HP Artist in S.A.--results

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 12609

Well, I went to the Warner Brothers show last night and met Fred Bode.
Besides the fun inherent in getting away from the kids for an evening,
it was nice to chat with so many other HP fans. There were a handful of
folks with kids there, but mostly lots of adults milling.

We were told that he'd only sign stuff we got from the Gallery (prints,
plates, figures, etc.) as opposed to the stuff out on the shelves, but I
saw him signing a mug or two so I know he bent his own guidelines a bit.

When it was my turn, he signed the Harry ornament (the glass Kurt Adler
Polonnaise one, with Harry standing there with Hedwig on his shoulder)
in cool silver stuff, and he signed the postcard/invitation to the
event, too. I got to talk to him a little bit, which was fun because he
seems to be a very nice person (signed 20 postcards for one lady who was
not very pleasant, to boot, and we in line all bet she was going to try
to sell them--good luck). He's also kind of cute, and he noticed my name
on the invitation and identified himself as of Polish descent (looks
like it, come to think of it). Really nice guy.

Anyway, here's what I gleaned from my brush with greatness:

1. JKR pronounces Draco as "DRAY-co" (DRAY rhymes with "clay").

2. I asked him about the /t/ in Voldemort, and he said it's been a year
since he last talked to JKR, and she's British so it's kind of hard to
tell, but he thought the /t/ was silent. He sounded surprised that
anyone would pronounce it, so I bet in the movie it'll be silent. Caius,
I now pronounce your wonderful filk acceptable.

3. I transmitted the woeful gnashings and wailings of those who want
Draco art, and didn't get anything concrete in response; he said
something like, "It's out there," so perhaps he's done some Draco stuff
and it is the fault of the marketers, who choose what to put out as
full-color lithographs, etc.

4. I asked why Hermione had blue eyes (which she definitely does on the
corresponding Polonnaise ornament, at least), and he seemed to think
he'd gone strictly by the book. I overheard him talking to a person
ahead of me, and he was telling them that JKR had written such wonderful
detailed descriptions, that it made his job so easy! He really sounded
like he enjoyed what he does. Anyway, back to the eyes, I said I thought
in the books they were brown. Where was the reference? Because I got the
impression that he'd read the book, but he might only have read book 1,
maybe 2, and if her eye color is only mentioned later, he might just
have missed that bit.

5. I asked if the artwork was at all based on the movie-version
characters, since Robbie Coltrane all made up looks an awful lot like
Fred Bode's Hagrid, the Snape artwork looks a bit like Alan Rickman,
etc. He said his artwork was all approved well before they started on
the movie makeup, so it seems to me that any correspondences would be
the movie people paying attention (gasp!). He also said that he'd seen
some stills from the movie, and that we were all going to be blown away,
it was so cool.

6. I asked about the scar alignment, the whole horizontal/vertical
thing. He said that there had been some dissatisfaction on JKR's part
with the book covers depicting it as vertical (my own preference). It
sounded like something he'd discussed with her--he related that she told
him that in her mind's eye, when Voldemort attacked baby Harry, the baby
flinched away, turned his head a bit, and so the scar is diagonal.

This last was the most interesting tidbit I took from the evening, since
I hadn't heard anything like it before. As an artist myself (didn't say
*good* artist), this kind of detail is what a good artist *would* ask
about, which explains why he could recall this conversation. I don't
know if it qualifies for the Lexicon, but it's pretty close to the
horse's mouth.

Must go tend my own little one now. I think I remembered everything. Oh,
yeah, he said that they weren't filming CoS yet, to his knowledge.

--Amanda