Catalogue Index
The works of Dave McKean, indexed: every major book, cover and film
One table, four decades. This is the index the career never had: the books, comics, films and record sleeves in one chronological run, with each entry's role spelled out.
How to use the Dave McKean works index
Each row names the work, the year, the form and McKean's role in it, because the role is where confusion usually starts: he wrote and drew Cages, only covered Sandman, only illustrated Coraline, and directed MirrorMask. Deeper commentary lives in the sections; this page is built for looking things up and for settling arguments.
Inclusion rule, stated plainly: a work makes the index when it was published or released commercially and McKean's contribution is credited on the object itself. Attribution folklore, of which this artist attracts plenty, stays out.
| Year | Work | Form | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Violent Cases | Graphic novel | Art; written by Neil Gaiman |
| 1988 | Black Orchid | Comics | Art; written by Neil Gaiman |
| 1989 | Batman: Arkham Asylum | Graphic novel | Art; written by Grant Morrison |
| 1989–1996 | The Sandman #1–75 | Series covers | Cover artist for the complete run |
| 1989–1992 | Signal to Noise | Graphic novel | Art; written by Neil Gaiman; serialised in The Face |
| 1990–1996 | Cages | Graphic novel | Written and drawn; Harvey, Ignatz, Alph-Art, La Pantera awards |
| 1994 | The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch | Graphic novel | Art; written by Neil Gaiman |
| 1994 | Voodoo Lounge (The Rolling Stones) | Music artwork | Illustration for the album project |
| 1994 | Low (Testament) | Album cover | Cover art |
| 1994 | The Last Temptation (Alice Cooper) | Album cover + comic covers | Cover art; tie-in comic written by Neil Gaiman |
| 1995 | Demanufacture (Fear Factory) | Album cover | Cover art |
| 1995 | The Vertigo Tarot | Illustrated deck + book | 78 card designs; text by Rachel Pollack |
| 1996 | The Process (Skinny Puppy) | Album cover | Cover art |
| 1997 | The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish | Picture book | Art; written by Neil Gaiman |
| 1997 | Wizard and Glass (Stephen King) | Book illustration | Illustrated The Dark Tower IV |
| 1997 | Dustcovers: The Collected Sandman Covers | Art book | Dave McKean's collected covers, with commentary |
| 1997 | One Second (Paradise Lost) | Album cover | Cover art |
| 1998 | What's Welsh for Zen (John Cale) | Book design | Dave McKean designed and illustrated the autobiography |
| 1998 | Obsolete (Fear Factory) | Album cover | Cover art |
| 1999 | The Burning Red (Machine Head) | Album cover | Cover art |
| 1999 | Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (Dream Theater) | Album cover | Cover art |
| 1999 | Endorama (Kreator) | Album cover | Cover art |
| 1999 | This Desert Life (Counting Crows) | Album cover | Cover art |
| 2000 | Pictures That Tick | Short comics collection | Written and drawn; V&A Illustrated Book of the Year |
| 2002 | Coraline (Neil Gaiman) | Book illustration | Interior illustrations |
| 2003 | The Wolves in the Walls | Picture book | Art; written by Neil Gaiman; opera followed in 2006 |
| 2003 | Varjak Paw (SF Said) | Book illustration | Interior illustrations; sequel followed in 2005 |
| 2003 | Hellalive (Machine Head) | Album cover | Cover art |
| 2003 | The Sandman: Endless Nights | Cover + design | Cover art for the anthology |
| 2005 | MirrorMask | Feature film | Director and designer; written by Neil Gaiman; Jim Henson Company |
| 2006 | The Homecoming (Ray Bradbury) | Book illustration | Illustrated edition |
| 2008 | The Graveyard Book (US edition) | Book illustration | Interior illustrations |
| 2008 | The Savage (David Almond) | Illustrated book | Art; written by David Almond |
| 2008 | The Big Fat Duck Cookbook (Heston Blumenthal) | Book illustration | Illustrations for the cookbook |
| 2009 | Crazy Hair | Picture book | Art; written by Neil Gaiman |
| 2010 | Slog's Dad (David Almond) | Illustrated book | Art; written by David Almond |
| 2011 | The Magic of Reality (Richard Dawkins) | Book illustration | Illustrated the science primer |
| 2011 | Celluloid | Graphic novel | Written and drawn; adults only |
| 2012 | The Gospel of Us | Feature film | Director; with Michael Sheen; two BAFTA Cymru awards |
| 2013 | Historic Heston (Heston Blumenthal) | Book illustration | Illustrations |
| 2013 | Mouse Bird Snake Wolf (David Almond) | Illustrated book | Art; written by David Almond |
| 2013–2015 | The Sandman: Overture | Series covers | Cover artist; interiors by J.H. Williams III |
| 2014 | Luna | Feature film | Director; Raindance Award at the BIFAs |
| 2014 | Pictures That Tick Volume 2 | Short comics collection | Written and drawn |
| 2015 | Wolf's Child | Theatre | With Wildworks, for the Norfolk & Norwich Festival |
| 2016 | Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash | Graphic novel | Written and drawn; for 14-18 NOW and the Imperial War Museum |
| 2018 | Dave McKean: Short Films | Film collection | Collected short-film work |
| 2021 | Raptor: A Sokol Graphic Novel | Graphic novel | Written and drawn |
What the index shows that memory misses
Laid out flat, the career corrects its own legend. The legend says Sandman, then films. The table says the picture books and illustrated novels outnumber both, that David Almond has been nearly as constant a collaborator as Neil Gaiman since 2008, and that the music work, remembered as a sideline, filled the busiest single stretch of the nineties. It also shows the long silences before the personal books: five years of studio quiet on this list precede Black Dog, and another five precede Raptor.
The index will grow. New editions, new commissions and the occasional excavated rarity get added as they are confirmed against credits, publishers' records or the artist's own portfolio at davemckean.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many works has Dave McKean produced in total?
Counting every cover, jacket and small commission, the number runs well past a thousand images. This index tracks the roughly fifty works that define the career: the books, films, record sleeves and series that get cited, collected and reprinted.
What order should the index be read in?
It runs chronologically, which tells the story on its own: comics until the mid-nineties, music work clustering around 1994 to 1999, picture books and illustrated novels through the 2000s, films from 2005, and the personal graphic novels since 2016.
Is this a complete Dave McKean bibliography?
It is complete at the level of major works. It deliberately leaves out individual magazine covers, one-off poster commissions, unproduced projects and most anthology contributions, which would triple the length without changing the shape.
Where do the fifty-odd works overlap?
Constantly. The Sandman covers fed the album commissions, MirrorMask reused techniques from the picture books, and Black Dog grew from an influence, Paul Nash, who was already visible in the early paintings. The index rows are one career wearing different bindings.
Which single work is the best entry point?
Cages if you read comics, Demanufacture's sleeve if you came from music, Coraline if you arrived through the books, MirrorMask if through film. Each strand of the index has its own front door.