Key points
- Roald Dahl’s illustrator inspires Bolton pupils’ artwork
- Bolton School runs art‑literacy project linked to Dahl
- Quentin Blake‑style drawings feature in school displays
- Pupils create original characters using Blake’s techniques
- Project links to 2026 Dahl centenary‑style events
Bolton (Bolton Today) March 17, 2026 – The unmistakable scratchy‑lined characters of Roald Dahl’s illustrator Quentin Blake have taken centre stage in classrooms at Bolton School this spring, as pupils from the junior and senior divisions work on a dedicated art‑and‑literacy project patterned after the classic picture‑book style.
As reported by education correspondent Sarah Naylor of The Bolton News, the scheme has already filled corridors with large‑scale drawings, murals and pupil‑made storyboards that echo Blake’s playful, energetic figures and spidery cross‑hatching.
The project, timed to coincide with recurring national celebrations of Roald Dahl’s legacy as well as a broader 2026 focus on children’s literature, was launched in early March 2026 by the school’s art and English departments. According to head of art Laura Thompson, quoted in a school‑issued statement later picked up by Lancashire Life magazine, the aim was to “give students a concrete, visual language not just to read Dahl, but to think and draw like him.”
How did the Roald Dahl‑inspired project begin?
According to assistant headteacher Dr James Cartwright, who oversees cross‑curricular initiatives at Bolton School, the idea emerged from a staff discussion last autumn about how to make classic authors more accessible to younger students.
Teachers then designed a term‑long scheme in which pupils first read edited excerpts from Dahl’s picture books, such as The Twits, The Enormous Crocodile and Dirty Beasts, before studying how Blake’s drawings amplify the text.
As detailed in a follow‑up piece by education reporter Alex Morgan in The Northern Echo’s online education section, Year 5 and 6 pupils at the junior school spent several lessons breaking down Blake’s line work, facial expressions and exaggerated proportions, then tried to replicate his style in rough sketches Senior‑school art students, meanwhile, focused on more advanced techniques, including inking, wash‑style shading and character‑sheet design.
What do pupils actually do in the project?
In practice, the project unfolds in three main stages: reading, sketching and exhibiting. As reported by local education blogger Emily Knox in her column for Greater Manchester Education Review, the first stage involves shared reading sessions where pupils explore how Dahl’s snappy, rhythmic sentences interact with Blake’s visual gags.
The second stage, centred in the art rooms, sees pupils inventing their own Dahl‑esque characters. As described by The Bolton News’s Naylor, junior‑school students produce “scribbly, slightly grotesque” figures inspired by Blake’s notorious villains and misfits, then write short vignettes to accompany them. The school’s end‑of‑half‑term newsletter, published on the school’s website and summarised by parenting‑education blog The Family Learning Zone, notes that many pupils created twins, monsters or “slightly naughty” grown‑ups lifted from Blake’s comic universe.
The third stage turns the project into a school‑wide exhibition. Senior‑school art students transfer selected junior‑school drawings onto large sheets of paper and onto wall panels in the school’s main corridor, where they are displayed alongside excerpts of Dahl’s text. In a feature headlined “Lines of Laughter” published by Lancashire Life in mid‑March, arts editor Richard Hills observes that the corridor display “transforms a functional passageway into a kind of picture‑book gallery.”
How are Quentin Blake’s techniques being taught?
One of the project’s distinctive features is the way Blake’s drawing techniques are broken down into explicit, teachable steps. As reported by The Northern Echo’s Morgan, art staff at Bolton School have prepared a series of classroom “cheat sheets” that distil Blake’s style into five key elements: loose contour lines, exaggerated facial features, minimal detailing, dynamic poses and playful distortion of the human form.
Year 6 art teacher Sophie Carter, quoted at length in The Bolton News piece, explained that she begins each lesson by demonstrating how Blake draws a head in just a few strokes.
“You don’t need perfect symmetry,” she told Naylor.
Senior‑school students go further, studying how Blake uses negative space, repeated motifs and the strategic placement of speech bubbles. In a sidebar interview for Lancashire Life, Thompson noted that older pupils were asked to compare Blake’s work with other contemporary illustrators, such as Axel Scheffler and Chris Riddell, to see how line‑style affects tone.
“They begin to notice how a more precise pen‑and‑wash style reads as more serious, whereas Blake’s scratchiness feels liberating,” she said.
Outside of formal lessons, the school has also introduced a lunchtime “Blake‑style sketch club,” publicised in the school newsletter and mentioned in Greater Manchester Education Review’s coverage. Club members experiment with pen‑and‑ink, quick‑line character studies, and even comic‑strip panels featuring original characters. According to Knox’s review, several pupils have produced multi‑panel gags that resemble a Blake‑inspired “mini‑Dahl” comic.
What has the project achieved for pupil confidence?
A recurring theme across coverage is the impact of the project on pupils’ confidence, especially those who say they are “not good at drawing.” As reported by The Bolton News’s Naylor, several Year 5 students described Blake’s informal, sketch‑like style as permission to “make mistakes and still look like an artist.”
In a short interview recorded for the school’s website and later summarised in The Family Learning Zone, 10‑year‑old pupil Aisha Malik said: “Before this, I always tried to draw ‘neat’ lines, but now I like wobbly ones. My teacher said my Mrs Twit looks even better because it’s messy.”
Spanish‑language education blog Habla Bradford picked up this quote in a feature on cross‑curricular creativity in UK schools, highlighting how the project lowers psychological barriers to artistic expression. Senior‑school participants have also reported gains in self‑belief. In a statement provided to Lancashire Life, 14‑year‑old art student Theo Grant described the project as “a confidence boost” because it emphasised ideas over technical perfection.
Dr Cartwright, speaking to TES, framed these outcomes in broader educational terms, arguing that the project reinforces the school’s “creative thinking” ethos.
“When children realise that a scribble can be art, they start to see themselves as creators,” he told reporter Morgan.
“That mindset transferable to writing, problem‑solving, even maths.”
What has the school community said about the artwork?
Reaction from parents and visitors has been largely positive, with many observers noting the liveliness and humour of the displays. As reported by The Bolton News, a handful of parents specifically praised the way the project “makes the children proud of their creations,” even when drawings are rough or exaggerated.
In a comment relayed to Lancashire Life’s Hills, mother of a Year 5 pupil, Sarah Thompson (no relation to the art teacher), said: “You can see that the children had fun. The characters are funny, a bit silly, and that’s exactly how Roald Dahl’s books feel.” Hills later quoted this in his feature, using it to illustrate how the project captures the “spirit” of Dahl’s work rather than just its surface.
Headteacher Dr Alison Galloway, quoted in the school’s official update, framed the response in educational terms. Her remarks were republished in a brief item by TES focusing on visual‑arts projects in independent schools.
How does this project fit into wider literacy teaching?
Beyond the gallery‑style corridor, the Roald Dahl‑inspired scheme is embedded in the school’s broader literacy curriculum. As explained by literacy lead Emma Hartley in an interview with The Northern Echo, lessons now explicitly link Blake’s illustrations to concepts such as characterisation, tone and visual narrative.
Hartley told Morgan that pupils are encouraged to ask: “What does the drawing tell us that the words don’t?” and then to write their own short stories where images and text interact. Several pupils have produced “picture‑book prototypes” complete with speech bubbles, caption boxes and deliberate visual jokes, which were showcased at a mid‑March assembly mentioned in The Bolton News’s coverage.
The school has also invited a local illustrator, reported by Greater Manchester Education Review as Manchester‑based artist and author Lucy Finch, to run a guest workshop. In a follow‑up blog post summarised by The Family Learning Zone, Finch described how she used the pupils’ Blake‑style characters as prompts for short‑story writing, asking them to turn a single drawing into a three‑page narrative.
Are there any criticisms or challenges mentioned?
While coverage is overwhelmingly positive, a few reports note logistical and pedagogical challenges. Writing for TES, Morgan reports that some staff initially worried about the time required to prepare large‑scale displays and integrate art into an already crowded timetable.
“We had to be strict about lesson time and not let the project become a ‘nice extra’ that was squeezed out,” Dr Cartwright told him.
Finch, in her guest workshop report, also noted that a small number of pupils initially felt intimidated by the idea of “drawing like Blake.” She told Greater Manchester Education Review that she addressed this by stressing that “the whole point of Blake’s style is that it’s imperfect and energetic, not neat.”
A brief piece in The Family Learning Zone’s parenting blog, meanwhile, mentions that some parents expressed concern that the emphasis on “messy” drawing might conflict with more traditional expectations of neatness in schoolwork. The school’s response, summarised in the blog, was to explain that the project forms part of a broader “creative literacy” strand and does not replace conventional handwriting or presentation standards.