Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration

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Interior of a one-storey round brick building with a wooden roof with a lantern in the centre

Interior of a derelict industrial building with broken windows, chairs, skip, pipes and horse

Shop interior with view to adjacent café

Photograph of industrial brick building with blue sky above

Sheet of rusted steel with illustration of wooden pipe manufacturing etched into the surface

New name, new space

Join our campaign

Get in while you can

Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration is the new name for House of Illustration. You can join our online and offsite events and visit our exhibitions at venues across the UK. We are working on a new space for our work that will open in Clerkenwell in 2024.

What’s on

Summer School: Introduction to Creating Picture Books

In-person: London Metropolitan Archives 8 to 12 August 10:00 – 16:00

Learn all the essentials in this one week course for adults hosted at London Metropolitan Archives.

Illustration of industrial interior and exterior with people pushing handcarts

Centre in Progress

Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, Clerkenwell 8 to 11 and 15 to 18 September

Visit the derelict industrial site that will become the national centre for illustration, with installations by Laura Copsey & Philip Crewe and Sharpay Chenyuè Yuán.

Online Course: Developing Picture Books

Online 14 September to 23 November Wednesdays 19:00 – 21:00

*SOLD OUT* Build your children’s book illustration portfolio and make an action plan for submitting your work to publishers and agents.

Online Course: Planning a Non-Fiction Picture Book

Online 15 September to 24 November Thursdays 18:00 – 20:00

Learn all the essentials for turning fascinating facts into brilliant books with Owen Davey.

Drawing of a seated giant holding a child up to his face and smiling.

Quentin Blake: The BFG in Pictures

Grosvenor Museum, Chester 23 July to 2 October 2022, Free entry

Illustrations for Roald Dahl’s The BFG on the book’s 40th anniversary – on tour across the UK

Raymond Briggs: A Retrospective

Kirkcudbright Galleries, Dumfries and Galloway 30 July to 30 October 2022, Free entry

Illustrations by the graphic novelist and picturebook maker – on tour across the UK

Quentin Blake: Illustrating Verse

The Dick Institute, Kilmarnock 8 September 2022 to 7 January 2023, Free entry

Illustrations for poems by Edward Lear, Sylvia Plath, Michael Rosen and more – on tour across the UK

Drawing of two children in a forest looking at a green ship in the distance

Quentin Blake: Book Covers

The Baird Institute 8 September 2022 to 7 January 2023, Free entry

Seven decades of design, from iconic Penguin paperbacks to fine editions – on tour across the UK

Drawing of heritage site seen from above, surrounded by pond and greenery

Join us

Help us to transform a forgotten heritage site in central London into the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration

Collage of the solar system

Illustration at school

Bring illustration into your classroom with our in-school workshops and free teacher’s resources