Emily
Gravett

Gravett’s imaginative artworks truly bring the sport of Quidditch to life. You can expect to feast your eyes on match posters, team uniforms, Chudley Cannons memorabilia, as well as broom adverts, old Quidditch World Cup tickets and much more. But don’t just take it from us – here’s a sneak peek at some of the delights you can expect inside... 

Charming and funny, Emily Gravett’s handmade artworks are the perfect pairing for J.K. Rowling’s humorous insights into – as Ron would tell you – ‘the best game in the world’.

Quidditch Through the Ages first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Hermione borrowed it from the library – of course – and later lent it to Harry before his first ever Quidditch match. As Harry found out, Quidditch Through the Ages is a whistle-stop tour of the wizarding world’s favourite sport, with trivia, tales of on-pitch antics, team profiles and Quidditch moves (haven’t you always want to know how to do a Wronski Feint?). And now this new edition brings the sport to life in glorious technicolour!

As with previous editions, proceeds from the sale of this new illustrated book will go to J.K. Rowling’s own international children’s charity Lumos, which helps some of the world’s most vulnerable children and young people to have a better life, with additional proceeds going to Comic Relief.

We chatted to a locked-down Emily from her home in Brighton about the creative process of illustrating Quidditch Through the Ages, which involved everything from measuring Quaffles to writing her own Snitch comic.

What was it like illustrating a book specifically dedicated to a fictional wizarding sport?

I think that’s actually what appealed to me about the book. Because Harry Potter’s so iconic, I didn’t think I’d be very good at replicating popular characters. But I was given a copy of the original book, and with every page I was just thinking, ‘Oh my god I could do that, and that and that...’

I was putting rings around everything. It really lent itself to those books you buy in the museum after an exhibition - the nice and glossy ones full of the artefacts. So, it was a really good opportunity for me to try loads of different techniques and jump about in time.

I was trying to get the right feel of the colours and the styles of each era I was in [for example, this Butterbeer advert below was inspired by the 1950s vintage Guinness adverts] – but not too strictly, because this is still fiction!

It’s true that the book weaves in so many different historical styles from all over the world – how was it approaching such a varied project?

I was sort of mimicking old masters – like the oil painting is inspired by [Pieter] Bruegel. I don’t really oil-paint, I water-coloury dabble! So I tried to find methods to make things look the right way. It was quite a big learning curve, really. And every time I started a new thing I’d look at it and think, ‘That’s an illuminated manuscript, what sort of paper would they’ve used?... Would they use gold?... Would it have breaks through it? Would it have cracked off at the top because of the age?’, ‘I’ve got to learn how to do use hand-lettering!’, ‘What kind of style of handwriting would’ve been around in this era?’

I was trying to replicate that and I worry not very well! Bruegel, who I mimicked in one of the paintings , would be turning in his grave!

How did you find illustrating some of the lesser-known wizarding world characters, such as Ludo Bagman and Kennilworthy Whisp?

It was actually easier, for me, when they’re not visually known. It was about what would I imagine them to look like. So, with Kennilworthy Whisp, that’s based on my dad! I’ve got a really good photo of him in a silly hat – and I extended his beard in Photoshop!

And as an illustrator of your own stories (Emily has won the Kate Greenaway Medal twice for her picture books) how was it stepping into someone else’s?

It was actually really fun because what I hadn’t really appreciated about the [Hogwarts library] books is that they’re actually really visual. How much scope is there on an imaginary sport? But every sentence, there’s something visual in there. The hardest thing was trying not to expand on it. I did write a few little articles and make up adverts, but I didn’t add new content – but it felt a bit like my book halfway through. I’ve made up some extra adverts in there with my words, like The Snitch comic, I wrote the dialogue for that.

What was your process and inspiration for creating some of the pieces in the book?

I made some of the pieces before drawing them to make things feel more realistic. So I do pottery and I made the little plate for the Japanese woodblock. ... I made a broomstick as well. And I made that out of the correct wood – I’ve got a place in Wales and I was doing it there – and I looked out the window and saw an ash tree and made this broom. I hung it on the side of the woodshed and I think I freaked out a few people, with just a broom hanging there! It’s surprisingly easy, but obviously it doesn’t fly!

Now that you’re part of the Wizarding World family – tell us your Hogwarts house and favourite character.

So, I am Ravenclaw! Which I think is quite good. I’ve read it’s about being a thinker. My daughter came out as a Slytherin and re-did the test as a Gryffindor. And my favourite character is Hagrid, I love his house and he likes animals too.

The Tapestry

This tapestry, which depicts an ancient hunt for a Golden Snidget, is one of the biggest pieces in the entire book. It took Emily around 2 weeks to complete. If you look closely, it’s filled with all sorts of commotion, magical creatures, a Latin description and other little details.

‘The tapestry, inspired by the Bayeaux tapestry, was a massive challenge actually, because there were so many elements that I had to make look right,’ Emily said. ‘And I’m not a sewer, so I had to figure out a way to make it look like I’d sewn it in Photoshop – working out how to make stitches and then using individual stitches in Photoshop, so it took about two weeks! I scanned in an old piece of linen as the background and then sewed it together digitally.’

The Leprechaun

Emily also called out this Kenmare Kestral’s leprechaun mascot as one of her favourite pieces, which she made a real-life version of using needle-felting. “I still have him somewhere!” she said.

‘Each one of the Quidditch teams has a badge, so I designed them as logos, but then I thought I’d put all the team ‘merchandise’ in there and make that for real – that’s how I ended up making patches too.’

The Quidditch teams

The British and Irish Quidditch Teams section of the book was one of the first chapters Emily worked on. And for each team, she was sure to include little details that were true to their real-life locations.

‘There’s little chapter headings in the book so I was trying to find references for each place. Appleby, for example, has a horse fair, so that’s why there’s a little carriage on it and Wigtown has the books.

The Quidditch players

‘I used to play roller derby, so in my head, roller derby and Quidditch have sort of become the same sport. Roller skates and brooms are not the same at all, but it’s that kind of speed and the ‘being hit’ element of it, so I was thinking of safety gear, knee pads and wrist guards, etc. And the players. The thing I liked about roller derby is there’s quite a lot of diversity, in body shapes and sizes, and I wanted to get that across in the team members I was drawing – make sure they weren’t all just svelte athletes. It’s quite an inclusive sport. After all, you’re sitting on a broom!

The Quidditch balls

I was a bit worried about this chapter because at first, I thought it would be a bit dull – it’s just about balls! But the actual fold-out Quidditch balls sort of amazed me – I thought it’d be a great thing to actually put the actual-size of the balls in – so I measured them on Photoshop. When I saw them printed out, I thought, ‘that can’t be right?’. But I did loads of research into the sizes to make sure I had the most accurate Quaffle!

The money-spinning offer marked another magical milestone for the former New Age traveller who spent the first eight years of her adult life roaming around Britain in a caravan, then a big green bus.

That journey came to an end when she and partner Mik left the bus behind, settled down in a rented cottage with their baby girl and Emily picked up a pencil to begin sketching out a glittering career in kids’ books that led to her landing the Potter gig.

She says: “I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would ever be asked to illustrate anything from the Potter world, but from the minute I sat down at my desk and started jotting down ideas I realised I may have landed myself my dream job.

“I am waking up each day excited to get to work. I’m over the moon to be illustrating Quidditch Through The Ages.

The book, to be published on in October 2020, is being sold to raise money for Comic Relief and Rowling’s international children’s charity Lumos.

The winner of two CILIP Kate Greenaway Medals and the Macmillan Prize for Illustration, Brighton-based Emily burst onto the scene with the groundbreaking Wolves in 2005, which has been followed by modern classics such as Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears, Monkey and Me and Again! Her latest book Meerkat Christmas has just been published.

A spokesperson from Bloomsbury Publishing said: “We’re really proud to recognise Appleby as an Honorary Quidditch Town alongside ten other towns and villages across the United Kingdom and Ireland. Quidditch captured the imaginations of children and adults across the world, and the new book Quidditch Through the Ages, beautifully illustrated by Emily Gravett, is a magical companion for those who want to immerse themselves in the wizarding world of Harry Potter.”

“Harry Potter fans can now unearth the real-life towns and villages inspiring the names of Quidditch teams and we ask anyone planning a visit to Appleby to first check national and local travel guidance on coronavirus to ensure their visit is made safely. For communities that are currently experiencing stricter measures, we encourage people to support their favourite Quidditch team virtually by visiting the official Harry Potter fan club, Wizarding World.”

The Mayor of Appleby, Councillor Gareth Hayes said: “We are delighted to be recognised as an Honorary Quidditch Town. Harry Potter’s favourite sport Quidditch brings joy to children and adults across the world, and this decorative banner, emblazoned with the town’s team colours, shows our support for our beloved Quidditch team.”

What is your Harry Potter house?

After carefully answering the Sorting Hat questions, I have discovered that I am in Ravenclaw. I wasn’t sure what that meant, so I looked it up and discovered Ravenclaw traits are cleverness, wit, intellectual ability and creativity.

I don’t think I can claim too many of those, but they are definitely traits I would like to possess!

How did it feel to be invited to illustrate Quidditch Through the Ages? How did you manage under the weight of expectation while working in an established and beloved universe?

I had a mixture of emotions when I was invited to illustrate Quidditch Through the Ages. After the initial excitement, I was very nervous that I wouldn’t be up to the job. It’s a big book, and there was a lot of work involved. The Harry Potter universe is so iconic I was worried that I didn’t have anything to add, and especially in the area of Quidditch, which being a sport is not what I’d consider my natural area of drawing expertise.

When I was first asked if I would consider illustrating Quidditch Through the Ages,  I wished that I’d been chosen to illustrate Fantastic Beasts or Beadle the Bard – both of which had subject matters that I feel more comfortable with (animals and fairy tales)

Initially was asked to do some sample illustrations from Chapter 7 (Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland) I think this was mainly for the publishers to see if I was up to the job, but for me it was a bonus as it gave me the opportunity to see if I was capable.

I realised almost instantly that I had been handed a dream job. Quidditch Through the Ages is brilliantly written for an illustrator. It’s a really visual book covering loads of different eras, geographical areas, and with hundreds of witty anecdotes- all of which cry out for an illustration.

There are so many references to medieval and Renaissance art throughout that really give Quidditch a sense of history – what was that like to research and create that? Have you been secretly waiting all these years to sneak a Hieronymus Bosch redux into a children’s book?

I have to admit, my research is probably a bit shaky. I decided that as a fictional book I could afford to be less than accurate with time frames and styles. It was fun looking things up, and I definitely gained a new respect for my artistic forbearers. I raided my dad’s bookshelves for inspiration as he has a lot of art books.

As for Heironymus Bosch- much as I love his work, in this instance it was Bruegel the Elder’s ‘The Triumph of Death’ that inspired my ‘Scenes from the 1473 Quidditch World Cup Final’  The real one was painted in 1562, so not the right era.

I don’t think Bruegel would’ve thought much of my technique, but I like to think he had a sense of humour, so would have seen the funny side.

The book feels like a real live historical scrapbook, with so much handcrafted memorabilia. Were you in charge of creating all those team patches and pendants, tshirts  and tickets?

Part of what made this book so enjoyable to illustrate was the opportunity to try lots of different techniques and styles. The team patches were one of the very first things I created for the book, and one of the reasons I knew I was going to love it. They were made by scanning in old patches that I bought from junk shops. I used elements of the ‘real’ patches ( textures/shapes/dirt patches etc), and then re-designed them for the teams on my computer. I developed a way to ‘sew’ in photoshop that I also used in the fold out tapestry depicting a medieval snidget hunt (in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry) So, the patches you see in the book are completely fake. The funniest thing is that Bloomsbury made up a few ‘real’ patches from my designs, so now I have a collection of real fabric patches. They look exactly like my illustrations!

Were your editors very precious about the rough art you were sharing? How much freedom to play were you afforded?

The team I have worked with at Bloomsbury have been fabulous. I was expecting to be quite tightly restricted, but because there’s very few of the main characters in Quidditch Through the Ages, I had a lot of freedom to interpret the text as I wanted. We worked out a plan early on, of which chapter I would have done by what date, and I stuck to it. I was happy for them to decide the chapter order, otherwise I may well have been tempted to tackle the easier chapters first.

As for sharing the roughs . . . Although we started off with the plan for me to share roughs in advance, I found that I was just diving straight in and producing finished artwork.  This of course resulted in a few changes when it came to the editing process, but a lot fewer than I thought there would be. The team at Bloomsbury put their trust in me, and I hope that I repaid that by doing the very best job that I could.

Were you at all tempted to make any subtle visual changes or tweaks to Harry Potter lore while you were given license to tinker under the hood?

I don’t think tweaking ever really worried me. As I said previously, Quidditch Through the Ages, is quite separate to the Harry Potter story, and as a Hogwarts library book (fictionally) pre-dates Harry Potter. I was told not to worry if something had been visually represented before, and to just do things my own way. Which I did!

When you’re inevitably invited back to illustrate more Harry Potter, is there a character or creature you’re dying to have your way with?

That thought has never crossed my mind. Quidditch Through the Ages, is a stand-alone book, and one of the reasons I loved it was the lack of known characters in it.

In a pinch, do you think you’d acquit yourself well in a game of Quidditch? What position would you play?

I think that I would acquit myself spectacularly badly in a game of Quidditch. I used to play a sport called Roller Derby, which in my head has become somewhat mixed with Quidditch. I played Roller Derby for about four years, when I was really old enough to know better (it’s a full contact sport on roller skates) I reached a point with that sport when I realised that however hard I trained, I was never going to be very good. I gathered more and more injuries until the fear (and the injuries) got to me and I sadly had to retire my skates and lie very flat (for the next two years- until spinal surgery sorted me out). That was only roller skates, and with no large balls being aimed at me. I dread to think how I’d fare on a broomstick.