Harry Potter Illustrations That Will Make You Want To Go Back To Hogwarts

By mediodigital

The fame and success that Joanne K. Rowling earned thanks to her popular Harry Potter saga is a phenomenon that can’t be taken for granted in either the literary or pop culture fields. It isn’t just the fact that she reached and won over a difficult audience, children, but her story also took the editorial field by storm by making a fortune, making her one of the richest women in the world. Harry Potter’s success is owed, as she’s declared, to the fact that “the stories we love best do live in us forever.” So, “whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”

This magical world created by Rowling became an instant success. The narrative elements, backed by academic references and influences like mythical elements from different cultures, make of the story of the heroic orphan one of the most gripping ones in the fantasy literary genre.

Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, Head of Gryffindor, and Head Professor of Transfiguration, once said about a baby Harry Potter that he would “be famous. There won’t be a child in our world who doesn’t know his name.” And she wasn’t wrong.

1561567717759 mary grandpre rare harry potter books illustrations hogwarts castle - harry potter illustrations that will make you want to go back to hogwarts “Hogwarts Castle”

Now, before the massive success that the Harry Potter movies got, there wasn’t a way to picture our beloved characters and this magical world without the amazing illustrations that accompanied our favorite bedside books. Mary GrandPré was the American artist who gave us some of the most iconic art in the US editions. She was one of the very few privileged people who were able to read the books before their publication so she could fully understand the stories and create something as magical as the text her work would accompany, and she did it masterfully.

GrandPré has spoken about what it was like to receive each new book. She said she would read them more than once and started creating several sketches before even getting to work on the actual illustrations that would become the iconic covers and chapter introductions. Once she had a couple of good illustrations, she would send them to the editors to pick the one that portrayed better the story of each book.

Though it would seem that she worked for hand in hand with Rowling to create the perfect combination of story and visuals, she’s claimed she never got to work directly with her nor received any advice or requests from the millionaire author. Recently, Mary GrandPré gave wizards and witches one of the best gifts ever: a series of 16 rare illustrations that make us want to be back at Hogwarts.