THe art Of HarrY POtter

Book Of Charms

released OUT NOW! 356 pages | Hardback Author Marc sumerak Publisher Titan Books

“There’s a danger in creating something that’s completely fantasy,” says Academy Awardwinning production designer Stuart Craig. “You lose all reference to reality.” In transporting Harry Potter from page to screen, Craig and his team used this ethos as their foundation, conjuring a magical world rooted in old English romanticism.

Divided into five chapters – “The Wider Wizarding World”; “Wizards, Witches And Muggles”; “Magical Creatures”; “Artifacts”; and “Graphic Art Of The Wizarding World” – this weighty, large-format book makes for a richly detailed companion. All kinds of concept art have been included, from meticulous production sketches drawn in lines of thick charcoal to oil paintings in luxurious colours.

It’s easy to take for granted the amount of work that goes into building a film world, but when it’s laid out like this you can only marvel at the imagination that inks each location. A highlight is the paintings of Andrew Williamson and Adam Brockbank, whose work defined the look of Harry Potter’s vast locales, such as the grand lakeside vistas of Hogwarts and the moody gothic interiors of 12 Grimmauld Place.

The minutiae is also amazing, with an entire chapter dedicated to graphic designers Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima, who created everything from potion labels to Ministry of Magic documents. Though it’s a little too light on commentary, this remains essential reading for all fans of the series.

Stuart Craig describes Hogwarts’s medieval gothic style as a mix of English university and European cathedral.