Dave McKeane Artist study

It's suggested that we work the way some chosen artists work to pick up their unique style and integrate it into selected work of our own. I've chosen the magnificent Dave McKean, with his beautifully grungy illustrated book The Savage.
He's quite versatile with his art styles, working with different media in a very atmospheric way.
He's also worked with Neil Gaiman on several occasions.

So here are some attempts at mimicking his wok in The Savage:

(beyond this is just reflection, feel free to skip)




As a reflection I think the point of the exercise is not to adopt their way of working forever and beyond, but mostly I find its useful to understand the actual difference between what you see and what you don't. Its the reason why we're encouraged to put our mind into the mind of the artist we want to mimic, so we're not tied down by our own limited way of holding the pen, line quality, distance between hips and ribcage etc.
I was thrown off by the sense of proportion in the characters because it was never usually accurate but expressive in its unrealistic nature. If I could change something it would be the way I approached the hair, the actual illustrations had wild crazy hair while mine looked too neat with all the straight lines. doing the scratchy shadows and exaggerated angles was fun though.
I might try to use this style in life drawing classes, but using inks graphically is right up my alley so I might want to use a different artist to try something more experimental for me.
It is probably inevitable we pick something up consciously or subconsciously from something we pay attention to detail so much and isn't that what we call progress? I was wondering if since we draw what we're accustomed to, perhaps we also become what we draw, incrementally letting elements seep into our lives and physical appearances.
So do we hold the power to change our lives subconsciously by drawing? In that case we better be careful what we manipulate.