The Collected McKean Bios Rather than actually put forth the effort of assembling one good biography of McKean, I've decided to just provide the bios for McKean that are listed in the Sandman collections and some of his other graphic novels. You're free to piece together his life on your own
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Preludes & Nocturnes (1989)
Dave McKean lives in Kent, England with his partner Clare and some sheep, all called 'Number 25.' He has illustrated various comics written by author Neil Gaiman, as well as his own self-penned series Cages , published by Tundra. He is currently working with The Unauthorized Sex Company Theatre Group, writers Iain Sinclair and Jonathan Carroll on comics projects as well as recording an album.
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The Doll's House (1990)
DM illustrated and designed DC's widely acclaimed Batman graphic novel Arkham Asylum . He collaborated with Neil Gaiman on Violent Cases , Black Orchid , Signal to Noise , and Mr. Punch . He's also illustrated numerous book covers and is currently at work on various projects. He lives in Surrey, England.
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Dream Country (1991)
[same as Preludes ]
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Season of Mists (1992)
A Game of You (1993)
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.
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World's End (1994)
Oneric.
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Brief Lives (1994)
(b. 1963)
Spawned a goblin and is wary of sheep.
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Fables and Reflections (1995)
Buy him a Margarita and he'll tell you why cats smile.
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The Kindly Ones (1996)
The Wake (1997)
The Wake is dedicated to Dave:
This book is for Dave McKean,
as a small token of thanks.
I do not know what Sandman
would have been without Dave,
as our public face -- creating the
covers, the typefaces, the design,
all that -- and as my hardest critic.
It was a long, strange journey,
and it was the better for having
a friend by my side on the way.
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Arkham Asylum (1990)
Dave McKean lives and works in Surrey, Englaf, with his partner, Clare, and a piano. He studied design, illustration and film at Berkshire College of Art and Design for four years, where he subsequently returned to teach audio visuals and film for a year and a half. Dave has published two comics, both with writer Neil Gaiman. Violent Cases was published by Escape in 1987 and has won three Eagle and Mekon awards. Black Orchid was published by DC in 1988 and was nominated for an Eisner and a Harvey award.
Dave is also working with Gaiman on Signal to Noise , a continuing story running in The Face magazine; BLack Cocktail , an illustrated novel by Jonathan Carroll; numerous book covers; and various other works.
He has written and performed music soundtracks for TV commercials and video and played at the Bracknell Jazz Festival in 1986.
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Signal to Noise (1992)
Dave McKean's previous comics include Black Orchid , Arkham Asylum , and Violent Cases . He is currently writing and illustrating the ten part series Cages and a book of short 'pure' comics titled Pictures That Tick . He has contributed film production designs, theatrical sets, slides and music, book and record album covers and audio-visuals for a museum in Carlisle. Future projects include a short film and an album. He plans to sleep from September through November '92. Do not disturb.
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Death: The High Cost of Living (1994)
Dave McKean has illustrated four comics, including Arkham Asylum (DC) and Signal to Noise (Gollancz/Dark Horse). He is currently writing and illustrating Cages (Kitchen Sink), a 500-page comic novel about belief, creativity and cats. He has produced all the covers for the ongoing Sandman series, is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and has done many CD and book covers. He lives in the Kent countryside with partner Clare and goblin Yolanda.
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The Vertigo Tarot (1995)
Dave McKean was born in 1963 in Maidenhead, England. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine, and frequent illustrator/photographer/designer for record and book covers, including recent releases by Michael Nyman, Alice Cooper, Rolling Stones, Front Line Assembly, Buckethead, Tori Amos and Bill Bruford's Earthworks. He has won many awards including the Amid Award for the best album cover of the year (Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin/Cacade), the World Fantasy Award for his ongoing Sandman covers, and a variety of awards for his comics and graphic albums, which include Violent Cases , Signal to Noise , and Mr. Punch (all with author Neil Gaiman) and the 500 page comic novel Cages . He is currently working on new comics ( Pictures That Tick ), film, CD-ROM and music projects as well as an exhibition and monograph of photographs called A Small Book of Black & White Lies . He lives in the Kent countryside with his partner Clare and babe Yolanda and several hundred CD's from Abercrombie to Zorn.
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Artemis Bio Page (1997)
Dave McKean was born in Taplow, Berkshire in 1963. He attended Berkshire College of Art and Design from 1982-86 and, before leaving, started working as an illustrator. In 1986 he met author Neil Gaiman with whom he has collaborated on many projects since. Their first book, Violent Cases (1987), has been printed in a number of editions worldwide, and adapted for the stage. Their most recent collaboration, Mr. Punch (1994), is currently being developed as a CD-ROM by Artemis Communications for whom Dave is the Art Director. In between, Black Orchid (1988), Signal To Noise (1990) for The Face magazine, and the popular Sandman series of graphic novels to which Dave has contributed all the cover illustrations and design. Arkham Asylum (1989) written by Scottish author/playwrite Grant Morrison, which is still the single most successful graphic novel ever published, was also illustrated by Dave. 1995 saw collaborations with the Rolling Stones, a digital Tarot, and a book of photographs co-published by Dave's Hourglass studio and Allen Spiegel Fine Arts in California.
Between 1990 and 1996, Dave also wrote and illustrated the 500 page comic novel Cages , which won the Harvey Award for Best new comic in 1992.
Dave has contributed to The Residents' groundbreaking CD-ROM Bad Day on The Midway, and has directed the title sequence for Neil Gaiman's first TV series Neverwhere .
In 1995 he produced the image to launch The Sony Playstation, and in 1996 was one of four photographers chosen by Kodak and Saatchi's to launch their new colour film with a book, video and global ad package. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and has won many awards including the international Amid Award for the best album cover of the year (one of over ninety covers designed, illustrated and photographed since 1990, including recent releases by Michael Nyman, Tori Amos, Real World, Altan, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Bill Laswell, Alice Cooper, Front Line Assembly, and Bill Bruford), and the World Fantasy Award for the Sandman covers. Also in 1995 he was one of the winners exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum for the National Book Awards. In 1996 he composed and performed the music for the BBCRadio adaptation of Signal to Noise with saxophonist Iain Ballamy.
He has exhibited in America and Europe including solo shows at The Four Color Gallery, New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Madrid, and The Maritime Museum, Carlisle.
Projects for 1997 include his first childrens book with Neil Gaiman, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish , a book with Stephen King ( Wizard & Glass ), a book and feature film with Iain Sinclair ( Slow Chocolate Autopsy and The Falconer ) and three short films ( Whack! , The Week Before and n[eon] ) which he is directing and designing. He has also completed commercial work for the films Alien 4 and Blade , and has produced the poster, press and TV graphics for Eurostar.
He lives on the Isle of Oxney with his wife and studio manager Clare, and their children.
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One last thing
"I personally suspect that the key to Dave's creativity is that he lives in a house that has round rooms. Honest, he does. And he has little trees coming out of the bedposts in the guest bedroom, which is really what you'd expect from Dave."
-- Alisa Kwitney, Sandman letter column editor