David Lupton is now quite famous among the Keane fans for having created some illustrations for the band, used on tour posters, the Live EP cover, drawings for the videos, Keane official site and board. So we decided to know a bit more on David Lupton and his work, and we were lucky enough to realise this interview by mail with him. You can find out David Lupton work on his website.

I. Who is David Lupton ?
Presentation : Age, location, job...
I am 31, living in South London (near Wimbledon) and scraping a living as a freelance illustrator...

Studies : What is your educational background? Have you always wanted to do what you do now?
I've always loved and studied drawing and illustration and new from an early age that this is what I wanted to do... and besides I'm not sure that I could do anything else...

References : Who are your artists of reference?
I have so many influences and sources of inspiration that it's kind of hard to know where to start... from artists such as Egon Schiele, Francis Bacon, Otto Dix... illustrators such as Dave Mckean, Maurice Sendak and E.H Shepherd (Winnie the Pooh) to filmmakers like David Lynch, Wong Kar Wai, Paul Thomas Anderson, Park Chan Wook and Georges Franju.
My two main sources of inspiration though are artist/illustrators Kathe Kollwitz and Edward Gorey...
Edward Gorey created obscure, gothic and often quite sinsister picture/story books intended for children but more suited towards adults which are graphically quite beautiful...
Kathe Kollwitz was an artist who created a body of work in the early 1900's that dealt with issues of poverty and suffering…drawn in black and white her drawings convey great pain, sadness and melancholy...

Inspiration : Where does your inspiration come from?
Aside from being inspired by other artists my inspiration comes from life, friends, family environments, situations etc... everyday things that inform any individuals perspective of the world...

Work conditions : Do you need a special environment when you're working, such as music on the background?
I'm a big music fan and constantly need a soundtrack to my working environment.
Music is an important source of inspiration for me and artists such as Nick Cave, The Smiths, Aimee Mann, The Beatles, The Pixies, Arcade Fire... etc... (I could go on listing bands but I don't want to bore you...) help to inform much of my work...

Mysterious Cat : What is Mysterious Cat? How did you get there? Who is part of it?
Mysterious Cat is a company set up by Corin Hardy director of Keane videos SOWK and Bedshaped... we have been close friends for many years and often work together on various projects... when we do it's under the enigmatic gaze of the "Mysterious Cat".

II. Bedshaped

His participation : How did Corin involved you in making the video?
As you are probably aware the Bedshaped video was created using footage from Corin's animated film "Butterfly"... I had worked on Butterfly, providing the 2-D animation towards the end and Corin felt that it would also work to have my inky style feature in the closing moments of the Bedshaped video as it followed the same basic structure of his film.

The song : Did you know the song before working on it? Had you ever heard of Keane before?
I had listened to the album a few times and Keane were quite established by the time Bedshaped was to be released as a single... so I was very familiar with the band and the song.

The work : How long did it take to draw all the drawings at the end of Bedshaped? How many drawings?
As is always the case with these things there was a very tight deadline for finishing the video. I had just over a week to do my thing and think that I ended up drawing about 800 images...there was a lot of coffee, pro plus and late nights of scribbling and painting...

The work :  Whose idea was it to have the Bedshaped lyrics disappear into Tim's piano?
The video was Corin's baby, therefore most of the ideas came from him... I had animated Tim playing the piano and Corin felt that it would add an extra touch to have the lyrics to the song swirl around and interact with the images of the band.

The work :  How did you guys manage to fit "the boy" in with the drawings at the end?
There was a lot of post production and tinkering with the imagery to create final compositions by the genius guys at "Glassworks" a digital effects company in Soho, London... all under the watchful eye of the Corin...

Video : What did you think of the Bedshaped video overall (including Corin Hardy's work)? Do you think there was any hidden meaning in the video/lyrics?
I thought that the video was hugely successful in bringing together Corin's very personal vision with Keane's very personal song to create a unique and moving piece of work.
I think that the meaning of the video should be left open to interpretation... for the viewer to bring their own feelings and emotions is important to the success of the narrative and any definitive explanation couldn't hope to satisfy some ones personal experience and understanding...

III. Keane

Keane : How did you meet Keane? ?
I met Keane initially through Corin and Adam (their manager) and through a mutual respect and understanding of each others work.

William Egghead : What was the inspiration behind "The Adventures of William Egghead"?
William Egghead is a story of mine that I've been slowly creating over the last few years…The idea was to create a character in the tradition of the tragic outcast of film and literature... e.g the hunchback of Notre Dame, Edward Scissorhands, the phantom of the opera etc... and to place him in a society with little tolerance for anyone or anything that appears to be a little different... the eggshell is a symbol of his fragility and his emotions and anxieties are represented by the cracks in his head.

William Egghead : How does he feel about its use during "On a day like today" at gigs, in terms of how the song and the images work with one another?
Although the story and drawings are very personal to me, the band and myself felt that they went hand in hand with Keanes reflective and melancholy sound and to see the song "On a day like today" performed on stage with the Egghead visuals was an extremely moving experience.

William Egghead :  What do you think about the fact that William Egghead story is now used for another song?
I think that the egghead visuals would work well with most of Keane's songs, as the story is reflective of the emotion and general content of the music...

Illustrations : How have you been involved in designing the poster and the cover of the "Live Ep"?
Through my involvement with the Bedshaped video and because the guys seemed to like the content and style of my illustrations I was asked to design a couple of tour posters and artwork for the "Live E.P". For the U.S poster I drew a picture of William Egghead, but for the character in the European tour poster and E.P cover I was inspired by a film entitled "Eyes without a face" (Les Yeux Sans Visage) which features a women who hides her scarred face behind a haunting, emotionless mask...

Illustrations : Are the drawings used by Keane in the background of their gig since March old work of yours or something you draw especially for them?
Apart from the William Egghead drawings everything that Keane use of mine has been specifically created for them... it's been a fun exchange of ideas and I feel we've collaborated well together and created some interesting concepts and artworks...

Work for Keane : Did you have to adapt your work to fit into the Keane style? Were you inspired by their music?
No... our styles seemed to work naturally together... perhaps we have similar outlooks on life and a similar way of expressing our feelings...
I found listening to their music helpful in setting the tone of my working environment and that consequently fed into the flow and feeling of the drawing...

Other videos : What do you think of the other videos Corin did for Keane (SOWK, gigs)?
Corin and I have always had a love and mutual respect of each others work. As close friends we are in tune with what each other does and I think that our ideas and styles are grounded in the same sensibilities...
Therefore Corin's work for Keane has contained much of what I love... an abstract perspective, a sense of fairy tale wonderment and an expression through narrative storytelling...

IV. Future

Keane : Are going to keep working with Keane? Is there any project pending?
Keane are obviously busy working on their second album at the moment... and I hope that we continue to work together in the future, but who knows...? They may want to go in a different direction with the artwork...

William Egghead : Any news on if/when it's going to be published?
I'm currently attempting to show "William Egghead" to potential publishers, and it's a goal and ambition of mine to get it published soon... but these things take time and it can be a difficult journey...

Projects : What other projects are you working on right now?
I'm constantly drawing and working on new ideas for projects, storybooks etc... and I want to build up a body of work that I'm proud of... currently though I'm collaborating with a band called Paris Motel on a music/art/drawing/performance type of thing... which should be very exciting...