Mary GrandPré does not do extensive research when creating illustrations for children's books. Instead, she likes to play with design and style while bonding with the book's characters. Whenever she is able to “really connect with the character,” people take notice. Her claim to fame came when an art director from a New York publisher called and asked her to do one book cover. At the time no one knew that Harry Potter would become so popular. Seven books later, Mary GrandPré was featured on the cover of Time Magazine for her work on the series.
As a freelance illustrator, GrandPré's range is quite impressive. In addition to more than six picture books and a world-wide reputation for Harry Potter, her work has also attracted corporate advertising and editorial clients, including Nickelodeon and DreamWorks Animation SKG. She helped develop the environmental scenery for the DreamWorks animated film Antz. It is quite unusual for an illustrator to reach so many different audiences and work successfully in multiple genres.
GrandPré's work has received national recognition through awards from the Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, Graphis, Print, and Art Direction. An article about her “conceptual editorial assignments” appeared in Step-by-Step Graphics. Communications Arts magazine has done a “career retrospective” article on her work, and her art was chosen among thousands of illustrators to be on the cover of Showcase 16.
Mary GrandPré's ethereal pastel paintings were accepted into the permanent collection of the Society of Illustrators as part of an exhibition entitled, “Women Illustrators, Past and Present.”
Educated at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Mary GrandPré began her career as a conceptual illustrator for local editorial clients. Continually experimenting with media, she developed her expressive visual form into a style called “soft geometry,” which combines her artistic preferences for light, color, drawing, and design. She resides in St. Paul, Minnesota.