“I was looking at all these photographs of evacuee children from the 1940s — in England, you’d call them ‘blitz kids’ — who have been taken away from their home during the blitz. They had sort of thick, scruffy hair, and round glasses, and looked sort of underfed and malnourished, from really tough East End parts of London as well. I wanted that real character coming through, some adversity. But also slightly fragile, because he’s thin, and he’s smaller than usual.”
“What I like about early portrait painting,” Kay says, “is that you have objects in them that are representative of that person. So the dried plant there is honesty — but on the honesty is also a little camouflaged praying mantis. It’s sort of saying, there is honesty with Dumbledore, but with a catch. There’s also a little bottle of dragon’s blood because he wrote a book on dragon’s blood. And knitting because, of course, he likes to knit.”
Dumbledore’s likeness has a special place in Kay’s heart: “He’s based on an amazing illustrator I know, who I absolutely idolize. He’s been an inspiration for years for me, so it’s a huge deal that he’s lent his face to Dumbledore.”
The Telegraph has released 10 new photos from the new Illustrated Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The book has been fully illustrated in color by artist Jim Kay and will be released on October 6th! Be sure to stay tuned to Magical-Menagerie for an exciting post on the release day!
New illustrations include Ron, Harry with the Sorting Hat, Professor McGonagall a Great Hall celebration and more!You can view all of the images in our gallery!
To celebrate the release of the Illustrated Edition of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on October 6, 2015, Bloomsbury is giving readers the chance the help reveal the first image of Lord Voldemort, by posting #UnveilVoldemort to social media accounts. Visit unveilvoldemort.com for details!
They will reveal Jim Kay’s stunning image of Voldemort in five stages, and you can take part in each one by using the hashtag #UnveilVoldemort on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr! At the publishing time of this post there are already 8,615 mentions, so let’s keep it going!
Buzzfeed has shared two new photos from the new Illustrated Edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. You can view the photos in our gallery.
They also shared a video showing how Jim Kay made models to help with his illustrations for the book. (Thanks to SS for uploading to YouTube)
They also shared a quote from J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury sent over the following:
Pre-order the US and UK editions before the October 6th release. If you are in the UK you can also pre-order the special Deluxe Edition exclusively though Bloomsbury (for a November 5th release). Unfortunately fans in the US cannot order through Bloomsbury’s site so we have to wait until March 2016.
Bloomsbury have announced that they are offering an exclusive Harry Potter tote bag when you pre-order Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Illustrated Edition from harrypotter.bloomsbury.com or Bloomsbury.com. The tote bag features one of Jim Kay’s stunning owl illustrations from inside the book. If you have already pre-ordered from one of the above sites, you will automatically receive one of these gorgeous bags. Pre-order now!
This morning Bloomsbury have announced that they will publish a deluxe edition of the full-colour illustrated Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone written by J.K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay, alongside the much anticipated £30 edition. They have also released a full image of Diagon Alley which is included in the deluxe edition as a pull-out. View it in the gallery.
The deluxe illustrated edition of J.K. Rowling’s timeless classic will feature an exclusive pull-out double gatefold of Diagon Alley; intricate foiled line art by Jim Kay on a real cloth cover and slipcase; gilt edges on premium grade paper; head and tail bands and two ribbon markers. It is the ultimate must-have edition for any fan, collector or bibliophile. This edition will be sold exclusively from the Bloomsbury.com website until March 2016 when it will be made available to retail outlets.
This special edition is an utterly enchanting feast of a book and something to treasure for a lifetime. Brimming with rich detail and humour, Jim Kay’s dazzling depiction of the wizarding world and much loved characters will captivate fans and new readers alike. In oil, pastel, pencil, watercolour, pixels and a myriad of other techniques, Jim Kay has created over 115 astonishing illustrations.
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