Dave McKean by owen
Only being able to read quick, self-authored biographies found at the end of comics would tell a lot about what Dave McKean is like, without telling you much about him. For instance: “Dave McKean’s favorite toy was a woolen fish. It was called Fish. These days his favorite game is trying to get color copiers to do things they were never intended for, nor ever dreamed of doing,” “Spawned a goblin and is wary of sheep,” or “Buy him a margarita and he’ll tell you why cats smile.” To top it off:
“This photograph, found in the Hanussen collection, appears at a hasty first glance to be a portrait of a bearded man in a hat, his coat glittering with five brass buttons. A second, and more careful look reveals that this is simply an illusion: we are looking from above at a snowy landscape: the ‘coat’ is a river, the ‘buttons’ stepping stones, the ‘face’ an island, and a fallen tree, the ‘hat’ a small body of water in the distance. Photographic illusions of this kind were popular with our forefathers; to our more sophisticated eyes, however, the deception is transparent, and once we see it for what it is, we are unable to see the face that once we thought we saw. The seagull in the foreground is extremely blurred, due to the lengthy exposures Victorian photography demanded.”
Dave McKean seems to specialize at reinterpreting. He studied illustration and design at Berkshire College of Art and Design, and returned a year and half after receiving his degree to teach audio/visuals. He works primarily with mixed media, often blending photography, painting, and digital manipulation to otherworldly results. McKean is best known for his comic work with Neil Gaiman, but has extended his talents to album artwork, book covers, cook book illustration, and his own deck of tarot cards. 
McKean stays fully invested in the work he does. Grant Morrison, a prominent comic book author, approached McKean with a manuscript for a Batman graphic novel called Arkham Asylum. McKean read over the script and replied that he would illustrate it, but only if Morrison wrote out the parts with Batman’s sidekick, Robin. Morrison rewrote it. 
Being trained as a designer, McKean became picky about things early on. In one interview, he described being terribly disappointed with how his illustrations were being handled with type, and he began asking to do it all himself.
Most importantly, McKean is honest. He’s spoken out against lazy practices found in comic design, and he has spoken with contempt about lack of concept in illustration. He continues to push boundaries in film and video, with work like Mirror Mask and Luna.
