An art book about art that has a purpose, focusing on work by Quentin Blake that has been commissioned for a particular place or for a particular use. Illustration is the most accessible visual artform and one that is used in all aspects of life; as Quentin Blake says, ‘it is, if you like, a vernacular; it’s a language that everybody understands. They may look at it and not think that they’re looking at art, but it’s having the effect on them of art. It’s a language that everybody can read, so to speak.’ The work here shows Quentin using this vernacular to great effect and for very different purposes. In 2007 when Elizabeth II was opening the new Eurostar at St Pancras, Quentin was asked to hide an unsightly building across the road. He drew a 2-colour illustration on his drawing board showing a cast of characters that you might meet on a London Street; this was then blown up large enough to wrap a five-storey building. Since then he