The French Institute

After a fun morning on the bus we went to The French Institute to watch an 'illustration duel'. It's such a great place, they have all sorts of interesting book events and show great films. It was the launch of the Youth Festival and The Children's Book Show. I can't help feeling a little bit chic just being there. After a glass of wine or two, if I squint my eyes and blur my ears, I even feel a bit French, ha, if only.  I always get so excited when I look at french books, they are so experimental and full of flair. It seems they make picture books for everyone, not just for children; an expressive art form.

The 'Duel' was between Quentin Blake and French illustrator Francois Place. They started off by showing pages from their books and talking about how they work.The real magic happened when they started drawing. Mesmerising. On the screen is a monster, I'm afraid all that has shown up is a hand, it is Quentin Blake's hand mind you! They used a visulizer which is like a whizz-bang OHP. They drew and it appeared before our eyes. Franscois started a picture and then Quentin continued the line, a visual story began to unfold. It was remarkable watching their minds working together so spontaniously, it was the equivalent of listening to musicans jamming or comedians improvising. There was so much anticipation, what's it going to be? What's going to happen? It had the all excitement of turning a page, but more alive.

They took questions at the end, one little boy said, 'I don't want questions, I want you to draw us another picture.' And they did, hurrah!

Here's Alexis Deacon and I contemplating having our own illustration duel, with a young Gerard Depardieu as referee. Alexis is the author and illustrator of Beegu, one of my absolute favourite picture books, for me, it's up there with Quentin Blake's Mr Magnolia.

Formidable!