Cliff Wright ( Newhaven, 24 October 1963Cliff Wright
at Arts Brighton) is an

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

, book

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

and advertising artist. He has illustrated numerous books, specializing in illustrations of animals and children's books, most notably the second and third books in the ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'' series - ''

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the second novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. The plot follows Harry Potter (character), Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of W ...

'' and ''

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and is the third in the '' Harry Potter'' series. The book follows Harry Potter, a young wizard, in his third year at Hogwarts School of ...

'' - and ''

The Wind in the Willows ''The Wind in the Willows'' is a children's novel by the British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It details the story of Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad, after he becomes obsessed with motorcars and gets ...

''. He has also been an artist in advertising campaigns for numerous large organizations and corporations - including

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

and

IKEA IKEA (; ) is a Dutch multinational conglomerate based in the Netherlands that designs and sells , kitchen appliances, decoration, home accessories, and various other goods and home services. Started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been t ...

. He has illustrated the ''Puppy'' series of

board book Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ...

s by

Gerald Durrell Gerald Malcolm Durrell, (7 January 1925 – 30 January 1995) was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservationist, and television presenter. He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoo on the Channel Island o ...

, commissioned by the

Beanie Baby Beanie Babies are a line of stuffed toys created by American businessman H. Ty Warner, who founded Ty Inc. in 1986. The toys are stuffed with plastic pellets ("beans") rather than conventional soft stuffing. They come in many different forms, m ...

manufacturer

Andrex Andrex is a British brand of toilet roll. It is owned by the American company Kimberly-Clark. The "Andrex Puppy", a Labrador Retriever puppy that appears on the company's television advertisements, is synonymous with the brand. The brand Andre ...

. He has designed numerous posters and cards and is noted for his illustrations of

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

s and

badger Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united b ...

s for children. Wright is an active campaigner for

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

with

International Animal Rescue International Animal Rescue (IAR) is an animal protection and conservation non-profit organisation that comes to the aid of suffering animals with hands-on rescue and rehabilitation and the protection of wildlife habitats. IAR returns rehabilit ...

and has participated in numerous book signings and auctions to raise money to help the

dancing bear A tame bear, often called a dancing bear, is a wild bear captured when young, or born and bred in captivity, and used to entertain people in streets or taverns. Dancing bears were commonplace throughout Europe and Asia from the Middle Ages to the ...

s of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Early career

Wright was born in Newhaven, England in 1963. He graduated from the

Brighton College of Art Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

in 1986. Wright developed wildlife-based watercolours and children's book ideas in the early phase of his career. In 1989, he published a self-written and illustrated picture book for children titled ''When the World Sleeps'' ( Hutchinson). This was runner-up in the

Mother Goose Award The Mother Goose Award was an award annually presented to "the most exciting newcomer to British children's book illustration." It was inaugurated in 1979 and last awarded in 1999. Sponsored by Books for Children booksellers, award winners receive ...

competition, 1989-1990. He followed this up by two more highly successful illustration projects - ''"Crumbs!"'' ( Hutchinson, 1990) and ''The Tanglewood Troll'' ( Gollancz, 1993).

''Harry Potter'' illustrations

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

approached Cliff Wright for illustrating the British first-edition cover for the second ''

'' 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 prompted 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 Hedwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Hedwig (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Grzegorz Hedwig (born 1988), Polish slalom canoeist * Johann Hedwig, (1730–1799), German botanist * Romanus Adol ...

the owl *The Weasleys'

Ford Anglia The Ford Anglia is a small family car that was designed and manufactured by Ford UK. It is related to the Ford Prefect and the later Ford Popular. The Anglia name was applied to various models between 1939 and 1967. In total, 1,594,486 Anglias ...

Hogwarts Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry () is a fictional Scotland, Scottish boarding school of Magic in Harry Potter, magic for students aged eleven to eighteen, and is the primary setting for the first six books in J. K. Rowling's ''Harry Pot ...

School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' (1999): *The

hippogriff The hippogriff, or sometimes spelled hippogryph ( el, Ἱππόγρυπας), is a legendary creature with the front half of an eagle and the hind half of a horse. It was invented by Ludovico Ariosto in his ''Orlando Furioso'', at the beginning o ...

Buckbeak *

Sirius Black Sirius Black is a character in J. K. Rowling's '' Harry Potter'' series. Sirius was first mentioned briefly in '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' as a wizard who lent Rubeus Hagrid a flying motorbike shortly after Lord Voldemort ki ...

in his dog form 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

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 is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

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.Scotsman - Picture Perfect Storyboard Draws on its Assets
/ref> 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 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. It is an imprint of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of ...

and

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, in the 1990s and 2000s. He has also written and illustrated the "Little Bear" series of

s from ''Templar Publishing''.

Bibliography

*''When the World Sleeps'', ( Hutchinson, 1989) *''Crumbs!'' ( Hutchinson, 1990) *''The Explorers'', ( Hutchinson, 1992) *''The Tanglewood Troll'' ( Gollancz, 1993) *''Puppy Tales'' (written by

), (

, 1993) *''

'' (written by

Kenneth Grahame Kenneth Grahame ( ; 8 March 1859 – 6 July 1932) was a British writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is most famous for ''The Wind in the Willows'' (1908), a classic of children's literature, as well as ''The Reluctant Dragon (short story), T ...

), (

, 1994) *''The Flying Squirrel and Other Stories from the Woodlands'' (written by Frances Ball), (Peter Lowe, 1995) *''A Treasury of Classic Stories'' (written by

E. Nesbit Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English writer and poet, who published her books for children as E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on more than 60 such books. She was also a political activist a ...

et al., co-illustrated by George Buchanan and David Barnett), (

, 1995) *''Oxford Reading Tree: Stages 1–9: Rhyme and Analogy: Story Rhymes'', (written by Roderick Hunt et al., co-illustrated by Alex Brychta), (

, 1996) (TES award winner for an educational book) *''Henry's Kite'' (written by Miriam Moss, Cliff Wright), ( Hazar Publishing, 1996) *''This Way, Little Badger'' (written by Phil McMylor), (

, 1996) *''The Star That Fell'' (by Karen Hayles), (

, 1996) *''Sasha and the Wolfcub'' (written by Ann Jungman), (

Collins Collins may refer to: People Surname Given name * Collins O. Bright (1917–?), Sierra Leonean diplomat * Collins Chabane (1960–2015), South African Minister of Public Service and Administration * Collins Cheboi (born 1987), Kenyan middle- ...

, 1996) *''Windswept'' (written by Miriam Moss, Cliff Wright), ( Hazar Publishing, 1997) *''Are We Nearly There?'' (written by Joan Stimson), (

, 1998) *''Peter and the Wolf'' (written by

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...

, retold by Nicola Baxter), (

, 1999) *''Good Day, Bad Day'' (written by Kathryn White), (

, 2000) *''DK Share-a-Story: Are You Spring?'' (written by Caroline Pitcher), (

Dorling Kindersley Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media co ...

, 2000) *''When They Fight'' (written by Kathryn White), (

, 2002) *''My Wishes for You'' (by

Adèle Geras Adèle Daphne Geras (née Weston; born 15 March 1944) is an English writer for young children, teens and adults. Early life Geras was born in Jerusalem, British Mandatory Palestine to British Jewish parents. Her father (later a lawyer and Hi ...

), (

Piccadilly Press Bonnier AB (), also the Bonnier Group, is a privately held Swedish media group of 175 companies operating in 15 countries. It is controlled by the Bonnier family. Background The company was founded in 1804 by Gerhard Bonnier in Copenhagen, Den ...

, 2002) *''Bear series'': ''Bear and Kite'', ''The Three Bears'', ''Bear and Ball'' (

Templar Publishing Bonnier AB (), also the Bonnier Group, is a privately held Swedish media group of 175 companies operating in 15 countries. It is controlled by the Bonnier family. Background The company was founded in 1804 by Gerhard Bonnier in Copenhagen, Denma ...

, 2005)

References

External links

Official site of the artist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Cliff 1963 births Alumni of the University of Brighton English illustrators Living people