As we prepare for the launch Airborne, our fundraising auction hosted by Bonhams, we caught up with Liz Williams, Quentin Blake’s archivist, at his studio in southwest London.

Why do you think Quentin has such a fascination with flight?

Quentin has always loved drawing birds: 70 years ago, he even acquired a collection of bird skulls so he could really study avian anatomy! He says that adding a small bird or two to any drawing always gives it a lift, and you can often spot them around the edges of Quentin’s illustrations. Quentin’s little birds are usually quite jolly characters, and as they have the power of flight, they can reach areas of the composition that their human companions can’t.

Being able to fly is a dream that so many of us have. Wouldn’t it be lovely to live in the freedom of the sky? That’s exactly what the different sets of people in Quentin’s large works ‘Airborne’ (2018) are doing, whether taking the dog out, going ‘swimming’, or just chatting with friends: it all happens in the air, without any earth-bound restrictions. When the drawings were exhibited in Hastings in early 2020, Quentin said:

“These otherwise unremarkable characters obtain a freedom of expression having been transplanted - apparently unaided - to the unfamiliar medium of life among the clouds.”

Included in the auction is a series called ‘Moonlight Travellers’. They might come as a surprise to people who know Quentin’s work from picturebooks. Could you tell us more about them?

The first travellers-by-moonlight appeared as a set of watercolour drawings in Quentin’s 2017 exhibition ‘The Only Way to Travel’ at Jerwood Gallery in Hastings. These works featured people travelling in many different ways, from riding atop fantastic giant winged creatures to clinging on to a small precarious raft on a choppy sea, or making their own way by wings and crutches or on foot; but all of them doing so during the dead of night. They received such a positive response from exhibition visitors, who found them both poignant and haunting, that Quentin produced an even larger second set of drawings. The new set was exhibited alone as ‘Moonlight Travellers’ in early 2018.

You’ll never see another bird like this one (below), which is more of a contraption than a creature. Though it has numerous wheels instead of feet, a large tail fin and a mask-like face, its pilot seems quite untroubled, steering his craft over inhospitable rocky terrain by the light of a green moon. Quentin’s extensive use of Payne’s Grey watercolour for all these works is very different to the riot of colour recognisable in his picture book illustrations. Instead, they are a direct successor to his work for Russell Hoban’s phonetically-written post-apocalyptic cult classic, ‘Riddley Walker’ - for which Quentin created new illustrations in the Folio Society edition of 2017. Drawn using the same quill pen and ink, both ‘Riddley Walker’ and ‘Moonlight Travellers’ capture scenes of life lived against the odds in an unforgiving landscape, lit by moons of impossible colour.

In total, the ‘Moonlight Travellers’ series comprised over 70 works of which Quentin selected 47 to appear in the book of the same title published by Thames and Hudson in 2019. The drawings were presented alongside imaginative writing by journalist and commentator Will Self, composed in response to Quentin’s visions of this alternate night-time.

Illustrations from ‘On the Wing’ are also up for sale. How would you describe the book?

‘On the Wing’ is one of the twenty sets of drawings Quentin created and self-published as ‘The QB Papers’ in 2019-2020. Lovingly printed on high-quality paper, with each title hand-sewn in a different colour, the books were released in four batches over an 18-month period. As an introduction to the series, Quentin wrote:

“In recent years I have found myself working increasingly in sequences of drawings which explore subjects and techniques which interest me. These sequences are the origins of The QB Papers; they vary in approach and tone, and between reality and fantasy. But I hope that each in its own way will appeal to anyone who likes looking at drawings.”

For ‘On the Wing’ Quentin chose to do line drawings with ink shading rather than the vibrant full-colour illustrations he does for picture books aimed at young children. His subjects are ordinary people going about their usual tasks, but tipped into the realm of fantasy by being in flight while they do so. Perhaps they’re on their way to the shops, going to work, off on a school trip – or even catching up on some knitting, to the delight of the local birds!

Unlike the other works in the auction which were all intended primarily for exhibition, you can see that these drawings were always meant for publication. The clue is that Quentin has included pencil crop marks to show page borders, and the central divide of the double-page spread, showing how they are to be laid out in the finished book.

Does Quentin’s workflow differ depending on whether he is making drawings for illustration commissions or for exhibition and sale?

I’d have to say ‘yes’! Illustrating a book entails a lot of preparatory work and planning: not only reading the text exhaustively and working out which moments would be best to draw, but also planning the layout of the pages.

Where the illustrations sit in relation to the text is very important, so Quentin takes a lot of time to devise the spreads, laying out the position of the words as well as planning ideas for the pictures which will go with them. This results in many sheets of notes and roughs, preparatory drawings - where some of the kinks are worked out of the look and feel of the characters - and so on. To create the finished drawings, the chosen rough goes on a light box with a piece of watercolour paper over the top, allowing the rough composition to guide and inspire Quentin’s final work.

In contrast, drawings for exhibition such as ‘Airborne’ and ‘Moonlight Travellers’ are much more spontaneous. In part this is because they don’t need to fit with or respond to a text, so there are none of the considerations of page layout which would inform decisions for book illustrations. Instead they can just spring directly from Quentin’s imagination onto paper. I’m sure there are practical considerations too: many artworks for exhibition are quite a lot larger than illustration work, so the sheets don’t fit so easily onto Quentin’s desk and light box!

Aside from the upcoming auction, what is Quentin currently working on?

Quentin is working on a design for a large mural which is planned for the new café at the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration when it opens next year. He’s been having a truly enjoyable time creating a succession of characters – human, as well as birds and animals – in a leafy wetland scene. Placing imaginary characters out of doors, particularly close to water, is another favourite theme Quentin likes to explore whenever he can.

Finally, what do you think makes the collection for this auction so special?

The works featured in the ‘Airborne’ collection give an intriguing snapshot of some of Quentin’s most personally treasured and thought-provoking work since 2017, where he moved away from responding to illustration commissions and let his imagination take flight in unexpected directions. The themes he enjoyed creating and exploring for exhibition and self-publication have now provided a visual springboard for a new set of drawings produced specially for the auction.

Titled ‘Airborne 2025’, these new drawings are colourful works, mostly produced with the humble ballpoint pen (in several different colours) and water applied as a wash over the top. The subjects are all united by their freedom from the ground, either because they are in flight – independently or as passengers – or simply passing through the air on their way back down to earth. They have the freedom to fly - if only briefly - just as Quentin uses the ballpoint pen to give him freedom in his drawings. Even while he’s sitting on the sofa!

Above left: Airborne 2025 #5 © Quentin Blake
Above right: Airborne 2025 #3 © Quentin Blake

All of the images in this article are for sale. Visit the Bonham's website now to register to bid.