Werewolf of Hogwarts'

Welcome back- yep, it's the return of Harry Potter pictures.

I really didn't have any particular plan for what to post tonight- I usually don't know what will get posted until I fire up the computer and find what kind of mood I'm in. Do I feel like posting just a sketch, or do I want to color something? I have a number of sketches already scanned in, just waiting for me to do something with them.

As it turns out, ABC Family Channel had a bit of a "Harry Potter" marathon on today, so that made it a bit easier to decide what to post. Even more so in that the last movie to air was "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", my personal favorite of the movies. Yes, yes- I know you PoA haters out there think it's the worst of the bunch for various technical offenses, but to me it's one of the best because it really shows the characters as people, rather than as pieces to be moved through the plotline and setpieces. The writer and director took the time to give more thought to the characters and how they feel than the previous entries, and the story was straightforward enough that they didn't have to pass along massive amounts of information in two and a half hours (which is why the remaining movies would all benefit from either a three and a half hour runtime or two-volume releases). Anyway, it's a favorite of mine.

Oh- the reason this post relates to 'PoA' is that one of the new characters introduced is Remus Lupin, Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and (spoiler warning!) werewolf. As long-time readers may know, werewolves hold a special place in my blackened little heart, right along with vampires and other such nasty beasties. Lupin is a fantastic character in the books (who's not given nearly enough time) and is well-played in the movies by David Thewlis.

When I decided to draw Lupin, I knew almost immediately what he looked like to my mind's eye. He's described in the novels as looking a bit shabby, often with scratches and such about his face (apparently he doesn't have supernatural healing while running about on all fours). So, I knew he'd look a bit rough around the edges, plenty of scars and whatnot on his face. My drawing here is really an homage to Universal Studio's first screen wolf man, The Werewolf of London. Released in 1935, The Werewolf of London was much closer to Mr. Hyde than the Lon Chaney, Jr. wolf man we all know. So, I took the two ideas, the books shabby, scarred professor, and London's Hyde-like wolf man and combined them into the picture above.

Hope everyone's weekend was good, and I'll be back Wednesday.

Music: "Werewolves of London" (what else?) - Warren Zevon