[1] He designs posters for theaters and other performing arts companies across North America, and he creates illustration for books and magazines.
I read the text to get the story in my head, but at the same time I’m watching for clues from the playwright about the world of the play.”[6] He has created illustrations for a variety of projects including book covers.
McKowen's first graphics assignment for which he was paid was the creation of a theatre poster for a high school production of the musical comedy Once upon a Mattress.
[10] As a freshman in college, he and another art student, Sam Viviano, turned out silk screened posters for the theater department.
[11] McKowen is known to create images that “capture the essence” of plays by authors that include Shakespeare, Shaw, Chekhov, and Molière.
He has described that while working with pen and ink in the 1980s, he began to feel frustrated that his lines were too delicate for the graphic strength that he wanted, and so he took up scratchboard.