Alvaro Tapia, born in 1976 in Växjö, is a Swedish illustrator of Chilean origin. Among other things, he has illustrated the covers for the Swedish editions of the Harry Potter books and created images for the cult role-playing game Drakar och Demoner (Dragons and Demons).
Tapia is educated at Konstfack in Stockholm and has over the years illustrated everything from computer game characters to book and album covers. An example of the latter is the Swedish rapper Timbuktu’s album “The bottom is nådd!” from 2003. His first assignment as a young illustrator was the Swedish edition of »Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone« in the late 1990s. The character was relatively unknown at the time, but today the Harry Potter books have sold almost 4 million copies in Sweden alone. Other prominent commissions are the book »Swedish Folktales« from 2008, written by Birgitta Hellsing and Jan-Öjvind Swahn, which contains pencil drawings by Tapia.
The exhibition »Worlds and Beasts« shows mixed works from Tapia’s career and will be shown October 7, 2023–January 28, 2024.
»Svenska folksagor«
Original for the book »Harry Potter och halvblodsprinsen«
Alvaro Tapia