DAVE MCKEAN

'David Tench McKean' (born 29 December 1963 in Maidenhead, England) is an illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician.
His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art and sculpture.

Contents

Career

Graphic novels

Compact Disc covers

Book covers

Books of photography

Short comics

Children's picture books

Film directing

Jazz pianism

External links

Career

After a trip to New York in 1986 during which he failed to find work as a comics artist, McKean met writer Neil Gaiman and the pair collaborated on a short graphic novel of disturbing childhood memories, ''Violent Cases'', published in 1987. This was followed in 1988 by a ''Black Orchid'' miniseries (again with Gaiman) and ''Hellblazer'' covers for DC Comics. Beginning in 1989 he produced the covers for Gaiman's celebrated series ''The Sandman'', all its collected editions and many of its spin-offs, and the Batman graphic novel, '', with writer Grant Morrison (1989). His work during this period was often compared to that of Bill Sienkiewicz.

Graphic novels

Between 1990 and 1996 McKean wrote and drew the ten issues of ''Cages'', an ambitious graphic novel about artists and creativity, illustrated in a stripped-down pen and ink style influenced by José Antonio Muñoz and Lorenzo Mattotti. ''Cages'' was published as single volume by Kitchen Sink Press in 1998, and in a new edition by NBM Publishing in 2002.
Further collaborations with Gaiman produced the graphic novels ''Signal to Noise'' in 1992 (previously serialised in The Face magazine), about a dying filmmaker and his hypothetical last film, and ''Mr Punch'', which explored similar themes as ''Violent Cases'' through the imagery of the Punch and Judy show.

Compact Disc covers

McKean has produced CD covers for

★ Tori Amos,

★ Alice Cooper,

★ Testament,

★ My Dying Bride,

★ Dream Theater,

★ Paradise Lost,

★ Fear Factory,

★ Buckethead (for whom he also created a 3D animation in 16 mm),

★ Counting Crows,

★ Michael Nyman,

★ Toad the Wet Sprocket,

★ Skinny Puppy,

★ Download,

★ Front Line Assembly,

★ Stabbing Westward,

★ Bill Bruford,

★ Believer,

★ Dali's Dilemma

★ Suicide Silence
and many others;

Book covers

★ Jonathan Carroll,

★ Iain Sinclair and others,

★ Someone Comes to Town%2C Someone Leaves Town
Illustrations for The New Yorker, and advertising and commercial art.

Books of photography

He has published two books of photography,

★ ''A Small Book of Black and White Lies'' (1995) and

★ ''Option: Click'' (1998),

Short comics

''Pictures that Tick'' (2001).
In 2005, he designed the poster for the 32nd Telluride Film Festival.

Children's picture books

More recently McKean has collaborated with Neil Gaiman on two children's picture books, ''The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish'' (1998) and ''The Wolves in the Walls'' (2003), and illustrated Gaiman's children's novel ''Coraline'' (2002), as well as S F Said's ''Varjak Paw'' (2003). ''The Wolves in the Walls: a Musical Pandemonium'' premiered as a play in Glasgow in 2006 with Improbable and the National Theatre of Scotland.

Film directing

''MirrorMask'', McKean's first feature film as director, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2005. The screenplay was written by Neil Gaiman, from a story by Gaiman and McKean. A children's fantasy which combines live action and digital animation, ''Mirrormask'' was produced by Jim Henson Studios and stars Stephanie Leonidas, Jason Barry, Rob Brydon, and Gina McKee. Before ''MirrorMask'', McKean directed a number of short films, television intros and music videos including ''The Week Before'' (1998) and ''N[eon]'' (2002), both of which will be included in an upcoming compilation DVD of McKean's work from Allen Spiegel Fine Arts. McKean was also a conceptual artist on ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' (2004) and ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' (2005).

Jazz pianism

McKean is also an accomplished jazz pianist, and founded the record label Feral Records with saxophonist Iain Ballamy. His most recent project is directing an adaptation to ''Varjak Paw'', based on the S F Said-written book he originally illustrated.

External links

★ The Art of Dave McKean

★ Dreamline An unofficial Dave McKean site

★ Official site for children's books with Neil Gaiman (UK publisher)

★ Official site for children's books with Neil Gaiman (US publisher)

★ Neil Gaiman on Dave McKean

★ Dave McKean Persian Biography By Sanaz Mohadesi

★ Dave McKean at Lambiek.net

★ MirrorMask at the Internet Movie Database

★ Narcolepsy: a Dave McKean Retrospective

★ Interview with ''Stripkap''

★ Interview with The Onion A.V. Club

★ Interview on Future Movies

★ Dave McKean credits at IMDB