A derelict heritage site in Clerkenwell is being converted into the UK’s national centre for illustration…

To celebrate this important moment, The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration collaborated with Studio AKA Director Marcus Armitage to create a 90-second short film celebrating the history and impact that illustration has had throughout history. Rather than focusing on specific illustrators or illustrations, Marcus wove together a storyline showcasing how humans have employed illustration to communicate and shape our lives across time.

The film transports the viewer 40,000 years into the past to see how cave drawings allowed early humans to learn and brings us all the way to the present with maps, street signs, packaging and picture books. Marcus’ energetic, mixed media film is composed around simple cut-out paper shapes, creating backgrounds on which tiny characters interact with the many different forms that illustration can take.

The warm and friendly style aims to give an accessible snapshot of the relevance and importance of illustration in our everyday lives and throughout history. Studio AKA is excited to welcome our new neighbours to Clerkenwell and honoured to have collaborated on this project with them. We can’t wait to visit.

Discover more about 

The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration.

“The aim was to create something fun, engaging and informative that the Quentin Blake centre for Illustration could really use to help show how influential illustration is to our lives. It was a real revelation for me, as you realise just how surrounded we are by
illustration and how we can easily take it all for granted.”

— Marcus Armitage, Animation Director, Studio AKA

“Illustration is a familiar part of our daily lives, but it can be hugely powerful too: it plays a big role in shaping our world. Marcus has demonstrated that brilliantly with a perfect balance of warmth and clarity. We’ve loved working with Studio AKA and we can’t wait to share their film with people of all ages in the run-up to opening the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in Clerkenwell.”

— Olivia Ahmad, Artistic Director at Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration.