Happy National Illustration Day! 

On Friday 29 November we invited people across the UK to join us in celebrating National Illustration Day. Director Lindsey Glen shares some of our favourite posts from the day.

National Illustration Day is an annual celebration of the illustrations that shape our world and the brilliant people who make them. Thank you to all of you who shared what illustration means to you and made the day such a success. Across all social media we reached thousands of accounts with a huge range of fabulous illustrations.

In advance, our friends at the Association of Illustrators(opens in new window) invited seven illustrators to speak about their work. As Eri Griffin reminded us:

“Illustrations aren’t just in books, social media, or packaging - you can find them all around you! From a gargoyle on someone’s roof to graffiti and hand-drawn shop signs, there are so many creative forms in everyday places.”

On the day, illustrators and writers also shared their own work and some of their inspirations, with Frank Cottrell-Boyce(opens in new window) paying tribute to Jan Pienkowski, Tom Gauld(opens in new window) paying tribute to Edmund Gorey and Marion Deuchars(opens in new window) (a Quentin Blake Centre trustee) to Saul Steinberg.

We were delighted to see schools and families across the UK getting involved. Libraries across Cornwall(opens in new window) offered drop-in making and drawing sessions, while Hull Maritime(opens in new window) challenged their social media followers to create maritime-inspired illustrations throughout the day. We enjoyed glimpses of the assembly and activities at Tirlebrook Primary in Tewksbury and the graphic novels created by students at St Thomas More RC College(opens in new window) in Manchester.

At University of Brighton(opens in new window), there was an exhibition of work by Graham Rawle(opens in new window), who very sadly passed away earlier this year, along with a talk on professional practice and an sale of students’ work. At the other end of the country, the University of the Highlands and Islands Orkney(opens in new window) shared work created by students during their graphic novels unit.

Some of the most fascinating contributions came from museums and archives. The Postal Museum(opens in new window) shared a short film about their collection of 19th and early 20th century illustrated envelopes, while the History of Science Museum in Oxford(opens in new window) celebrated Robert Hooke's 1665 Micrographia, the first major work to share observations made through a microscope. UCL Archaeology South East(opens in new window) told us about the importance of illustration in narrating the story of the past. Kirklees Museums(opens in new window) shared storyboards for the BBC series Jackanory. Bringing us to the present day, the Wellcome Collection(opens in new window) shared advice on creativity from Jason Wilsher-Mills, creator of colourful and intricate autobiographical exhibition ‘Jason and the Adventure of 254’: “just do it!”.

Thank you to everyone who took part and helped spread the word, including the Association of Illustrators, the Publishers’ Association, the Booksellers’ Association and the Group for Education in Museums. National Illustration Day 2025 will be Friday 28 November. Sign up to our mailing list to receive more information.