The Harry Potter Companion

A long while back (perhaps a year or two?), I had a reader ask me whether I was intending to one day post pages for the Harry Potter companion books – Fantastic Beasts, Quidditch Through the Ages, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard. When I was asked the question, I looked through my art collection and thought there was no way I would be able to collect enough art, and answered the question accordingly.

A month or so ago, however, I was thinking about Fantastic Beasts, and decided to start searching around to see if there might be any artwork out there that I’d simply overlooked. I was surprised and so pleased to discover that well beyond the usual Harry Potter fan art community, there are a number of artists out there who have drawn exclusively the Fantastic Beasts. I went on another art collecting spree, and the result is, I think, a beautiful page of artwork, and a book that lends itself to more insights than I once imagined. So for anybody out there who’s been longing for another new chapter page – here it is! Much more work than the old ones, but I couldn’t be happier with the result. And I hope you feel the same.

Of course, this also means we have several new artists to add to our ranks – so a very warm welcome to Juan Ruben Juarez M., Laura Williams (aka Eudocia), Stephanie Schmidt, and C.W. Bexiga!

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Posted in New Chapter

Many of you may recall a while back when I posted a contest to see who could guess which Harry Potter chapters were the most drawn (at least according to my art collection). Not having much to offer as a prize, I promised that the winner would get to choose which page I would next design and post to the site. I had a couple of other pages in development at the time that I’ve posted since, but I’m finally now reaching the point of making good on my promise. I awarded two prizes, but first up is Clare, who requested a character portrait of Remus Lupin. So thanks Clare, and here it is!

I love Lupin especially because his character is so real – his wonderful attributes and his flaws are so pronounced, and so in tandem with each other. I’ve met people very much like him, and I think we can all on some level relate to his desire to be liked and desire to belong, yet feeling like no matter what he does, he’ll never quite belong the way he wants to. His story is so tragic, but his guidance to Harry is so loving and invaluable. He’s great fun to read about and great fun to build a portrait of, and I hope you enjoy it.

Character Portrait: Remus John Lupin

Posted in New Chapter

Well, sort of a new essay, anyway.

It’s actually been almost two years since I posted the original version of this essay here. But I’ve always been dissatisfied with it. I never stopped believing in my basic premise, but most of the comments I got were along the lines of “I don’t buy it.” I clearly wasn’t doing a good enough job of explaining myself, and a couple of weeks ago I was thinking about the problem and realized why I think that was. So I decided to give it another crack.

The result is an essay that has very little in common with the original beyond the title. But I think it explains my theory very well, and I hope you’ll agree. I’m looking forward to hearing all of your thoughts. :)

Book 2 Essay: What Did Dobby Know?

Posted in Essays
Tags: Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter

Hello again! I’ve been out of town on a summer vacation, but wanted to dive back in here and get another new page up. And this is one of my favorites. Ginny is actually the first character page I created, but for various reasons I’ve kept it stored in my back pocked up until now. I love her as a character, and though I spent several years hoping for Harry and Hermione to get together (my relationship with my wife has a lot in common with Harry’s relationship with Hermione), I gradually got used to his marrying Ginny instead, to the point where I now can’t see it any other way. So, well done Jo! And here’s a tribute to the youngest Weasley. Enjoy.

Character Portrait: Ginevra ‘Ginny’ Molly Weasley Potter

Posted in Character Portraits
Tags: Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter