Quentin Blake has won the 2011 Prince Philip Designers Prize. One of Britain’s best-loved illustrators, his work in more than 300 books – many his own – is instantly recognisable.
He’s perhaps best known for his illustrations of Roald Dahl’s books, but his distinctive pen, ink and watercolour drawings have also accompanied the work of many other children’s authors like Michael Rosen and Joan Aiken. And he has illustrated Dickens, Carroll and Lear as well as originating his own characters including Mister Magnolia, Mrs Armitage and Clown.
Since his first drawings appeared in Punch when he was 16, Blake has become recognised around the world in a 60-year career. He became widely known in the 1970s, presenting the BBC’s Jackanory, where he illustrated the various stories on screen. He became the first ever Children’s Laureate in 1999.
As well as books, Blake’s work appears in NHS centres for young and old around the UK. He is behind the House of Illustration being developed in London to inspire young illustrators, and he has taught at the Royal College of Art for over 20 years.
What made you decide to become an illustrator?
I knew when I was a schoolboy that I wanted to get drawings into print and, in a small way, I managed to do so. However, it was a bit later, reading English at Cambridge, that I realised that what most attracted me was a sequence of pictures. That led me into books and in particular children's books. The element of interpretation is important, and if you think of it like a theatre production, it means you direct, design the scenery and costumes, and play all the parts.
What are you working on right now?
At the moment I’m working on a picturebook by Russell Hoban, with whom I first collaborated 30 years ago, and who is extraordinary. And I’ve taken up printmaking for a show of etchings and lithographs in 2012.
Who or what inspires you?
As a young man I was inspired - or hoped to be inspired - by the masters of the graphic tradition; first of all Daumier, but also Goya, Tiepolo, Cruikshank, Picasso - the list is long.
In everyday work I don't think of, or wait for, inspiration. You just have to start drawing; that’s the way that something will come to life if it’s going to.
If I wasn’t an illustrator I’d be a…
Probably a teacher, which is what I trained to be - English, not art. Perhaps I might have been a painter, writer or publisher, and 
I’ve already explained that I think illustration is in some ways very close to acting.
What do you see as the particular advantages of your chosen profession?
One is that I have the good fortune to work in a practice that I can, to a considerable extent, organise to suit myself, which involves a manual skill which is continually interesting, and from which I don't have to retire.
Another is that it’s afforded me the enormous privilege of teaching my subject (for over twenty years at the RCA) and working with students of varied talents and approaches - many of whom subsequently became my friends - and collaborating with other professionals: illustrators, designers, painters.
Images from top: 'Charles Darwin' from 'Cambridge 800: An Informal Panorama' (2009), 'The BFG' by Roald Dahl (Jonathon Cape 1982).