Sir Quentin Blake’s life will be celebrated by fellow illustrators on Friday with 90 drawings of candles.
Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration invited the 90 illustrators to each create the images for the illustrator’s birthday.
Axel Scheffler, The Gruffalo illustrator, Charlie And Lola picture book series creator Lauren Child and political cartoonist Chris Riddell, who is the co-creator of The Edge Chronicles, have contributed to the project.
Sir Quentin, best known for his lengthy collaboration with the children’s author Roald Dahl, said: “We have a wonderful diversity of illustrators working in the UK today giving us enormous pleasure in a language we can all understand.
“I am pleased and proud to be among them and to be involved in a national centre that celebrates what they do.”
He has also donated 140 new works, created in his 90th year, for an auction at Bonhams to raise funds for the centre of illustration.
Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration director Lindsey Glen said: “We’re thrilled that so many illustrators have come together to celebrate his 90th birthday while raising vital funds to complete the project, alongside the new works that Quentin has donated for auction.
“The original meaning of ‘illustration’ was ‘to shine a light’. These 90 candles shine a light on the vibrancy and immediacy of illustration today – the art we find in picture books, comics and graphic novels, reportage and editorial, food and fashion, and so many other areas of our lives.”
The Bonhams auction of Sir Quentin’s work will close to bids at 12pm on Friday December 16 and a selection can be viewed at New Bond Street, London.
The candles will be exhibited at qbcentre.org.uk and prints are being sold online at 90candles.org.uk to raise funds for the centre.
The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration is set to open in 2024 at New River Head in Clerkenwell, London.
