An Evening with Jim Kay

Jim Kay appeared at the University of Northampton, to do a talk on his work on the Harry Potter illustrated books and a book signing.

This evening promised to be a “rare experience, and an insight in to both the worlds of Harry Potter and illustration.” The event went above and beyond, Jim Kay was such a down to earth person whilst also being a talented artist. He paid astonishing attention to detail, he explained to the group that a picture of Dumbledore (top right) featured a Lunaria Annua tree which translated in to English means honesty. However, translated in Dutch it is translated as coins of Judas which he explained was a perfect representation of Dumbledore, both honest and humble whist keeping his own secrets. He also talked about reversing the colors on an image to make the ghost look transparent. The technique he used was to use red paint on white paper and then scanned it in and used a negative of his work to create a blue hue.

Whilst talking through his work he gave us insight into his inspirations for the Snape and his potions piece.

He told us he used to work with a doctor who had many glass jars behind him this is what inspired the glass jars on the shelf. However, as the evening went on he explained to us the glass jars where full of prostates…this just goes to show anything can be used as inspiration. Throughout the night he looked to his partner and talked about how she helped him in some elements by discovering an accidental miracle. Whilst working he spilt fabric dye on his work and created the movement of color that really brought the images to life. It’s clear an immense amount of research and attention to detail has gone in to this to create something so magical.

During the night, he showed us images of the original models he first made to base his drawings from, using cotton wool, paper, and fishing wire, he also used plasticine as a clay to make the characters for sketching. This is a truly magical and moving rendition of the Harry potter series, and I cannot wait for the rest of the books to see what other treats he has in store.