Drawings vs. Canon [was: Illustrator info?]

[grannybat84112]

No: HPFGUIDX 91920

>>>>Heather wrote:  
>>>>I think that there is a huge clue on the bonus jacket art for the 
>>>>special boxed American edition.  There is clearly a rat hiding in 
>>>>the grass out side GP.
>>>  
>>>Susan wrote:
>>><snip>  Mary GrandPre as the illustrator of the box cover art, 
>>>then she most definitely *DID* read the book in advance of 
>>>illustrating it. <snip>
>> 
>> Mandy here:
>>But even if Mary did read the book, she still read the same book we 
>>did, and we haven't been able to come up with any concrete  
>>evidence that Peter is hiding anywhere and spying on the order.  


I feel I ought to say something before people get their hopes up.

The following quotes are snipped from posts that first appeared on 
the OTChatter group–-greatly edited for the sake of brevity and 
contextual continuity, but still, I think, understandable. For the 
full discussion go to HP4GU-OTCHatter Post #19803, "Mary GrandPré in 
SLC and the canonicity of her artwork (long), "and follow the 
conversation threads. 

Grannybat


Background: Mary GrandPré, who created the cover art and chapter 
illustrations for the Scholastic editions of Harry Potter, gave a 
lecture and slide show at the main library in Salt Lake City, Utah on 
Saturday, November 15th, 2003. Several of us local fans attended.

(carets minimized for the sake of clarity)

<begin quotage>

Dicentra:

>She (GrandPre) makes three preliminary sketches and they choose 
one, "they" being the Scholastic editor and art director. She does 
not confer with JKR on the illustrations, because the editors want 
the artists to come up with their own interpretation of the story. 
(This is also common practice in the children's book industry.) This 
means, then, that the illustrations are NOT CANON. So much for 
finding secret clues in the cover art. Sorry! 

Grannybat interjected: 
...I got the impression that the art director doesn't attach nearly 
as much importance to the chapter drawings as to the book jacket, so 
she may feel she has more leeway for humor inside the book.

Dicentra continued:

>However, JKR does approve her preliminary character sketches, but 
she's very willing to let GrandPré bring her own artistic vision into 
the art -- which means that she very likely approved Snape With 
Goatee and other renderings that fans dislike. ...

Grannybat adds:
I think it's worth noting that when I asked her why she drew Snape in 
a way other than how JKR described him (couched in terms of who 
approves the final drawings, so as not to appear hostile), GrandPre's 
face went blank for a moment and she asked in a small voice, "How is 
he described?"

... I seemed to sense a collective "Huh???!" of disbelief from the 
audience... The woman who puts the face on Our Boy Harry says she 
loves him--but she doesn't remember important details like that?(!)

I gave her a condensed version of canon rather than quote chapter and 
verse. She took a moment, then said, still in that small, somewhat 
intimidated voice, that she thought JKR's description left enough
room for "other" interpretations.

Back to Dicey:

>...She did meet JKR once in Chicago when she was doing book 
publicity. She told GrandPré that she likes her covers the 
best. ...Of all the non-Bloomsbury artists to do HP cover art, 
(GrandPre) is the only one who gets to read the manuscript before 
creating a cover. Security concerns keep the mss. out of the hands of 
other artists, which explains why some of the foreign-language covers 
are so goofy. 

>... She says that reading is very difficult for her (dyslexia?), and 
that we fans know the books far better than she does.

>--Dicentra, who forgot to ask her why Harry was holding his wand in  
his *left* hand on the covers of GoF and OoP. Rats!

Granny again:
I didn't manage to ask, either, but I'm not worried about this 
anymore. When Jen showed us her copy of the special edition hardback, 
I noticed that the image of Harry in the blue DoM room is used as end 
pages. While we were ooohing and aaaahing over the details of 
Dumbledore's spectacles and the decapitated fairies that grace the 
Black house on the new book jacket, Jen pointed out that the first 
cover art had been "flipped" inside the book covers. There Harry
holds his wand in his right hand.

So, aside from GrandPre's potential dyslexia and lack of memory for 
details, whichever hand was drawn in the original artwork has no 
hidden meaning attached to it.

<end quotage>