Dark Arts Defence Basics for Beginners - Harry Potter

nurmengart · Dec 16, 2020

Hey everyone!

It has been a long while since I last shared a completely new project on the board.

And I think it is about due time to change that!

I have recently completed a replica of the Dark Arts Defence Basics for Beginners book from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and I would really like to show you all my favorite parts of it.

The textbook was given to the students by Dolores Umbridge when she became the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts in yet another attempt by the Ministry of Magic to take over the school.

In all, what they were really hoping for was to prevent the pupils from using magic and practicing actual spells.

However, unlike the mortifying classes they had to go through, the book they used is a real gem!!!

One of the things that I really like about it is that the whole visual concept idea was to diminish Harry and his classmates (which were in their fifth year at the time) to an elementary level of learning.

To convey that idea to the audience the graphic designers really filled it out with illustrations referencing the art style of vintage children’s books with the ever so charming wizarding twist.

Sadly, only the cover of the book got a real neat close up on screen in the movie.

But now you can see some of the best that was hidden within right here!

I hope you enjoy!! ^^

-nurmengart

keelhauler · Dec 16, 2020

Fantastic!

terryhimself · Dec 16, 2020

Beautiful work! This is a much needed addition to the Potter library.

nurmengart · Dec 17, 2020

Thank you for the kind words! (-:

It makes me very glad to know you enjoyed!

PotionMistress · Dec 17, 2020

Merlin's beard! What a fantastic piece you've created. Where did you get the contents? Did you create/draw all the pages yourself? Tell us more about how you created it, please. You've got my curiosity peaked, that's for sure.
Fantastic!

the Pawn · Dec 17, 2020

You should do a run of these!

nurmengart · Dec 18, 2020

Thank you both very much for the interest!

Well, the book is made to be an exact replica of the ones that were created for filming, so all the content inside is taken from the original.

I did not want any made up pages in my replica. All the text and illustrations are as they were inside the actual movie prop.

So, like other books created for the Harry Potter films they designed a section that was repeated when necessary and bound together to give the thickness they wanted it to have.

I guess that as with many wizarding props the hardest part is the research. I was aware that there were several pages created for this from the Artbox prop cards years and years back, so the desire to have it had already been holding inside for a while.

Luckily, there were many copies of the book made for the movie scene and many were used in exhibitions and displays around the world.

Still, it was very hard to get to it, as there seems to exist a sense of protection from the production to prevent that these make their way to public access.

But after many years into prop replica, I feel like I can say that “hard to get”’ is what really drives me, seeing the details that are hidden away from the world. I believe that is why I am always gravitating towards the newspapers and books. There is so much within that is not seen.

Anyway… After that was done it was a matter of tracking the sources that were used as in fonts, illustrations, clipart, books.

Every page was created from scratch but (as I am sure you must be familiar with) designs made for the Potter films often feature actual found illustrations that are changed up.

Months later in researching and making I had the necessary assets I needed.

Put in a hat, draw in a beard, get in a wand and you get that magic feel that is required. ^^

The final step was the physical realization of it, I had never done a book before, so I was a bit concerned that the finish would not be as polished as I wanted.

However, these were manually bound for the movie prop and printed on special paper, so I did not want that cover-swapped-internet-printed-textured-background sort of thing.

It was huge a challenge to adjust colors to print correctly (so many test prints, so many), the cloth spine not to leak through, smooth edge cutting, figure out the binding style they had used for the original and signature organization/page repetitions, I had done a few tests before, and I could not get it to open like the movie prop at the beginning as it should not just fall flat.

Took me a few tries, but fourth time is the charm it seems!

Well, I guess that is it! I am not sure I left something out, but if there is anything I missed please ask away! (-:

eethan · Dec 18, 2020

awesome, thank you for sharing!

Aegis159 · Dec 18, 2020

Reminds me of trying to gather all of the pages for the Monster Book of Monsters! They did the same repeated pages in that book as well.
Thank you for showing us the work!

PotionMistress · Dec 18, 2020

Nurmengart, you certainly are diligent and tenacious, that's for sure. It's a truly splendid piece and any Harry Potter collector would just LOVE to add something so beautifully done to their collection. You are a real artist! Thanks so much for sharing some of your hard work. It inspires a lot of us.

nurmengart · Dec 19, 2020

Very flattering words thank you all once again!!

Yes! It's actually the same amount of pages they did for The Monster Book of Monsters aswell!
(in different pages designs that is)
That monster one was made as a much thicker boy though!
I can only imagine the weight!! hehe ˆˆ

beav13 · Jan 20, 2021

Will you do a run of these? I am certainly interested!

nurmengart · Jan 31, 2021

Thank you very much for your interest! I think we talked over on Instagram?! Let me know if I got you mixed-up hehe ^^

beav13 · Jan 31, 2021

nurmengart said:
Thank you very much for your interest! I think we talked over on Instagram?! Let me know if I got you mixed-up hehe ^^

That was me!

potterarchy · Feb 3, 2021

beav13 said:
Will you do a run of these? I am certainly interested!

nurmengart Me too!

boxfullofcats · Feb 6, 2021

I'm always amazed by people's talents on here. Simply amazing!

nurmengart · Feb 9, 2021

Thank you very much! (-:

Also for those that might wonder... Yes, you can actually spot some of the pages that were shown in the first post in the film.
It really is just the case that they didnt get a full on close up, but if you move through the scenes frame by frame and zoom in at just the right spot...

There they are! ˆˆ