Sam Usher is an author and illustrator particularly admired for his technical drawing skill and prowess with watercolour. Sam emerged as an exciting new talent in 2012 with his debut picture book Can You See Sassoon?, which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Prize and the Red House Children's Book Award. Sam went on to create a set of beautiful and heartwarming stories featuring Boy and Grandad, firstly themed around the seasons and then the wonder of the natural world. Sam's latest picture book quartet begins with Zoom! and a trip into space in a homemade rocket. Just published Clang! sees Boy and Grandad off to the South Pole in a bathtub adventure on the high seas. Let's hear from Sam....

"Hello everyone — Sam Usher here. You might know my books about a Boy and his Grandfather such as Snow, Rain, Sun and Storm, or the two new ones Zoom! and Clang! I’d like to write a bit about my favourite illustrator – let’s face it, everyone’s favourite illustrator – Quentin Blake! I’d like to give a mention to two of his books — Cockatoos and How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen — and try to explain what I love about them, and then a little bit about what I’ve tried to learn from QB in my own work.

First, Cockatoos — this is especially important to me — I was studying animation at university, but not really enjoying it. Finding a copy of this brilliant book in the library inspired me to switch to illustration. What do I love about this book? Professor Dupont — my hero! — every morning he walks downstairs in a tweed suit to visit his conservatory of cockatoos — I have serious lifestyle envy. In just a few pages — glimpses of his house, Hortense the cook, his daily routine — an entire richly detailed portrait of a person is built up. It’s ostensibly a counting book, but really it’s almost a satire of a counting book. Too funny!

I still have the copy of How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen my mum bought me from the local library sale for 20p when I was about 7. It’s written by Russel Hoban and illustrated by Quentin. The perfect book for lovers of mischief and fooling around. Wonderful names: Aunt Fidget Wonkham-Strong, Captain Najork, Aunt Bundlejoy- Cosysweet. Tom loves fooling around, but disciplinarian Aunt F W-S wants to put an end to his antics — she hires Captain Najork and a band of sportsmen to show him the error of his ways. Tom’s cleverness and ingenuity win the day, demonstrating the importance of playfulness and creativity over strict discipline. Aunt Bundlejoy-Cosysweet, Cabbage and potato sog, the nautical almanac — all phrases that have passed into my family lore.

So what have I learnt from Quentin? Purely in a technical sense, I draw using the same materials he does. For me drawing is a physical thing, not just in the sense that you are moving around space physically, but that you are combining physical objects: inks, papers, nibs, paints, brushes. The way they interact and feel, the way the nib scratches the paper and the sound it makes, the way the feeling of the paper travels along the pen into your arm, and the way the ink flows depending on whether it is runny or thick, these are all sensations that you respond to when performing a drawing — I think performing is the right word? I play the piano – a lot of time practising piano is spent working on scales, or repeating sections of a piece to lodge it in your mind. It’s the same with drawing for me – practising a drawing, thinking about the expressions of the characters, the objects in the scene, the atmosphere I want to convey – lodging all of that in my mind and then performing it onto the page as if I were performing a piece of music.

QB is like the Mozart of picturebooks — a perfect combination of classical beauty and mischief. Mozart’s crystalline melodies, economy and wit, mirror QB’s perfect, economic, dancing line. It’s a combination of this, and his characters, his playful use of picturebook forms, and his gentle satire that makes his work so inspiring. If I can capture just a fraction of this in my books I’ll be very happy indeed. I hope you enjoyed my little exploration of two of QB’s books, and my attempt at explaining how I am influenced by him. Thank you for reading."

Clang! by Sam Usher is published in hardback and paperback and available to buy here. 

Scroll down for the full selection of Sam's Boy and Grandad picture books, plus a few titles that Sam has illustrated in collaboration with other authors.