Illustrator Research: Dave McKean

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Dave McKean is a British illustrator, designer, photographer, filmmaker, comic book artist, and more. He lives in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. His work is often experimental, and he has used unorthodox methods to create art. As an example, he experimented with colour copying machines, shining lights on them, and scanning his own beard to achieve different visual effects. He originally wanted to illustrate record covers, but entered the field as CDs were taking over as the main music medium. He also wanted to be a comic book illustrator, and this dream came true in a big way.

When he was in his final year of art school and still unknown, he met up with writer Neil Gaiman and in 1987, they created a graphic novel called Violent Cases.



It was the beginning of a long and productive relationship. Gaiman and McKean enjoyed working together very much, and they were given the opportunity to collaborate further. McKean’s distinct illustration style, drawing upon such elements as painting, collage, photography, drawing, set construction, and more, became the face of the award-winning Sandman series written by Gaiman. Sandman ran regularly from 1989 to 1996 and reappeared as Sandman Overture in 2016.



McKean and Gaiman have collaborated many times since they first met on a variety of projects. This is one of McKean’s illustrations for Gaiman’s Signal to Noise graphic novel.



Text is incorporated as much as an illustrative technique as it is for a storytelling technique.
Another example of his incorporation of text into illustration is seen on this Sandman cover illustration:



Another example of this use of words for visual impact is seen in this portrait of Gaiman.



McKean has collaborated with other creators over the years, and has also done solo projects. His most recent book is Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash. He wrote and illustrated this tale of WWI surrealist artist Paul Nash.



He is sought after for his album cover art, editorial illustrations, and more. McKean has also worked with chef Heston Blumenthal, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, and authors Ray Bradbury and Stephen King.

Here is an editorial illustration about Surveillance for Security Management Magazine in 1996:



He has created album covers for Tori Amos, Skinny Puppy, Frontline Assembly, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Machinehead, Fear Factory, Alice Cooper, and many more.

Here is the cover for Skinny Puppy’s BRAP album:



His biggest achievement to date has been the monumental project Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, a Batman graphic novel. For this book, he produced 120 pages of paintings which reinterpret the classic characters of DC’s Batman universe. Almost 200,000 copies of the hardcover have been sold, and almost 100,000 of the trade paperback.
Here is a page from this book:



He illustrated Gaiman’s children’s book The Wolves in the Walls which went on to win the NY Times Illustrated Book of the Year award.



McKean’s illustrations cross over into film, as well. In 2005, he collaborated with Gaiman and the Jim Henson Company to create Mirrormask. This is a still from the movie:



In addition, he has done concept illustration for the Harry Potter series and collaborated with Lars von Trier’s interactive House of Zoon project in Copenhagen.

As an illustrator, he is successful because his illustrations are evocative and full of story while also being revolutionary because of his eagerness to experiment.

Bibliography:

https://arinagablog.wordpress.com/2016/03/09/dave-mckean/
http://thequietus.com/articles/17626-dave-mckean-interview
http://neilgaiman.com/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_By_Neil/Neil_Gaiman_on_Dave_McKean
http://www.gaimanmckeanbooks.co.uk/
http://www.davemckean.com/

Here is my own illustration for Alice in Wonderland inspired by his illustration work. It is a mixed media piece done with collage, acrylic, gesso, ink, and soft pastels on pastel paper.