Cliff Wright
Encyclopedia
Cliff Wright is an artist
, book illustrator
and advertising artist.
He has illustrated numerous books - specializing in illustrations of animals and children's books, most notably the second and third book in the Harry Potter
series - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
, and The Wind in the Willows
.
He has also been an artist in advertising campaigns for numerous large organizations and corporations - including Greenpeace
and Ikea
. He has illustrated the Puppy series of board book
s by Gerald Durrell
, commissioned by the Beanie Baby
manufacturer Andrex
. He has designed numerous posters and cards, and is noted for his illustrations of bear
s and badger
s for children.
Wright is an active campaigner for animal rights with International Animal Rescue
, and has participated in numerous book signings and auctions to raise money to help the dancing bear
s of India
.
, England in 1963, and still lives there. He graduated from the Brighton College of Art in 1986. Wright developed wildlife-based watercolours and children's book ideas in the early phase of his career. In 1989, he published the self-written and illustrated picture book for children titled "When the World Sleeps" (Hutchinson
). This was runner-up in the Mother Goose Award
competition, 1989-1990. He followed this up by two more highly successful illustration projects - "Crumbs!" (Hutchinson
, 1990) and The Tanglewood Troll (Gollancz
, 1993).
cover for the second Harry Potter
book. The cover illustration for the first book was drawn by Thomas Taylor, a young artist out of college. The popularity of the first book decided Bloomsbury to select a more experienced illustrator, and hence Cliff Wright was chosen. Wright was the obvious choice for the cover illustrator of the third Harry Potter book as well.
Wright was the first to illustrate the following Harry Potter concepts and characters:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998):
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999):
Wright retains the rights to the illustrations. He refused to illustrate the fourth Harry Potter book
after Bloomsbury lost his original front and back cover artwork for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The huge black market of the Harry Potter fandom
has been rumoured to be the cause of the disappearance. He also sued Bloomsbury for offering insufficient compensation.
The original artwork for the second book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets went on auction at Christie's
in 2001 but was unsuccessful at meeting the reserve price of £ 30,000. The work has since been acquired by investor Luke Heron on behalf of illustration investment company Storyboard Assets Plc for an undisclosed sum. The original art for the first book raised £ 85,000 at auction.
and Oxford University Press
, in the 1990s and 2000s. He has also written and illustrated the "Little Bear" series of board books from Templar Publishing.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, book illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
and advertising artist.
He has illustrated numerous books - specializing in illustrations of animals and children's books, most notably the second and third book in the Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
series - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. The plot follows Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, during which a series of messages on the walls on the school's corridors warn that the "Chamber of...
and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. The book was published on 8 July 1999. The novel won the 1999 Whitbread Book Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the 2000 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, and was short-listed for other...
, and The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England...
.
He has also been an artist in advertising campaigns for numerous large organizations and corporations - including Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
and Ikea
IKEA
IKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...
. He has illustrated the Puppy series of board book
Board book
A board book is a type of book printed on thick paperboard. The paperboard is printed and used for both the cover and the interior pages. Each page panel is a minimum of two plies of paperboard thickness. Unlike a typical paper book that is bound with saddle stitching or perfect binding, a...
s by Gerald Durrell
Gerald Durrell
Gerald "Gerry" Malcolm Durrell, OBE was a naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author and television presenter...
, commissioned by the Beanie Baby
Beanie Baby
A Beanie Baby is a stuffed animal, made by Ty Warner Inc., which was later renamed as Ty Inc. in late 1993. Each toy has an inner "posable lining" and is stuffed with plastic pellets rather than conventional stuffing , giving Beanie Babies a flexible feel.The original nine Beanie Babies launched...
manufacturer Andrex
Andrex
Andrex is a British brand of toilet roll. It is a owned by the American company Kimberly-Clark. The "Andrex Puppy", a Labrador Retriever puppy that appears on the company's television adverts, is synonymous with the brand.Sold in the U.S...
. He has designed numerous posters and cards, and is noted for his illustrations of bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
s and badger
Badger
Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are nine species of badger, in three subfamilies : Melinae , Mellivorinae , and Taxideinae...
s for children.
Wright is an active campaigner for animal rights with International Animal Rescue
International Animal Rescue
International Animal Rescue, also known as IAR, is an animal welfare non-profit organization based in the United Kingdom that comes to the aid of wild and domestic animals with hands-on rescue and rehabilitation. International Animal Rescue returns rehabilitated animals to the wild while also...
, and has participated in numerous book signings and auctions to raise money to help the dancing bear
Dancing Bear
Dancing Bear is a Croatian record label.Croatian artists that released their albums on the label include The Bambi Molesters, Daleka obala, Darko Rundek, Dino Dvornik, Gustafi, Hladno pivo, Ibrica Jusić, Dunja Knebl, Kojoti, Leteći odred and Majke....
s of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Early career
Wright was born in BrightonBrighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
, England in 1963, and still lives there. He graduated from the Brighton College of Art in 1986. Wright developed wildlife-based watercolours and children's book ideas in the early phase of his career. In 1989, he published the self-written and illustrated picture book for children titled "When the World Sleeps" (Hutchinson
Hutchinson (publisher)
Hutchinson & Co. was an English book publisher, founded in 1887. The company merged with Century Publishing in 1985 to form Century Hutchinson, and was folded into the British Random House Group in 1989, where it remains as an imprint in the Cornerstone Publishing division...
). This was runner-up in the Mother Goose Award
Mother Goose Award
The Mother Goose Award was a British annual award, presented by Books For Children to "the most exciting newcomer to British children's book illustration." Established in 1979, the award was last given in 1999...
competition, 1989-1990. He followed this up by two more highly successful illustration projects - "Crumbs!" (Hutchinson
Hutchinson (publisher)
Hutchinson & Co. was an English book publisher, founded in 1887. The company merged with Century Publishing in 1985 to form Century Hutchinson, and was folded into the British Random House Group in 1989, where it remains as an imprint in the Cornerstone Publishing division...
, 1990) and The Tanglewood Troll (Gollancz
Victor Gollancz Ltd
Victor Gollancz Ltd was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century. It was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz and specialised in the publication of high quality literature, nonfiction and popular fiction, including science fiction. Upon Gollancz's death in 1967, ownership...
, 1993).
Harry Potter illustrations
Bloomsbury approached Cliff Wright for illustrating the British First editionFirst edition
The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed “from substantially the same setting of type,” including all minor typographical variants.- First edition :...
cover for the second Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
book. The cover illustration for the first book was drawn by Thomas Taylor, a young artist out of college. The popularity of the first book decided Bloomsbury to select a more experienced illustrator, and hence Cliff Wright was chosen. Wright was the obvious choice for the cover illustrator of the third Harry Potter book as well.
Wright was the first to illustrate the following Harry Potter concepts and characters:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998):
- Hedwig the Owl
- Weasleys' Ford AngliaFord AngliaThe 1949 model, code E494A, was a makeover of the previous model with a rather more 1940s style front-end, including the sloped, twin-lobed radiator grille. Again it was a very spartan vehicle and in 1948 was Britain's lowest priced four wheel car....
- HogwartsHogwartsHogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or simply Hogwarts is the primary setting for the first six books of the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, with each book lasting the equivalent of one school year. It is a fictional boarding school of magic for witches and wizards between the ages of...
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999):
- The HippogriffHippogriffA Hippogriff is a legendary creature, supposedly the offspring of a griffin and a mare.- Early references :...
Buckbeak - Sirius BlackSirius BlackSirius Black is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Sirius was first mentioned briefly in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as a wizard who lent Rubeus Hagrid a flying motorbike shortly after Lord Voldemort killed James and Lily Potter...
in his dog-form
Wright retains the rights to the illustrations. He refused to illustrate the fourth Harry Potter book
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling, published on 8 July 2000.The novel won a Hugo Award in 2001, the only Harry Potter novel to do so...
after Bloomsbury lost his original front and back cover artwork for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The huge black market of the Harry Potter fandom
Harry Potter fandom
The Harry Potter fandom is a large international and informal community drawn together by J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. The fandom works through the use of many different forms of media, including web sites, fan fiction, podcasts, fan art and songvids...
has been rumoured to be the cause of the disappearance. He also sued Bloomsbury for offering insufficient compensation.
The original artwork for the second book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets went on auction at Christie's
Christie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
in 2001 but was unsuccessful at meeting the reserve price of £ 30,000. The work has since been acquired by investor Luke Heron on behalf of illustration investment company Storyboard Assets Plc for an undisclosed sum. The original art for the first book raised £ 85,000 at auction.
Post-Harry Potter work
Cliff Wright conducts an innovative drawing workshop annually, titled The Art of Seeing. Wright has illustrated numerous books for the publishing houses of Ladybird BooksLadybird Books
Ladybird Books is a London-based publishing company, trading as a stand-alone imprint within the Penguin Group of companies. The Ladybird imprint publishes mass-market children's books.-History:...
and Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, in the 1990s and 2000s. He has also written and illustrated the "Little Bear" series of board books from Templar Publishing.