Back in 2017 I had started making Harry Potter characters but ended up not getting as far as I wanted. But when I knew that this would be the 20th anniversary this year, I knew I had to make something. What resulted remains one of my favorites I’ve ever done. It presented challenges in designs, materials, and execution but I’m incredibly proud of how they each turned out. One of the biggest obstacles with this series in particular was the magical nature of the characters. With elements of smoke, levitation, flying, mirrors, books, potions, specific textures, and even invisibility, this one was going to be especially fun and difficult.

But first, I came up with the list of characters. This actually was a little harder than I thought it would be - there were some letters that had SO much to choose from and others only had, well, one choice. I wanted to have a fair representation of major characters as well as the most niche characters. Good characters and evil. Narrowing the list down took longer than I had anticipated and even when I was done, it changed SEVERAL times during the process of making all the characters.

Once the list was good (enough), I had to figure out how to execute some of the magical elements. To overcome some of these challenges I did a lot of experimenting with other tools, like using vellum for translucent elements, plastic with nail polish to make a glittering effect, and even attempting my first three-dimensional piece. I also played with a mix of textured papers to simulate more design in clothing.

In terms of the designs, in general, I really wanted to do more with dynamic poses, adding more emphasis on emotions, character, and movement to each piece in the series. This combination of new techniques, new materials, and new style was my favorite part.

When people see this series, I hope they will enjoy the subtleties in each piece, the tiny details that can be observed when they are truly examined. It was a magical project that I hope I can do again soon!