Editing Quentin Blake (section)

==Career==
{{BLP sources section|date=January 2023}}
During the 1960s, Blake taught English at the [[Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle|Lycée Français de Londres]] which cemented his long association with France and culminated in the award of the [[Legion of Honour]]. He taught at the [[Royal College of Art]] for over 20 years, where he was head of the Illustration department from 1978 to 1986.

The first book Blake illustrated was ''The Wonderful Button'' by [[Evan Hunter]], published by Abelard-Schuman in 1961.<ref name=button>[https://archive.today/20121212060652/http://lccn.loc.gov/61013321 "The wonderful button"] (first edition). Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 2012-08-27.<!-- his earliest work in this catalog --></ref> In his subsequent career, Blake gained a reputation as a loyal, reliable and humorous illustrator of more than 300 [[children's literature|children's books]], including some written by [[Joan Aiken]], [[Elizabeth Bowen]], [[Sylvia Plath]], [[Roald Dahl]], [[Nils-Olof Franzén]], [[William Steig]], and [[Dr. Seuss]]. He illustrated the first Seuss book that Seuss did not illustrate himself, ''[[Great Day for Up!]]'' (1974).<ref name="great day for up">{{cite book | title=Great Day for Up! | publisher=[[Beginner Books]] | author=Dr. Seuss | author-link=Dr. Seuss | year=1974 | oclc=902800}}</ref>

By 2006, Blake had illustrated 323 books, of which he had written 35 and Dahl had written 18.<!--see TALK#Roald Dahl--><ref name=bibliog/>{{efn|name=dahl}} To date, Blake has illustrated two of [[David Walliams]]' books and has illustrated [[Folio Society]] Limited Editions such as ''Don Quixote'', ''Candide'' and ''50 Fables of [[Jean de La Fontaine|La Fontaine]]''.

In the 1970s, Blake was an occasional presenter of the [[BBC]] children's storytelling programme ''[[Jackanory]]'', when he would illustrate the stories on a canvas as he was telling them. In the 1980s, Blake was the artist behind the comic strip ''Waldo and Wanda'', written by John Yeoman.<ref name="Quentin Blake"/> In 1993, Blake designed the five British [[Christmas stamp|Christmas issue postage stamps]] featuring episodes from ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' by [[Charles Dickens]].

Blake is a member of the [[Chelsea Arts Club]].<ref name="chelseasecretaryresigns">{{cite news|title=Chelsea Arts Club secretary signs off with 'lunatic' plea|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/chelsea-arts-club-secretary-signs-off-with-lunatic-plea-8455702.html|access-date=15 February 2017|work=London Evening Standard|date=17 January 2013}}</ref> He is patron of the Blake Society, [[Downing College]]'s arts and humanities society. Blake is also a patron of "The [[Big Draw]]",<ref>[http://www.thebigdraw.org.uk/ The Campaign for Drawing]. ''thebigdraw.org.uk''.</ref> which aims to get people drawing throughout the United Kingdom, and of The Nightingale Project, a charity that provides art to hospitals.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nightingaleproject.org/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514065851/http://www.nightingaleproject.org/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=14 May 2008 |title=The Nightingale Project |publisher=The Nightingale Project |access-date=16 July 2012}}</ref> Since 2006, he has produced work for several hospitals and mental health centres in the London area, a children's hospital ([[Hôpital Armand-Trousseau|Hopital Armand Trousseau]]) in Paris, and a maternity hospital in Angers, France.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quentinblake.com/ |title=Quentin Blake – Home |publisher=Quentin Blake |date=18 October 2011 |access-date=16 July 2012}}</ref> These projects are detailed in Blake's 2012 book ''Quentin Blake: Beyond the Page'', which describes how, in his seventies, his work has increasingly appeared outside the pages of books, in public places such as hospitals, theatre foyers, galleries and museums.<ref>[http://shop.tate.org.uk/books/beyond-the-page/invt/13327/ Quentin Blake: Beyond the Page, 2012, Tate Publishing].</ref> In 2007, Blake designed a huge mural on fabric, suspended over and thus disguising a ramshackle building immediately opposite an entrance to [[St Pancras railway station]]. The rendering of an "imaginary welcoming committee" greets passengers arriving on the [[Eurostar]] high-speed railway.<ref>[http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article3081841.ece "Cover-up! Quentin Blake drafted in to hide 'unsightly' buildings"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023051608/http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article3081841.ece |date=23 October 2007 }}. Richard Osley. ''The Independent''. 21 October 2007.</ref>

Blake is a supporter of and ambassador for the indigenous rights NGO [[Survival International]]. In 2009, he said, "For me, Survival is important for two reasons; one is that I think {{not a typo|it’s}} right that we should give help and support to people who are threatened by the rapacious industrial society we have created; and the other that, more generally, it gives an important signal about how we all ought to be looking after the world. Its message is the most fundamental of any charity I'm connected with."<ref>[http://assets.survivalinternational.org/documents/319/annual_report_2010.pdf "2010 Annual Report"]. Survival International.</ref>

Blake is the Founding Trustee of [[House of Illustration]], a centre in London for exhibitions, educational events and activities related to the art of illustration. He was also the subject of the first exhibition at this venue, entitled Inside Stories", which opened in July 2014. In August 2020, it was announced that the centre will be relocating to the 18th century Engine House at [[New River Head]] in the [[Clerkenwell]] area of London and will be renamed the ''Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration''.<ref name=hoiqbci>{{cite web |url=http://www.houseofillustration.org.uk/about/the-quentin-blake-centre-for-illustration |title=The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration |publisher=House of Illustration |access-date=4 August 2020 |archive-date=17 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117145238/https://houseofillustration.org.uk/about/the-quentin-blake-centre-for-illustration |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Besides children's books, Blake is also the designer of Ben, the logo of the shop chain [[Ben's Cookies]].<ref name="Quentin Blake">{{Cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/blake_quentin.htm|title=Quentin Blake|website=lambiek.net|access-date=April 19, 2021}}</ref> He designed several illustrations for the story time segments for the Scottish TV series ''[[Squeak!]]''.

In 2023, Blake was asked by ''[[Blue Peter]]'' to design a new ''[[Blue Peter badge]]'' which they have called their Book badge.