Mary Grandpre's illustration (Was: Severus Snape: Friend or foe? Borders Books)

[justcarol67]

Carol earlier:
 And be sure to check out the cover design for DH (obviously not the
real cover) with a dual image of Snape as drawn by Mary Grandpre for
"Flight of the Prince" in HBP: 
> > 
> >
http://www.gather.com/viewImage.jsp?fileId=3096224744001651&articleId=281474976875935
> > 
> > Not at all the way I envision Snape but still fun.

Snape's Witch responded:
> I really dislike (Mum told me never to say 'hate') Grandpere's 
illustrations, and not just her interpretation of Snape (a beard?!). 
She's still drawing the almost adult HRH as little kids.  What's up 
with that?

Carol responds:
 I don't like her illustrations, either, but at least she's not still
showing him with a bashed-in head as in OoP! I think the beard (for
which there's no evidence in canon) comes from JKR's own (horrible)
drawing of Snape, the one that spawned all the vampire theories before
JKR quashed that particular rumor. I also think that Grandpre is
trying to make Snape resemble Satan, even to the flames from Hagrid's
hut rising behind him in the "Flight of the Prince" illustration (the
same one that's doubled here for the Borders Snape discussion). (I do
think that Snape's anguish, resembling that of the dog trapped in the
burning house, is that of a damned soul, but I don't think it's
permanent. He's been set up for redemption since Book I, and I'll bet
my nonexistent wand that he's DDM!, whether Grandpre sees that or
not--and I think her reading of the books is a bit simplistic and
Harrycentric, myself.)

I'm not sure that she's still drawing the "adult" (teenage) HRH as
little kids (sorry--I don't view seventeen-year-olds as adults; it's a
mere literary convenience for JKR, who wants Harry to be able to use
magic outside Hogwarts in DH), but I do notice that she makes the
characters left-handed like herself. Check out the cover art for HBP:
Harry's wand is in his left hand and Dumbledore's dead right hand
looks perfectly normal. That particular piece in particular out to be
flipped over. It's the mirror image of what it ought to be since both
DD and Harry are canonically right-handed.

Carol, who intends to pick up her "Trust Snape" sticker despite the
uncanonical beard