As Harry Potter and Wizarding world fans head back to Hogwarts this weekend, SnitchSeeker looked back at the original novel that kicked off the saga, Harry Potter and the Sorecerer's Stone.

Tying in with the 20th anniversary release of the book in the U.S., and with the latest illustrated editions being released later this year, SnitchSeeker spoke with artist Jim Kay about his artistic work for the saga in July.

Kay spoke about some of the characters from the series he loved drawing the most, how he got the gig as the artist for the illustrated editions of the Harry Potter novels, and what's to come with the upcoming release of the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire illustrated edition, out next year.

SnitchSeeker: We hear you’re having quite the week down at Comic-Con.
Jim Kay: It’s amazing. I’ve been to California before, but not Comic-Con. Everyone says, “Oooh, Comic-Con … you can’t imagine.” They hyped it so much – and yet it’s still way more than I imagined it would be.

SnitchSeeker: Did you see something that really surprised you?
Jim Kay: The thing is, as you go in you start to feel your excitement start to build and build, which is like … it’s hard to express that. It’s like being a kid again. From my point of view, you’re in a room with thousands of illustrations by comic artists, which I never expected. I knew there’d be a few, but not tons of it. That was amazing – from all different eras, as well. And just the fun of it. There’s a wonderful sense of inclusiveness. There’s a wonderful joy about it, as well. People are just who they want to be there. It’s a very liberal city anyway, and it’s even more so when Comic-Con on. You can do whatever you want, wear whatever you want. The more, the merrier. I think it’s great. I gather it’s grown every year. It’s just wonderful.

SnitchSeeker: Can you tell us about how you got chosen to draw the Harry Potter illustrated editions?
Jim Kay: The truth is, I don’t really know. As far as I know, Bloomsbury, who’s the British publisher of Harry Potter, had this idea to produce an illustrated version and, as far as I know, they gave the author the selection. So I think I was picked by the author from that selection. I think that’s right – I’m not exactly sure. It’s a bit baffling from my point of view because I haven’t really done may books before, and I hadn’t really drawn children before, and the books I’d done weren’t really very colorful. So that’s about as good an answer as I can give you.

SnitchSeeker: Were you surprised when they shared the news with you?
Jim Kay: Yeah, it didn’t actually sink in. I assumed they meant the covers because my agent rang me up and said, “Are you sitting down?” And I said, “Yes.” “I’ve got a job for you. It’s Harry Potter.” I said, “Yes. Which one is it?” She said, “All of them. It’s all of them.” I thought, “Wow!” I assumed she meant the covers, which would be the gig of a lifetime.

Then I realized she meant, “No, you’re illustrating the whole thing.” My first thought was why. Why would you do it? I loved the films, and they were so all-immersive in the world of Harry Potter that how do you go about effectively re-educating everybody on the visuals of something we’re all so familiar with through the actors, through the product design, through the casting. But luckily I’m a complete control freak so the opportunity to do something like that was really like, “Yes, I can start again!” Literally, I could design the doorknobs – which I have! So that was really nice. Still weird. Still now, five years down the line, it’s still a strange thing because you forget people are seeing your stuff. Especially you come to America, you think, “Wow the books made it all the way over here.”

Scholastic has done this amazing job of releasing the illustrated versions. It’s surreal. It never stops being strange either. It’s not sunk in yet. The one time it really did hit me, was when I got a postcard from a boy in Hawaii and he showed me where he lived and it was this tropical paradise. And I thought, “How come a school about this dingy castle in Scotland is being read about by a boy in a tropical paradise in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?” It was strange.

SnitchSeeker: Well you’re definitely impacting lives and imaginations. Who’s your favorite character to draw?
Jim Kay: Always Hagrid.

SnitchSeeker: Why is that?
Jim Kay: I love giants, and I love scribble, so Hagrid is just a big ball of scribble on a big body. There’s something very comforting. I think, when you’re an adult, seeing a giant puts you back in that position of being a child again. So I like the fact that the viewpoint of Hagrid up there again (raises hand up) like you are, because a lot of illustrators forget that children are actually down here (lowers hand) so they’re viewpoint is different to ours as adults.

But Hagrid puts the adult back in that childish viewpoint. You’re looking up to him like this (looks up). There’s something very nurturing and almost maternal about someone that can literally envelope you in their arms. It’s a lovely thought. I think we’d all love to know a giant. That’d be nice.

SnitchSeeker: We loved your illustration of Dobby.
Jim Kay: Oh right. I have trouble with Dobby. I know he’s popular, but he’s a tricky one to do. His big eyes caused me such problems.

SnitchSeeker: They’re considered the window to his soul.
Jim Kay: It’s a big window. Blimey. It’s hard getting things to looks realistic with such large eyes. You don’t want it to look like a cartoon. So I made models of him to start with, and used those models to help me get my head around him. Once you’ve got a Dobby-sized model sat around, you start to warm to it a bit. It’s like having a pet around. The thing is, it used to get hot in the studio and his head kept falling off because it melts. It’s a very hot studio.

SnitchSeeker: Were there some illustrations that you drew that didn’t make it into the books?
Jim Kay: Yeah. It’s such a challenge getting a book done in a year. I sketch so many pages that never make it in. Probably about half the stuff I want to get in, gets in, which is very sad from my point of view because there’s so much more to go in. But you have to call time in it somewhere. Every illustrator says you never finish an illustration, you just run out of time.

So that’s it for me. No book is ever finished, you just run out of time. Otherwise I’d never finish a book. I’d still be on book one, fidgeting about with the doorknobs, redesigning them. That’s the great thing about J.K. Rowling’s world, is that it’s so immersive you can focus on the carrots, the costumes, the animals, the landscape, the magic, the books within the world, the shops, all that. You could get lost in it, really, and I do. I look forward to getting lost in it.

SnitchSeeker: Is it hard for you to come out of a long day of illustrating from that world and then coming back into the reality of your life.
Jim Kay: I don’t get a chance because I work until I can’t stay awake, and I just go to sleep. Then I dream about Harry Potter and I then I wake up and work on Harry Potter. So luckily, I never really come out of it. It’s all I do. This has been nice because, for me, this is a holiday coming here. It’s been fantastic. But, of course, I’m talking about Harry Potter so you never leave it. But I never get tired of it. Again, it’s such a big world. It’s affected so many people. It’s strange – it’s like this network, almost like a religion that reaches across the world. It’s lovely.

SnitchSeeker: Because you find the world so fascinating and so diverse, if you had a day to take a holiday in one particular area in the world of Harry Potter, where would you go?
Jim Kay: See, I’d like shopping in Diagon Alley. But I love old buildings, I love old architecture, you see, so I’d love to know more about where Durmstrang and things like that are because that to me is fascinating. These are the schools that exist in other parts of the world. So it’s probably to go and see the Beauxbatons or Durmstrang. Beauxbatons sounds very idyllic, where they’re from, very refined.

SnitchSeeker: How are the Goblet of Fire illustrations coming along?
Jim Kay: Well, I’ve had a bit longer on this book because I’ve got a bit of a break, but having said that, I still manage to be behind somehow because you give an illustrator more time, he’ll just fill it with more stuff. But I’m really enjoying the Goblet because it’s divided into three sections.

You’ve got three trials, which is a lovely way of breaking up the book. But you’ve also got all these new characters – there’s about 15 new characters that come in, not only school people like teachers, of course, and other schools coming in, Ministry people. I’m actually really enjoying this one. I think because I feel more comfortable in the world I’ve created, as well. And other people are starting to buy into that. So it’s very familiar to me now. I think I’ve got my own world set up in my head now, and I’m really enjoying being in it. In terms of action, it’s much darker, and I’m more suited to the darker books. I think it’s going to be easier for me as we go along. So, I’m very happy to be working on Goblet of Fire.