Jim Kay
Breathing Visual Life Into the Wizarding World
Jim Kay’s appointment as the official illustrator of the Harry Potter Illustrated Editions was a turning point in his career and a milestone for the franchise. An illustrator known for his atmospheric and emotionally rich artwork, Jim Kay brought an entirely new dimension to J.K. Rowling’s world, fusing imagination with meticulous research, and personal experience with fantastical vision.
Early Career and Life Before Potter
After graduating from the University of Westminster in 1997 with a degree in Illustration, Jim Kay struggled to make a living in the industry. He took on freelance magazine work, often completing illustrations overnight and rushing color slides to publishers before digital submission was possible. To support himself, he worked in various unrelated jobs — in hospitals, museums, and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. It wasn’t until a solo exhibition and his work on Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls that he returned to illustration full time.
When Kay was approached in 2013 to illustrate all seven Harry Potter books for Bloomsbury, he described his reaction as a mixture of joy and dread. The opportunity felt like the "Big Bang followed by the Big Crunch": an explosion of excitement, quickly followed by crushing anxiety. He recognized the significance of the assignment — designing the visual language for one of the most beloved stories in modern literature — and took the responsibility seriously.
The Creative Process
Kay approached the project with obsessive care. Starting with the text, he read each book multiple times, made notes, and created a bible of references. He researched architecture, flora, fauna, historical costume, and portraiture. The character designs came from models — friends, strangers, even his niece (Hermione), and people he met on the street. Harry himself was based on a boy Kay saw on the London Underground.
Kay experimented across media: watercolors, oils, gouache, acrylics, graphite, ink, and digital tools. His process included building maquettes and scale models — of Hogwarts, characters, Hagrid’s hut — out of cardboard, Plasticine, or even coat hangers, to study how light and shadow would fall. He treated his illustrations like film sets, setting up scenes and changing lighting and angles to achieve realism.
Each book took over a year to complete — Philosopher’s Stone alone took two and a half years. What started as a plan for a six-month project quickly ballooned into an all-consuming effort, with Kay working 12-hour days, seven days a week.
Diagon Alley and Visual Easter Eggs
One of Kay’s most personal creations is Diagon Alley, filled with puns, visual jokes, and references to his own life. Shop names nod to friends, family, and childhood memories — like "Tut’s Nuts," referencing seeds at Kew Gardens, or the Red Kite shop inspired by birds in his home region. The architecture in Diagon Alley and other parts of the book often drew from real-world inspirations like Chastleton House or the British Museum.
He added graffiti to Ministry of Magic walls, owl droppings to rooftops, and even hidden carvings to doorways. His Hermione illustration features etched names, inspired by prisoner carvings in the Tower of London and schoolboys’ names in Harrow School.
Character Design
Each major character was cast with care:
Harry Potter: Modeled after a child spotted on the Tube — not conventionally handsome but unique and expressive, like a wartime evacuee.
Hermione Granger: Based on Kay’s niece — clever, slightly bossy, and always correcting him.
Ron Weasley: Inspired by the son of a school librarian.
Ginny and Molly Weasley: Also modeled from real-life siblings and their mother.
Dumbledore: Based on a fellow illustrator friend. The symbolism in his portrait includes honesty plants, a praying mantis, dragon’s blood, and knitting.
Snape: Based on a friend named David, whose melancholic expression captured Snape’s tragic arc.
Hagrid: A gentle giant inspired by a local man who resembled a biker. Kay emphasized Hagrid’s childlike warmth by scaling objects around him.
Lupin and Sirius: Illustrated with emotion and symbolism, Lupin with a recurring moon motif, and Sirius as an edgy outsider.
Other Creatures: From Dobby (originally sculpted in Plasticine) to dragons (painted in Japanese Sumi ink), Thestrals, spiders, and grindylows — each creature was crafted with biological detail and artistic imagination.
Hogwarts and Magical Spaces
Kay treated Hogwarts as an architectural project. He mapped out floor plans and built scale models to understand light and layout. His version of the Astronomy Tower was inspired by Wembley Stadium, and his herbology greenhouses were tributes to Kew Gardens, including his late dog Leroy in an endpaper scene.
His depiction of Hagrid’s hut — an overturned boat by the lake — and the moody depiction of Knockturn Alley show his love of atmospheric design. Azkaban was shaped like the letter “A” and sculpted from polystyrene.
Mental Health and Stepping Down
Despite his love for the project, the pressures of working on Harry Potter contributed to severe mental health challenges. Kay suffered from burnout, self-imposed stress, and depression. During Order of the Phoenix, he experienced psychotic breaks and was unable to work at full capacity.
In 2022, after finishing book five with the help of illustrator Neil Packer, Kay stepped down from the project to focus on his wellbeing. His departure was met with support from Bloomsbury and fans alike. “It is a dream commission for any illustrator,” Kay said, “but I can no longer give the fans and the series the full commitment and energy it deserves.”
Legacy and Exhibition
Kay’s work is celebrated in exhibitions, including one at Seven Stories in Newcastle, where his early sketches, maquettes, and painted illustrations were displayed. His witty personality shone through — drawing owl droppings on rooftops and hiding jokes in Snape’s potion closet.
His illustrated editions have redefined the visual language of Harry Potter, balancing technical mastery with emotional resonance, fantasy with realism, and humour with profound depth. Whether it’s the glint of a cat’s eyes on a stairwell, the flutter of a Thestral’s wing, or the tender portrait of a grieving Snape, Jim Kay’s art remains etched in the imaginations of millions of readers around the world.