EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 15 © 2016 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

4 The previous quote is from Dave McKean, a multifaceted artist who wears many hats and whose work, no matter the medium he chooses, is extremely personal, professionally crafted and immediately recognizable. His vivid imagination has led him to explore many different artistic fields from comic books, to painting, photography, film-making, music, and, as if that weren’t enough, he has even illustrated cookbooks, achieving it all in his own distinctive style. Born in Taplow, Berkshire (England) in 1963, Dave McKean grew up reading comics (early Marvel ), the Warren horror magazines and the adult sci-fi fantasy magazine Heavy Metal , which were all youthful favourites. Surrealistic images on record and book covers of the time were also a huge influence; Max Ernst, Patrick Woodroffe, Moebius, StormThorgerson (from Hipgnosis who did all those covers for Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, et al), Berni Wrightson, Roger Dean, Richard Corben, and many others. FACING PAGE: Cover for Sandman #11 (1990). “This is reproduced just about actual size. The original was stolen from a London gallery during an Association of Illustrators show. Any information, please contact the editor!” Acrylic, photography, butterfly, collage. RIGHT: Panels from the Batman graphic novel 'Arkham Asylum' by Grant Morrison (1989). Ink, acrylic, pencil, collage. The hardcover edition alone sold more than 180,000 copies. BELOW: Latest cover for the 2015 edition of 'Violent Cases'. Acrylic, photography, digital. DC Comics Dark Horse Press