I’ve been an admirer of Dave McKean’s work for quite a long time now. And it’s been a long time (15 years!) since I met him; back when few people knew of his work and the auditorium in which he gave his presentation was empty save for a few of us lucky enough to have an opportunity to sit down in the auditorium seats with him afterward and converse directly.

In the time since, I’ve continued to be impressed with his work. There was a method to his madness that escaped his contemporaries. Before texture and found object manipulation once again became a big deal (around the time the movie “Se7en” was released), McKean owned pretty much everyone out there. When graphics and illustration was vector-like, and Mac icon-influenced design was gagging everyone in the late 80’s, Dave McKean’s illustrations were a breath of fresh air. Compared to the rest, his illustrations were alive… unlike much of the sterile work so much in vogue. His work breached the limitations of the graphics/illustration discipline and spread beyond it, and I don’t doubt for a moment he had a significant impact on people like David Carson. Or Tim Burton.

A few years ago I recall seeing some of his short animations over on the ResFest site. Snips only. There was a Myst-like quality to them (although I suspect the influence began with McKean’s work). I never saw a completed film of his, unfortunately. But it appears I may now get a chance. MirrorMask is a new movie directed by Dave McKean and scripted by long-time collaborator Neil Gaiman. And it looks great. There are some short but good interviews with McKean here and Gaiman here. But mainly I highly recommend taking a look at the MirrorMask website and previewing the film. If it doesn’t get your creative influences going, see a doctor. Here’s a few screencaps to whet your appetite:

{Edit 29 Sep: Wired now has an interview with Dave McKean which you can read here}

{Images Copyright © 2005 The Jim Henson Company}