Angel Pavement

Blake’s close involvement with and support for the Campaign for Drawing and its annual event, The Big Draw, is one of the inspirations behind this book. The other is the proposed Quentin Blake Gallery of Illustration. The latter is still trying to find a home, so let’s hope this book adds to the momentum. We are told that some of the people who have helped the author in these ventures appear in disguise in the book, and that some of the drawing is executed with the multi-coloured ‘magic pencil’ that was produced to mark the recent exhibition of the same name. However, this book stands up brilliantly on its own, whether or not you are in possession of this information. It is a celebration of the magic of drawing, quite literally in this case as the two angels, Loopy and Corky, use their magic pencils to draw shapes in the sky, and to take pavement artist Sid Bunkin on a flying, drawing journey over the rooftops. The author’s delight in the graphic contrast between the coloured pencil lines on white and the dark shapes of the rooftops, buildings and spires is evident in these flowing page designs where drawings of drawings are absolutely believable. Another gem from the master.