Illustration and Poem Research :Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake

Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake RESEARCH

Quentin Blake Illustrations:
Images: Google: Quentin Blake : www.google.com/images

Quentin's illustrations are both playful and detailed. He creates an element of 'real life' int his sketched designs by adding simple characteristics with line, scale and format. The designs have an element of 'quickness' and rough sketch designs but are portrayed professionally with use of colour and creative design.

This could e relevant to the Poem editorial publication 'studioooo' will be creating. The idea being that the illustrations can look rough and 'sketched' but the idea and design will relate to the formant and copywriting content. 

'Quirky' Illustrations also took on forms of animals and wildlife and created them to become characters. He used to design these to become fun and playful as the intended audience was mainly children. 

Quentin Blake was born in 1932 and read English at Cambridge, before attending Chelsea Art College.

His first drawings were published in Punch at the age of 16 and he has since illustrated more than 250 books by 80 different writers.

His best-known collaborations include those with writers Russell Hoban, Joan Aiken, Michael Rosen, and, of course, Roald Dahl.
From 1978 to 1986, he was head of the Illustration department at the Royal College of Art and is now a visiting professor and senior fellow of the College.

A tireless promoter of children's literature, Quentin Blake was awarded the OBE in 1988, and in 1999, he became the inaugural Children's Laureate. In 2005 he was awarded a CBE for services to Children's Literature.

'Living the Drawing'

Roald Dahl Poetry and Writing

Television

The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set --
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotised by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink --
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK -- HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start -- oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did. 

The use of Dahl's' simple writing techniques and humorous tone creates a light hearted message easy for children to understand. The poems created in 'studioooo's' poem book need to be somewhat like this so that they come across as playful rather then 'truthful' or supply a deep meaning. The use of rhyme is key in playful poems and does create an element of seriousness.