June 9, 2014
Bloomsbury have revealed the cover illustration by Jonny Duddle for the second book the famous Harry Potter series by J K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The cover shows the dramatic scene in the chamber itself with Harry facing the basilisk and Ginny Weasley lying on the floor beyond.
Jonny describes his process in his Q&A from Bloomsbury:
How do you as an artist approach such a large job? Where do you begin with such a wide range of possibilities?
“I’m taking one book at a time. I read the cover brief, and then I read the story, making notes and occasional sketches. I collect references, from my library of non-fiction books, search online and take my own photographs. I’ve recruited my neighbours’ son, who is suitably Potter-esque, although he annoyingly had his slightly wild hair cut for the new school term. I make numerous sketches of the main elements of the cover and then cobble them all together digitally, until I have a cover rough I feel happy to send to Bloomsbury and J.K. Rowling. I hear back very quickly with comments on my rough, which I then tweak or redraw until everyone’s happy for me to progress. Then I ‘paint’ each cover digitally.”
Jonny Duddle is represented by Arena