Dave McKean is a multimedia artist whose delicately layered creations have graced countless graphic novels, dust covers, CDs, and even Tarot card sets. Since his first collaboration with Neil Gaiman on the graphic novel Violent Cases and his series of dustcovers and illustrations for the ground-breaking series, The Sandman (also with Gaiman), McKean has achieved a god-like status among comic book fans and graphic designers alike. He is not only talented with a camera, a paintbrush, or a stylus, but he is an accomplished musician, label-owner and filmmaker as well.
McKean went to art school in the UK and specialized in design and illustration. "I shifted over to designing my own books and print projects really as a form of damage limitation. I did several book covers that were treated terribly, horrible pink logos and poor cropping of the artwork, so I started insisting on designing my own stuff. I always found paste-up a real pain, so when I finally bought a Mac it was really liberating. I could draw with type, throw ideas around on the screen very quickly and easily. I then shifted to photography as a way of introducing another level of realism that could be subverted with digital manipulation. I like this end result, when you are not sure what you are looking at. I've only recently made a real shift into film-making, easily the hardest job I've tried, but again, the computer has allowed me to make my usually static mixed media images into moving films."
Dave's first computer was a Mac that he used for his projects. "I bought the biggest ugliest fastest machine I could get in 1994 which was a Mac Quadra, 84 MB RAM, fantastic machine. Crashed about 3 times from '94 till early this year when I finally retired it (although I felt like I was letting down a loyal friend, I felt very guilty). A few years ago I upgraded to a PowerMac 9600/350 which crashes every day (mostly negotiating the Internet). Last year, I bought a G4 with GB's of RAM and hundreds of GB's of space, all for about a half what I spent on the Quadra. Also, a lovely flat 22 inch screen. Along the way, I've accumulated a collection of odd PC's that were originally installed in a studio in London I shared with Max McMullin before he immigrated to Australia. This mini-studio had rendered all the sequences for my films and the TV films with Iain Sinclair."
McKean's multimedia layering makes computers often (though not always) a major player in the creative process. "Pros are obvious incredible control, layering of images, complete immersion in the strange conjunctions of photography and handmade artwork. Also control over the technical side, the density of the inks, type placement, crops etc. Ease of transferring files on CD and storing data, ease of getting approvals via email, ability to keep options open, try many things at once etc."
"Cons are the rather limited life you lead sitting in front of a computer screen. I still need to paint, make physical objects, get out of the house and shoot photos. Also, the ability to change anything in any direction is sometimes bewildering. Clients are starting to assume you can make any changes in the computer after the shoot; often this is not possible. But I've noticed far greater expectations of changes, and therefore lazy thinking at the rough stages. I don't have much physical artwork any more for exhibition, a print doesn't compare to a painting really. Sadly, it's so easy to scan a bit of out-of-focus nonsense, slap a bit of trendy type on it, and call it a cover. Illustration is in trouble at the moment, and the use of ideas has taken a back seat to surface effects. I'm sure this is just the computer's honeymoon period, but in the meantime, illustrators are having a tough time getting work."
When asked about his favorite medium, McKean responds, "I like the differences. I like the change. I couldn't do the same thing day in day out. I think film is probably the medium that is holding my attention at the moment. It is very difficult, very time-consuming, often boring, but when the magic happens, when shooting, or editing, or laying in music, it is real magic."
About his choice of computers, McKean says, "I've stuck with the Mac. I like the company, although they often make daft decisions. I like the quirky underdog. I'm not rushing out to buy the new iMac as it reminds me of a Dr Who prop, I'm sorry it just does. But this new wide-flatscreen is magnificent. I haven't kept up with computer news, I think reading the manuals and working on them every day is enough to hold up my end of the Faustian pact with computer-Satan. I need a real life as well." McKean's current projects include an upcoming DVD with his three short films and assorted short shorts, a CD with Neil Gaiman, four screenplays for feature films, a book of photographs, and lots more. "Feature film is where I'm heading really," he says. He just finished illustrations for Gaiman's children's book, Coraline, and is now working on another with Gaiman called The Wolves in the Walls.
McKean's most die-hard fans come from the comic book community. "My fans are generally a wonderful, interesting bunch of people, all ages, all genders, all shapes and sizes. And they bring me presents too. At a signing at FP recently, a very attractive woman gave me a heart. Encased in clear resin. I think it was a pig's heart, rather than hers." You never know.