Where Are You Getting These Ideas!? (Ilvermorny Concept Art)

Art of Chelle Elle
Jul 7, 2016
5 min read

Hi all!

I thought it might be helpful to give some insight into how my mind works (and doesn’t) and where my ideas for things come from. Right now, I’m working on concept art for J.K. Rowling’s Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (No, I’m not formally affiliated with anything “Harry Potter”/etc. This is just a fun project from a gal who likes to use her imagination and share her dreams!).

So, for those of you who have been following J.K. Rowling’s latest updates, you’ll have seen that she’s created the North American equivalent for Hogwarts (You see guys… this explains why Hogwarts never sent some of us our letters… but, why didn’t we get one from Ilvermorny? Hm.)! Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is supposedly situated on Mount Greylock in Massachusetts. I’ve never been to Mount Greylock, so I can’t confirm this, but according to J.K. Rowling’s story, an Irish immigrant and later, her colonial husband founded the school.

I love a good story and I also really love U.S. history. My dad used to “quiz” me on U.S. history and it’s fun facts all the time! It was a great game for us. That being said, colonial America was a fascinating place, guys. It’s amazing what our ancestors and predecessors did to get here and stay here. And how diverse it was! So many groups from all over came seeking religious freedom and other liberties. I’m sure some came seeking adventure, too. But anywho, after reading J.K. Rowling’s introduction to Ilvermorny (read it here) I made sure to do some research and take from my own previous learnings to create what I think Ilvermorny may be like!

School uniforms, headmaster robes… super fun things to imagine. But, those ideas have to come from someplace and for me, they came from looking at mostly American clothing designs from the colonial period until modern day. Puritan, judicial, academic, scholastic… these are just a few of the things I focused on.

Girl’s School Uniform:

Ilvermorny School Girl Uniform - Concept Art

For the first go round of a girl’s school uniform design, I looked back to the Harry Potter series, both for film and book references to how students dress. May it be known that I was conflicted on how to design this uniform! I really love remaining true to someone’s original ideas as best as possible and to honor someone’s work in this way! In this case, it’s J.K. Rowling. Her books mention full robes with normal clothing underneath. Basically, you’re only supposed to see the robe. But, the films were adapted differently to show a prep school-style uniform underneath the robes. It’s tough making the call for something like this when you want to keep true to the original. But, I knew that the prep school-style uniform design in the films was more iconic and relatable, so I ultimately decided to keep to this concept. Plus, I felt it gave way to more options and variety in color and design. I rather enjoy fashion illustrations.

So, from there I jumped into more movie reference imagery as well as looking up prep school uniforms for the U.S., particularly around Massachusetts. Honestly, it was tough to find something so regionally specific, and I ended up diving into European boarding and prep school uniforms as well. Shoes also were a mess to figure out. But, with a bunch of Googling, this is where I landed:

Reference #1:

This image is from the lovely Parfait Doll’s blog! Here’s the relating article: Link

Reference #2:

Solid Color Neckties - School Uniform Example

This image came from Solid Color Neckties. Associated article found here: Link

This particular design doesn’t involve the robes, but I’d definitely like to work on that as well. I’d also like to try it in Isolt’s favorite color: blue. TBD! Keep watching for it and let me know what you’d like to see.

Headmaster’s Robes:

Ilvermorny Concept Art- Headmaster Robes

This was quite a bit more complex. I also took to the films and books for reference on Dumbledore’s costuming, but I definitely wanted to make sure I was staying accurate to how early colonial America could have had an influence on robes. Where did I go? Harvard. Harvard was established in 1636, pretty soon after the Mayflower’s landing at Plymouth Harbor in Massachusetts. I really felt like the oldest institution for higher education in America would bring about the academic clothing inspiration I needed! I ended up finding that John Harvard, one of the initial founders of the university, had a very helpful portrait for robes.

Something a little more ironic and slightly creepy that came as inspiration were the robes of judges during the Salem Witch Trials. Not sure how Isolt would have felt about that inspiration, but I really needed some robe-like clothing from that time period! They were very loose inspiration for me… and the portraits creep me out so much I just don’t want to show them! *Shivers* But, here’s a link to one that I considered using heavily if you’re interested in knowing more about it.

I also ended up looking more forward to the 1700s and 1800s and found some help in a plate (It’s actually portrait art, not the kind of plate you eat off of.) of Nicholas and Thomas Boylston, Nicholas being a benefactor of Harvard. Lots of other imagery crossed my path of colonial to Revolutionary War era paintings that kind of got jumbled together as inspiration. But, here are my biggest influences.

Reference #1:

Minister John Harvard: a huge influence on the headmaster’s robes: Link to image/article

*Side note: I almost considered adding the ruff (aka the “fluffy collar thingy”) to the headmaster’s robes. Wouldn’t James have loved that…

Reference #2:

These are plates/portraits of Nicholas and Thomas Boylston, relatives of President John Adams. You can find them here! Link

Just a little extra on the “Headmaster Robes #1” piece…

James is the one pictured in the headmaster’s robes. He’s also wearing Isolt’s favorite color! Wouldn’t it be so cute to have them dress in each other’s favorite colors? I’m thinking of putting her in cranberry. But, don’t think I didn’t leave out the cranberry in James’ robes. He’s most definitely got a stain of cranberry pie, his most favorite dessert. Perhaps magic that could wash stains out hadn’t been invented yet. I also realize that James has a bit of a schoolboy look to him. I suppose I just picture him as cheerful and a bit childish at heart!

Hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about the process and thinking behind my illustration work (And really, most anything creative I do.)!

Yours truly,

Chelle Elle

“Chelle Elle” has been drawing since she was really small. No restaurant napkin was ever safe when crayons were involved! Now, she writes and illustrates characters and other fun ideas to help her dreams and the dreams of others come to life! And yes, she takes commissions and would love to hear from you.

Email her today to learn more about how she can bring your ideas to life at:

ArtofChelleElle@gmail.com!

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