This is an image that appears to be one of the original drawings for the books:
But I don't recall Snape ever being mentioned to have facial hair in the books or otherwise.
Has JK Rowling ever implied Snape as having facial hair, in any medium?
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7It should be noted that the image is from Chapter Twenty-Eight (Flight of The Prince) of Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, Scholastic (American) versions. The illustrations are by Mary GrandPré – Möoz Feb 05 '16 at 01:37
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8Maybe the books and movies only depict Snape on days he shaves. Not everyone shaves every day. Maybe he lets it grow out on weekends or on holidays. – phantom42 Feb 05 '16 at 02:58
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@phantom42: What spell does he use to make it grow in that pattern, though? – Peter Cordes Feb 05 '16 at 05:26
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Prior to the film being cast, JKR drew a number of pen+ink pictures of Snape. Some had facial hair, others did not.
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53Supporting the notion that Snape (like most human adult males), has facial hair, except when he shaves. – Frames Catherine White Feb 04 '16 at 23:57
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No. Rowling has NEVER mentioned Snape having facial hair in any text.
Mary GrandPre has said in interviews that she and Rowling do not collaborate on the illustrations:
I don't talk with J.K. Rowling. I deal with the art director at Scholastic, David Saylor, when I work on the books, which is common: to keep the illustrator and author separate.
Technically, they aren't really canon... And GrandPre only illustrates the books in the United States. Her art is not included in the UK edition of the books.
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5ALP: I took the liberty of editing your answer with a source and quote for the interview you mentioned. Hope you don't mind :-) – Rand al'Thor Feb 05 '16 at 04:02
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@DavidS I can imagine that with works like Harry Potter, there must be so many different illustrated editions that all the different illustrators working individually with JKR would just be unfeasible. Not sure why GrandPre makes it out like keeping illustrator and author separate is a goal unto itself, though. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Feb 05 '16 at 11:09
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1@DavidS Possibly because it's the publishers and not the author who are in charge of making the book as "sellable" as possible? Having every author veto-ing or being involved with the illustration process may be unrealistic as authors may be protective of their work, or too involved to be unbiased about how the cover looks. Therefore, publishers and editors communicate the briefs and feedback to illustrators. (Source - I did some internships in publishing and this sort of separation was common for a lot of aspects of publication.) – Luna Feb 05 '16 at 11:48
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There's also a common "trope" of authors complaining about their book covers not reflecting their stories (not all authors obviously, but it's by no means unheard of) - authors really don't get much input. So it makes sense that they wouldn't be able to input with illustration commissions either. – Luna Feb 05 '16 at 11:50
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I feel like this is more common for books published outside the author's home country. I recall Douglass Adams making similar complaints about the US editions of his books. It seems that the authors can exercise more control over the domestic publication than international ones. – Darrel Hoffman Feb 05 '16 at 18:30
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This also leads to the problem the Wheel of Time books were notorious for, where the cover art contradicted itself and the books. – Alan Shutko Feb 05 '16 at 20:47
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The Dresden Files series book covers (almost?) always depict the main character wearing a hat; it's now a running joke, with the character occasionally remarking that he should buy a hat, or how he hates wearing hats. See http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/26403/does-harry-dresden-of-the-dresden-files-book-series-wear-a-hat – ArmanX Feb 05 '16 at 22:39