window).
Please email community@qbcentre.org.uk or call +44 (0)20 8150 7100.
Yes! School groups are welcome to visit our exhibitions and gardens, and to take part in creative workshops. We also offer in-school workshops. More information can be found here.
To stay informed about school bookings, sign up to our schools e-newsletter.
Yes! Applications for our residency programme will reopen in 2027. For updates on our residencies and other opportunities for illustrators, sign up for our e-newsletter and follow us on Facebook(opens in new window), Instagram(opens in new window) and LinkedIn(opens in new window).
Please email info@qbcentre.org.uk.
As an independent arts charity, we receive philanthropy, corporate support and grants from trusts and foundations. The redevelopment was supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Islington Council and a wide range of philanthropists and grant-givers. We are very grateful for this support.
Donations of all sizes mean a lot to us and make a real difference to our work. You can support us by making a one-off donation online.
If you would like to learn more about how your support helps us to celebrate and champion illustration, please contact emily.curran@qbcentre.org.uk.
Quentin Blake founded our organisation and his archive is pledged to us. The Quentin Blake Gallery at Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration shows a changing selection of works from the archive.
Visit Quentin’s website(opens in new window) for information on how to contact him.
To send your questions to us, email info@qbcentre.org.uk. We will do our best to answer them, but please note that we have a small staff team and we may not be able to respond at short notice. You can find recent articles on our work in Illustration & Heritage(opens in new window) by Rachel Emily Taylor and in our Journal(opens in new window).
What we stock reflects our values and our visitors. We want to work with a diverse range of suppliers who share our values and can help us to fulfil our vision.
Income from purchases made in the shop will be reinvested into the Centre to make great art, exhibitions, learning and thinking happen.
We support and champion the local creative economy with collaborations.
For further information please contact us at retail@qbcentre.org.uk
You sign up for our e-newsletter to receive updates on our progress and opening, and follow us on Facebook(opens in new window), Instagram(opens in new window) and LinkedIn(opens in new window).
Still have questions? Contact us info@qbcentre.org.uk.
Exhibitions
If you would like to propose an idea for an exhibition, please send us a short summary of your idea either as:
- a text document of no more than 500 words, or
- an audio or video file (.mp3 or .mp4) of no more than four minutes
to exhibitions@qbcentre.org.uk, including any links or images that may be relevant. We will respond to you within eight weeks.
Please note that we plan our exhibitions programme two years in advance and that we receive many more ideas than we can take forward. Because we have a small staff team, we are not able to give detailed feedback on proposals that we are unable to take forward.
If you have access requirements that we need to meet to support you to submit an exhibition idea, email exhibitions@qbcentre.org.uk or call +44 (0)20 8150 7100.
From 5 June 2026 you will be able to visit our exhibitions at Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in Clerkenwell, London.
We work with collectors, illustrators, researchers and organisations to create exhibitions on a wide range of subjects. We aim to represent a broad a range of perspectives and types of illustration.
Our staff team work with people with a range of experiences and expertise. They consult with our Artistic Programme Advisory Panel, our local communities and visitors.
If you have comments or questions on our exhibitions programme, you can write to us exhibitions@qbcentre.org.uk.
Yes. Our exhibitions are available to tour to museums and galleries in the UK and overseas. We are now accepting expressions of interest for exhibitions from 2027 onwards.
Still have questions? Contact us on exhibitions@qbcentre.org.uk.
Library
No – our library is a reference library, so books can only be read here, but you can stay as long as you like during our opening hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 10am–5pm.
- Animation
- Board books
- Botanical Illustration
- Children
- Concept design and gaming
- Fashion illustration
- Graphic novels and comics
- History, theory, practice
- Fiction
- Non-fiction
- Illustrator biographies
- Infographics
- Journals
- Magazines
- Reportage
- Teenagers
- Tools and techniques
- Zines
We will also feature books connected to the themes of our exhibitions.
The majority of our books are in English, however we also have some children’s books in the most common languages spoken in the borough of Islington: Arabic, Bengali, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Dari, Farsi, French, Greek, Italian, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Somali and Turkish.
The library is currently full but we love to hear your suggestions for when we restock the shelves – please send them to library@qbcentre.org.uk. We can't guarantee that we will be able feature all the titles that are suggested to us.
I’m afraid we cannot accept donations of any publications at this time, but it may be something we can do in the future – please email us at library@qbcentre.org.uk (mailto:library@qbcentre.org.uk). We can't guarantee that we will use accept any publications that are offered to us, but we would be interested in the details.
We cannot return any books sent to us or guarantee that they will be added to the library. Any unsolicited material added to the library will be removed. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to return this material.
Yes. Some of our books include sensitive content, and adult subjects and language. Our selection of books made for children in a dedicated section next to the stairs.
If you have comments or questions about material featured in the library, contact us library@qbcentre.org.uk (mailto:library@qbcentre.org.uk).
Illustration is a huge subject and so the library isn’t comprehensive. However, we have selected books to represent as wide a range of perspectives and approaches to illustration as we can. You can view a list of the books featured in the library by downloading our library catalogue below.
Library catalogue(76 KB)(opens in new window)If you are looking for something in particular, contact us and we will see if we can help library@qbcentre.org.uk. Please note that we have a small staff team and we cannot guarantee that we will be able to resolve your query.
Yes. For more information about venue hire and events, please contact our Welcome and Events Team – info@qbcentre.org.uk.
Some of the books in the library are also stocked in our shop. If you would like information on any other books in the library, our team can advise you on where you can find a copy. Please ask at the Welcome Desk or email library@qbcentre.org.uk.
Still have questions? Contact us library@qbcentre.org.uk.
Our collection
We have a small handling collection that can be viewed via Collections Online. We are not currently able to provide in-person access to our handling collection.
We work closely with illustrator Quentin Blake to share his archive, which is pledged to us.
We hope to develop a collection in the future, but we are not currently collecting.
We love seeing illustration and a large part of our exhibitions are made up of loans. If you have an illustration you would consider lending to the Centre for future exhibitions, please do share details at collections@qbcentre.org.uk. We can't guarantee that we will use any illustrations that are offered to us as loans, but we would be interested in the details.
We are very grateful for any offers to donate illustrations but unfortunately, we will have limited capacity for storage which means we can't accept donations of illustrations. Even with our new site, we need to prioritise any storage space for holding Quentin’s own archive, which will eventually come to the Centre.
At the moment, we’re developing a collections policy which will aid the formulation of a small collection of other illustrations intended for a specific purpose (such as visitor handling or to demonstrate a certain illustration method) but this will also need to be limited for similar storage reasons.
Items featured in Collections Online are listed with information about the collection they came from. You can also find illustration in the collections of:
Arabic Design Archive(opens in new window)
British Museum(opens in new window)
Cartoon Museum(opens in new window)
Interference Archive(opens in new window)
Letterform Archive(opens in new window)
Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books(opens in new window)
The People’s Graphic Design Archive(opens in new window)
V&A(opens in new window)
Wellcome Collection(opens in new window)
Please tell us if you have collections to recommend to us, collections@qbcentre.org.uk.
We are not able to advise on or arrange conservation treatment for artworks. The Institute of Conservation has a searchable list(opens in new window) of accredited conservators.
We can’t help to identify artworks or give valuations. An auction house with expertise in the type of material you have may be able to help you.
Quentin Blake’s archive is pledged to us. We work closely with Quentin to share works from his archive in our touring exhibitions. From 5 June 2026 you will be able to visit the Quentin Blake Gallery at Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in Clerkenwell, London.
Quentin’s is a working archive: he refers to the material in it for projects and new material is being added all the time as he creates more work. It is not generally open to researchers.
For more information about Quentin’s archive, working with Quentin and licensing his work, visit his website(opens in new window).
Applications for our annual residency programme will reopen in late 2026. For updates on our residencies and other opportunities for illustrators, sign up for our e-newsletter and follow us on Facebook(opens in new window), Instagram(opens in new window) and LinkedIn(opens in new window).
We can’t offer career advice to individuals, but we recommend resources from the AOI(opens in new window) and Getting Illustration Clients(opens in new window) by Jo Davies and Derek Brazell.
Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration will open in 2026 and will have a programme of events for illustrators. For updates on our programme, sign up for our e-newsletter and follow us on Facebook(opens in new window), Instagram(opens in new window) and LinkedIn(opens in new window).
We love seeing illustrators’ work, but unfortunately we are not able to review portfolios. The Association of Illustrators offers portfolio consultations(opens in new window) and Agents for Change run portfolio review sessions(opens in new window).
For updates on our opportunities for illustrators, sign up for our e-newsletter and follow us on Facebook(opens in new window), Instagram(opens in new window) and LinkedIn(opens in new window).
You can view curated stories, or use your own terms to search a database of items.
A selection of material from a small number of UK-based collections. We have started with UK-based collections because we are based here. We have focused on material from the 1900s because illustration from this period can be harder to find and access online than more contemporary material.
Illustration is a huge subject and so collections online isn’t comprehensive. However, we are selecting material to represent as wide a range of perspectives and approaches to illustration as we can. We will add more material as we work on exhibitions at our new Centre in Clerkenwell. Our hope is that Collections Online grows into a rich resource over time.
Collections Online includes a range of types of illustration produced over time. Some items may include or imply nudity, strong language, violence, drug use or dangerous behaviour. Items may also represent discriminatory attitudes and practices that we do not endorse. We believe that these items provide evidence of our shared history that we can learn from.
Any explicit or discriminatory material in collections online is blurred and displayed with a content warning. You can choose to click to view the material if you would like to.
If you have any concerns, comments or questions about material featured in collections online or the way it is described, contact us collections@qbcentre.org.uk.
Illustration is a huge subject and so collections online isn’t comprehensive. However, we are selecting material to represent as wide a range of perspectives and approaches to illustration as we can. We will add more material as we work on exhibitions at our new Centre in Clerkenwell.
If you are looking for something in particular, contact us and we will see if we can help collections@qbcentre.org.uk. Please note that we have a small staff team and we cannot guarantee that we will be able to resolve your query.
Some of the material in Collections Online is owned by institutions that you can visit who have staff you can contact. Other material is owned privately and may not be open to visits or enquiries.
Each item in Collections Online is displayed with information that includes a ‘Research information’ section where you will find one of the following:
- a link to information on how to access the collection
- information on how to submit an enquiry to the collection
- a notification that we are unable to provide further information about the collection or submit enquiries to the owner
We are unable to send you the details of collection owners directly and we cannot guarantee that enquiries we submit to collection owners on your behalf will be responded to.
We do not own the rights to any of the material featured in Collections Online. Each item is displayed with information that includes a ‘Licensing information’ section which will say whether an item is:
- in the Public Domain(opens in new window)
- has a Creative Commons license(opens in new window) applied, or
- is in copyright (indicated by a © symbol)
If image(s) are in copyright, any form of reproduction, transmission, re-use or display of the image(s) (except for personal use and other uses permitted(opens in new window) under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988(opens in new window) (as amended and revised), including fair dealing exceptions(opens in new window)), without the consent of the copyright holder(s) is prohibited.
If you would like to use an in copyright image from Collections Online, we may be able to submit a request to the copyright holder on your behalf, contact collections@qbcentre.org.uk.
We do not own the rights to any of the material featured in Collections Online. We are not able to make and sell prints of featured works, or to supply images to people to make their own prints.
We have paused our work on Collections Online while we are working on opening the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in Clerkenwell, London. We are not currently adding new material.
However, we are always interested in hearing about illustration collections. You can send information about your collection to us via collections@qbcentre.org.uk.
Still have questions? Contact us collections@qbcentre.org.uk.