Life Under Water - A Hastings Celebration: Jack o' th' Green
Quentin Blake was born in the suburbs of London in 1932 and has been drawing ever since he can remember.
He has always made his living as an illustrator, as well as teaching for over twenty years at the Royal College of Art, where he was head of the Illustration department from 1978 to 1986.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Quentin Blake curated shows in the National Gallery, the British Library and the Musée du Petit Palais in Paris.
He supports numerous charities, the most prominent among them being the Quentin Blake Centre, Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity and Survival International. He is a long-standing supporter of Farms for City Children and Shelter.
In the last 20 years he has created more than 400 drawings for hospitals, prisons and public spaces in the UK and France.
In 1999 he was appointed the first ever Children's Laureate, while in the spring of 2002 he was named ‘Illustrator of the Year’ in the Hans Christian Andersen Awards. In 2014 he was admitted to the Legion d'Honneur, was created CBE (2005), and is an RDI (Royal Designer for Industry). He received a knighthood for 'services to illustration' in the New Year's Honours for 2013, and was appointed 'Companion of Honour' (CH) in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2022.
He lives in southwest London and still draws every day.
