Buckbeak gets refreshed, ready for “Feathers and Flight” event

As we recently told you, the “Feathers and Flight” event at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter is due to take place from April 4-27. To be ready for those exciting three weeks, Buckbeak has had a bit of a make-over.

Everyone’s favorite hippogriff is now more than twelve years of age, and because he hasn’t been refreshed since he was first created for Prisoner of Azkaban, it’s important that he looks his very best considering he’ll be one of the main attractions during the event.

ATV Today reported that Val Jones, who was a member of the creature effects team on the Potter films and one of those responsible for Buckbeak’s creation, was “called in to re-feather and preen the delicate-winged creature.” Talking about working on said hippogriff, Jones stated,

“Buckbeak was one of the most challenging creatures I’ve ever worked on. It took almost a year and a team of 20 to build three versions of him. We worked closely with mechanical engineers to replicate the exact wing movement and skeleton of a real bird. Each version required thousands of feathers to be sorted, dyed and then individually glued in place by hand. As the Buckbeak on show at the Studio Tour is more than 12 years old now, it’s important to refresh and replenish his coat as the glue wears, and feathers come loose when he bows.”

Jones started her career as a textiles designer before moving on to working with feathers, hair, and animatronics. She will be appearing at “Feathers and Flight” to “lead an expert team to demonstrate the techniques that made winged wonders such as Buckbeak the hippogriff and Fawkes the phoenix a reality on screen.”

To find out more about the event and to book your tickets, visit the Studio Tour website now!

Has anyone purchased their tickets already? Are you excited for the event? Let us know in your comments below.