Harry Potter's (unfinished) Staircase Maze

Two-page spread pencil sketch concept of "Harry Potter's Staircase Maze" for a proposed magazine.

When the first Harry Potter movie was released to overwhelming success, everyone was anxiously anticipating the next installment. I believe it was around the time the second movie would be released when I was contracted by the now defunct Meredith Corporation to quickly create a maze activity for a proposed Harry Potter Magazine. Meredith published Better Homes & Gardens and Crayola Kids Magazine, the latter for whom I contributed many illustrated children's activities over the years, so it made sense that they asked me to design the game, even though I had never seen the movie.

My sketch was to be just one small part of a sales pitch to the Harry Potter people in charge of the franchise. I was given a rough description of what was needed and the basics of the staircase as it was seen in the movie. I think I knocked this rough draft out in a day and half. It was never meant to be a fully-working game, just a concept of what could be done. I FedEx'd the large two-page pencil sketch to the art director and waited.

When Meredith asked the Harry Potter people how much they would pay to have a magazine made of their franchise, they replied with something like..."Pay you? How much are you going to pay us?" The magazine was over before it ever began. It wasn't the first project I've worked on that never saw the light of day, and I'm sure won't be the last, but it would have been a fun magazine to work on. To quote Mr. Ollivander from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, “The wand chooses the wizard.”