Harry Potter original book illustrations

We are delighted to exhibit the original pencil and ink Harry Potter book illustrations by the artist Cliff Wright.  Red Gallery will be offering them for sale to the public at the Glasgow Art Fair, held in George Square, Glasgow 23 - 26 April.

Provenance

This drawing, in pen and pencil, was completed in 1998-’99 as preparation work for the book cover illustration to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  The image is one of a series of 10 which were sent to the publisher Bloomsbury as rough ideas for character development and composition.  It’s my habit to keep preparation work simple, so as to allow as much freshness as possible to be retained in the final watercolour.  Each drawing was submitted by fax and returned with comments.  The designs were also passed on to JK Rowling for her approval and any comments passed back to me.  Thus, for example, the hippogriff was based on a design that was sent through to me from Jo.  Along with griffins and dragons, etc, hippogriffs can be found in medieval bestiaries.

On deciding the look of the characters and the picture composition the watercolour illustration that you see on the cover was then completed and approved.  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was published in the Autumn of 1999 and became a global phenomenon.  Written by Cliff Wright

Front cover for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Original preparation drawing by Cliff Wright in pencil & ink, 1998, 16 x 13cm - mint condition POA

Back cover for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Original preparation drawing by Cliff Wright in pencil & ink, 1999, 12 x 15cm - mint condition POA

This entry was posted on January 19th, 2009 and is filed under The Red Gallery.