The Original Harry Potter Creature Concept Art Is Utterly Breathtaking

And terrifying. From the new book Harry Potter: The Creature Vault.

Harper Collins Design

Warner Brothers and Harper Collins have just released a new book that contains all of the concept art for the Harry Potter films, and reveals how the production company turned J.K. Rowling's words into the beasts we see on the screen.

"Unlike creatures in many other films, the creatures of the Harry Potter films 'are very important to the story,' says producer David Heyman. Harry Potter's story could not be told without them. They provide lessons and challenges to our hero that ultimately help him gain the confident needed for his battle with Lord Voldemort and the Dark Forces."

Below is just a selection of the pictures from the book.

Peter Pettigrew

Warner Bros / Harper Design

"Scabbers, once so fat, was now very skinny, patches of fur seemed to have fallen out too." –Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Merpeople

Warner Bros / Harper Design

Warner Bros / Harper Design

"The merpeople had grayish skin, and long, wild, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and the wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks." –Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Aragog

Warner Bros / Harper Design

"And from the middle of the misty, domed web, a spider the size of a smalll elephant emerged, very slowly. There was gray in the black of his body and legs, and each of the eyes on his ugly, pincered head was milky white." –Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Buckbeak

Warner Bros / Harper Collins

"Once you got over the first shock of seeing something that was half horse, half bird, you started to appreciate the hippogriff's gleaming coats, changing smoothly from feather to hair..." –Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Fenrir Greyback

Warner Bros / Harper Design

"[A] big, rangy man with matted gray hair and whiskers, whose black Death Eater's robes looked uncomfortably tight... His filthy hands had long, yellowish nails." –Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Grindylow

Warner Bros / Harper Design

"Harry ... saw a Grindylow, a small horned water demon, poking out of the weed, its long fingers clutched tightly around Harry's leg, its pointed fangs bared..." –Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Hungarian Horntail

Warner Bros / Harper Design

And there was the Horntail ... her wings, half furled, her evil yellow eyes upon him, a monstrous, scaly black lizard, thrashing her spiked tail..." –Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Warner Bros / Harper Design

"Its skin seemed to be several times too big for it and though it was like all house-elves, there was a quantity of white hair growing out of its large bat-like ears." –Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Nagini

Warner Bros / Harper Design

"The huge snake ... came to rest across Voldemort's shoulders; its neck the thickness of a man's thigh; its eyes with their vertical slits for pupils, unblinking." –Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Arnold the Pygmy Puff

Warner Bros / Harper Design

"[Ginny] was pointing at a number of round balls of fluff in shades of pink and purple, all rolling around the bottom of a cafe and emitting high-pitched squeals." –Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Dementors

Warner Bros / Harper Design

Warner Bros / Harper Design

"There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water." –Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Thestral

Warner Bros / Harper Design

"Wings sprouted from each wither — vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats. Standing still and quiet in the gloom, the creatures looked eery and sinister." –Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Images from The Creature Vault by Jody Revenson, released Oct. 28, 2014, reposted here with permission from Warner Bros. and Harper Collins Design. You can get it here for UK, and here for the US.