Jim Kay is a British printmaker and illustrator who is best known for his illustrations for the Harry Potter book series. Currently he has illustrated 4 out of the 7 Harry Potter. He was personally selected by the author,  J.K. Rowling to create this series. His work is predominately is fantasy based as his previous work was illustrations for a young adult novel entitled “A Monster Calls’

His work in the Harry Potter series is beautiful. Personally, I think his work captures the magic within this universe exceptionally well. He uses a soft whimsical colour palette he uses for the scenes. Depending on the scene Kay is depicting, he changes the style of work. Some images are scratchy and sketchy whilst others are smooth and charming, some images are black and white while others are in full colour. To create each image, Kay uses watercolour and ink this allows him to blend everything together to make one cohesive piece whilst also allowing him to create sketchy lines when needed.

Due to the fact he uses ink and watercolour to create the illustrations, there’s a beautiful painterly quality to each of the works making them feel special and intimate. This book is a large chunk of 90s and 00s children’s childhoods and seeing these stories brought to life is magical and surreal. It truly feels like the story is coming to life, even more so than it had previously.