Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration has announced National Illustration Day, a new initative to celebrate the pictures that are essential to our lives and the people who make them.
On 24 November people across the UK will be invited to share a useful, inspiring or much-loved illustration. Persuasive posters, nostalgic picture books, icons forecasting rain or shine and everything in between will be shared across social media via #NationalIllustrationDay.
Running alongside this digital campaign will be a nationwide project with schools, libraries and home educators, inviting children to illustrate an “act of celebration”. Free online resources will encourage budding illustrators to draw, collage, paint, sculpt and use digital media to express their ideas and share their stories in new and exciting ways.
The illustrated celebrations will be shared in a digital gallery offering a snapshot of what the idea of celebration means to young people across the UK in 2023.
In Islington, where the Quentin Blake Centre is establishing a new cultural destination opening 2025, there will be a National Illustration Day ‘pop up’ at the Angel Central shopping centre, offering a drop-in workshop on the day.
Illustrator Lena Yokoyama’s National Illustration Day identity captures the fun of making illustration, and includes the logo, stickers, posters and activity sheets that anyone can download from qbcentre.org.uk, to use and share to celebrate illustration.
Illustrator and Quentin Blake Centre Ambassador Lauren Child says “Visual literacy is a universal language that allows us to navigate the world and understand each other better. Illustration is a beautifully immediate and impactful way to make a point, get across information, provide clarity – but it also imparts powerful emotion and empathy.
“Everyone can enjoy drawing and making pictures – it can be very nourishing for us to take a moment and observe the world around us.
“I’m delighted that there will now be a day to celebrate this art form and invite everyone to join in this joyful pursuit.”
Find out more on the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration website.