By Siddhi Jain

New Delhi, May 15 (IANSlife): A collection of 12 drawings by English illustrator and children's writer Quentin Blake, known for illustrating Roald Dahl's books, have gone on an online sale that continues till early June, starting Thursday.

Presented in Christie's 'Beyond Worlds: Fine Books & Manuscripts' online auction, which is open for bidding from May 14 to June 4, the collection will be sold to benefit Comic Relief. The series, titled Imaginary Friends, has been created exclusively by Quentin Blake to raise funds for Comic Relief and illustrate the imaginary companions people in isolation may dream of.

Money raised by the drawings will go to charities in the UK and around the world that urgently need support to respond to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

"When I was asked to make some drawings for Comic Relief I naturally thought of all those people isolated by lockdown, and I realised that I voluntarily spend quite a lot of time on my own, with pen in hand, drawing imaginary friends (well, not always friends, actually). What I have produced is a dozen imaginary friends whom I thought might be interesting. I think my own choice would be the girl with the cocktail but I hope there may be imaginary friends here for all kinds of people on their own," Quentin Blake commented.

The sale will also present a further selection of illustrations by him to benefit Greenpeace and Survival International.