Mandy Lee Studio

Have you ever heard of the movie Mirror Mask? It’s a movie about a young girl, who blames herself for her mother’s illness. Through smoke, mirrors and dreams, she ends up in a different world, a world that is being consumed by shadows. She must decide which side is in the right, and join them if she ever wishes to return home.

But I’m not here to talk plot devices and charecter development. I’m here to talk about Dave McKean. Dave McKean is the director, and more importantly the Art Director of Mirror Mask.

Dave McKean is not a new face to the art world. He’s been around the comic book block a time or two, and the children’s book block, as well as tarot card block and pretty much everything else. He’s mixed media illustrator, often using photo transfers, xerography, photographs, hand sculpted 3-d bits, found objects, transparencies, paint, ink, grime and whatever else he can find. He creates art that balances dreams and nightmares, the beautiful and the grotesque, human and monster.

I first found him on the cover of Sandman, comic books written by his friend, Neil Gaiman. I was completely floored by the intensity of images. And then I thought, “How did he do this?” The layering of colors, and drawings and photos created an atmosphere of mystery and secrets and with such visual depth. Simply beautiful. He is a Master of Cutting Paper and Merge Images into Cohesiveness.

I hope you find some inspiration in his work.

Some places to visit for more information:

• Neil Gaiman on Dave McKean
• All of the Sandman Covers
• Unofficial Fan Site
• Dave McKean’s Site
• Mirror Mask Music Video: Tool – Schism

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This entry was posted on Saturday, July 11th, 2009 at 3:04 am and is filed under Art News, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave your thoughts, or trackback from your own site.

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