Dave McKean

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Dave McKean bigraphy, stories - Illustrator

Dave McKean : biography

December 29, 1963 –

David McKean (born 29 December 1963 in Maidenhead, Berkshire) is an English illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician.

His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art and sculpture.

McKean’s most recent projects are directing an original feature called Luna, and a book with the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.

Films

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 television intros and music videos as well as several short films, such as The Week Before (1998) and N[eon] (2002), which are included in the compilation DVD of McKean’s work Keanoshow from Allen Spiegel Fine Arts. McKean has also directed The Gospel of Us,http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2125651/ a film of the National Theatre Wales’s Passion play in Port Talbot which stars Michael Sheen. A new feature film, Luna, written and directed by McKean and starring Stephanie Leonidas, Ben Daniels, Dervla Kirwan and Michael Maloney will be released in the first quarter 2013.

McKean was also a concept artist on the TV mini-series Neverwhere (1996), which was created and co-written by Neil Gaiman, and the feature films Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).

Career

Comics

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.

In 1989, he illustrated the Batman graphic novel, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, with writer Grant Morrison. His work during this period was often compared to that of Bill Sienkiewicz.

From 1989–1996 McKean produced the covers for Gaiman’s celebrated series The Sandman, all its collected editions, and many of its spin-offs. Further collaborations with Gaiman produced the graphic novels Signal to Noise in 1992 (previously serialized 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.

In 1995 McKean wrote and illustrated a book for The Rolling Stones called Voodoo Lounge to tie-in with the release of their album of the same name.

  • Alice Cooper
  • Altan
  • Tori Amos
  • Iain Ballamy
  • Believer
  • Bill Bruford and Earthworks
  • Buckethead (for whom he also created a 3D animation in 16 mm)
  • John Cale
  • Counting Crows
  • Dali’s Dilemma
  • Disincarnate
  • Download
  • Dream Theater
  • Fear Factory