Salamandra, the publisher of the Harry Potter Series in Spanish, used Dolores Avendaño’s artwork for their covers until 2014. Avendaño’s illustrations were inspired by their American counterpart, and they took part in different editions published since 1999.
However, it was two years ago when Salamandra decided to re-publish all their Harry Potter books with a new look. Tiago da Silva was chosen for this job, and he delivered seven astounding pieces of art that are the current covers for Harry Potter in Latin America and Spain.
But in the process of recreating the seven scenes – one for each book – Tiago, who had not read the books until he was approached for the job, seemed to get inspiration from the movies. Or at least, that is what J.K. Rowling’s team thought when they saw the first proposal for the cover of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
The digital illustration resembles without a doubt the scenery from the movies. Not only does Harry look a lot like the movies portrayal, but Hogwarts is an exact copy of the castle used in the movies.
With the same principle J.K. Rowling (and her team) had been proclaiming for years – the books will not have actors on their covers, neither an image related to the movies – the cover artwork was rejected due to its similarity with the film style.
Tiago da Silva finally did a totally different version, which is the one that now illustrates Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal for the Spanish-speaking countries.
