Narrative Illustration Artist research. Quentin Blake

I cannot talk about children’s illustrators without looking at the work of Quentin Blake. His drawing style makes him one of the world’s most recognisable illustrators in the publishing industry. He also illustrated the works of Roald Dahl which is another reason I wish to discuss Blake’s work. For this project I am looking at the book "James and the Giant Peach", which Blake illustrated.  I feel it would be good to focus on the illustrations for that particular book because I can then analyze his interpretation of the text. Despite being the most recognised, Blake was not the first illustrator to take on "James and the Giant Peach". 

I have selected some illustrations by Quentin Blake for "James and the Giant Peach". They are all interior illustrations to accompany the text. Illustration one is a depiction of the characters Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker. This illustration is fairly early in the novel and accompanies the description of the two characters. Despite his loose style of working I think Blake has done a good job. As with all of his work he has shown the situation with minimal detailing. It’s not an important illustration to the plot but it does show us the two characters. 

Illustration two is showing James comforting Earth Worm before they catch some seagulls. In the novel this is a fairly humorous part of the plot. It’s nice to see some interaction between some of the characters and a splash of colour. Centipede is also in the illustration as he was mocking Earth Worm. As simple as it is I like this interpretation for its colours and the look on Earth Worms face.

The third illustration is a classic depiction of the peaches escape from the sharks.  This is a very important point in the plot as it's when the peach flies for the first time. I like the blotchy watercolour use for the sky and clouds. 

I’m not massively keen on Quentin Blake's style but he does do a good job of showing what’s happening. I think his style appeals to children because of its simplicity and choice of colour. I also noticed that I use similar mediums as Blake but in a different style.