One of the best parts of this year’s LeakyCon for me was getting the chance to meet MinaLima. MinaLima is the design studio of Miraphora Mina, Eduardo Lima, and Lauren Wakefield, and they are the team who produced all of the graphic design within the Harry Potter films. They were at LeakyCon to promote their new project The Printorium, where they’re selling high quality art prints of several of the pieces they designed for the films. I had the chance to interview them, which you can watch above, and check out more photos from their booth at LeakyCon down below.
I never thought I would actually have the chance to meet the team behind all of the iconic Harry Potter designs. I’ve watched the special features segment on the Half Blood Prince DVD of Bonnie Wright talking to Eduardo and touring the art department practically frame by frame trying to catch all of the details of the beautiful design work that are barely even visible in the films, and I’ve started at the photo below wishing that I could go to their studio and see all of amazing art the team created for the movies in person. However, for the longest time Google searches barely turned up anything, so I just accepted that they lived in another world and wouldn’t be interested in interacting with fans or sharing more of their work. So when I heard they would be going to LeakyCon, and then started emailing with them beforehand and learned that they had seen some of my videos, I was just so excited to be able to ask all of the questions I had about the art in the movies that I had been wondering about for years.
Their actual presentation was absolutely brilliant. I was sitting in the front row next to my friend and fellow designer Jordan Edwards and we mutually freaked out a bit when some of the never-before-seen pieces were shown. Many of the designs actually got applause from the audience, which was just beautiful to see. While it’s always cool to hear from actors in the films, the creation of the visual design of the universe they live in is just as important as any actor, and is a part of the films that always seems to get overlooked, so I was so happy to see finally get the attention it deserves at this year’s LeakyCon.
Fun fact: I circled the merch room twice before finally getting up the courage to visit the booth and meet Mira, Eduardo, and Lauren for the first time. I had actually been in the merch room the night before it opened, so I had the chance to check out the prints and get out my fangirl squeals before meeting them. I love all of the attention to detail they had for their booth, from the gorgeous banners in the background to the pins on the fabric backdrop. But of course, the main star of the show were the four gorgeous prints they had on display:
I’m sorry for the reflection of the lights on the glass frame, but aren’t the designs just beautiful? I always loved what they did with the Quidditch World Cup program, even though you barely get a glance at it in the movie, and the gold foil on the Daily Prophet is such a gorgeous touch.
You can check out some closeups of some of my favorite details in these designs in the photos below:
Thank you so much to MinaLima for coming to LeakyCon 2012! Unfortunately, unless I win the lottery anytime soon, I doubt I’ll be able to afford any of the prints myself, but you know, Christmas and my birthday are coming up soon…just saying.
If you liked this post, don’t forget to check out my other blog post of an overview of all of LeakyCon 2012, and I can’t wait for LeakyCon 2013!
