STEVE McGINNIS
Born of the ashes of a Graphite planet, Steve McGinnis has invaded the art world one brush stroke and ink line at a time .Being the youngest of the family, born in the early seventies had some down sides, plaid pants, The Bay City Rollers & Disco. However, the up sides were that Steve could watch movies and TV shows meant for a much older audience, like Jaws, the Trilogy of Terror, and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Steve started illustrating from a young age, and his horror style appeared early in life, resulting in many trips to the school office for his parents. Throughout grade and high school Steve was an artistic sponge, absorbing different styles from different mediums, while developing his own young style. This style helped him win multiple awards and honours with his art.
Once Steve graduated, he went on to the College for Fine Art and Graphic Design, opening him up to many new styles and mediums. Throughout this entire time Steve still retained his dark yet whimsical style.
After college Steve had the unique opportunity to work under one of Canada’s leading photorealistic nature artists, Albert Casson. This helped sharpen his realism skills and drove home the importance of lighting and shadows.
Making a heavy decision Steve broke out on his own, starting with odd comic art jobs. Things picked up when Steve began illustrating children's books, as authors and publishers started wanting his realistic yet animated style. Steve currently has over 60 children’s books published world wide.
In the spring of 2012 Steve was commissioned to paint some images and posters for the Niagara Falls Comic-Con to honour the 1974 cast of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This was a dream job! Reaching back to his horror roots he painted a TCM print that the cast loved, which led to him being asked to do the same for the Night of the living Dead. He started painting and illustrating everything horror again, and this time was able to make it look photorealistic.
Soon after, Steve’s works have been on the covers of most of the leading Horror publications and movies. Ex. Fangoria, Terrifier the alt movie cover , Concept character design for Terrifier 2, and Illustrating the Terrifier Graphic novels.
Taking the leap from illustration to writer Steve wrote and illustrated the first of three graphic novels titled Rise of the Harvester. Currently a script has been developed for Rise of the Harvester and is being distributed.