Influenced at an early age by movies and music, Steve McGinnis quickly developed a love for drawing, eventually becoming an illustrator.
McGinnis, who was born and raised in Brantford and still makes a home in the city, discussed his early start in drawing.
“I had that uncle who loved films. When he was taking care of me…. he’d buy a ticket to a movie like The Fox and the Hound, but then he’d sneak us in another film like Conan, the Terminator or Aliens. It was great. And that got me hooked on these types of movies. From there, my creativity exploded. I remember, I would sneak downstairs and put on late-night movies and watch stuff that I probably shouldn’t have been, like the Warriors or JAWS,” he said. “I was also that kid who would doodle on everything…any piece of paper around the house or on my school books. After school, I would rush home and throw on a record or a tape on and just draw and make my own little comic books. I was constantly drawing. And even to this day, if we have some paper around the house, I would doodle on it! Music also inspired me when I was growing up. I loved listening to Black Sabbath, the Rolling Stones, The Who, and definitely the Beatles, and then getting into harder music like Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer.”
However, McGinnis would eventually go to college and study with artist, Albert Casson.
“College was really fun…especially the first year, where I wasn’t only doing illustration, but also doing a hodgepodge of everything, like photography and mixed media and sculpture which I loved. But, illustration…that’s my passion. I also had a chance to work with Albert Casson at a studio doing nature art…and that was an amazing experience and being taught different techniques…he was a great teacher. He and his brother ran the studio, and I was fortunate to learn a lot from him as he had decades of experience in photorealism, nature, and art,” McGinnis recalled. “Around then, I was huge into comic art. You could see the influence in my anatomy was really good, but there was definitely an influence from artists like Todd McFarlane and Kelly Jones which I was picking up. A lot of schools didn’t like that, but it was important in refining my style.”
After school, the artist did work in graphics for an engineering company, but would eventually strike out on his own, detailing the early struggles of becoming a freelancer.
“As a freelance artist, there’s a lot of sleepless nights in between gigs, because there’s a lot of times you might not have a commission. You might not have work for a week or two. So, it’s amazing that you can work on your own, but you have to be pretty disciplined about it…at the same time, you have to be prepared for the slow time….people aren’t doing comics or making films at times, so I might have to lean into something else,” he explained. “Like, children’s books. It’s great to do, especially for new artists, and freelance artists…because there’s always new children’s books being made. There are always creative authors out there wanting to write children’s books, and I was lucky enough to get my foot in the door at a couple of publishing companies. It’s a blast and feels refreshing to jump from photo realistic…like gory art to doing art for children…like drawings of big-eyed puppies or bears. I still do that to this day…and currently, I am illustrating a third children’s book with a lovely author I’ve worked with for the past few years.”
Nevertheless, McGinnis has been active, building his network and developing professional relationships, which have led to new opportunities doing a poster for a popular convention and then for an iconic horror franchise.
“It happened when I was at the Niagara Falls Comic Con. It was the early years of that [convention] and a friend of mine from art school, who was part of running that, reached out to me to see if I wanted to do posters for the Macabre con, which was an associated event. She knew my passion for both horror and photo realism. I, of course accepted [and] then the Texas Chainsaw Massacre cast came along for the event, so I got to do the reunion poster for them,” McGinnis stated. “The Comic Con [team] really liked my work, and asked me to do posters for them and that led to a few more gigs with them over the years. It just kind of snowballed from there. These conventions are great for exposure. People get to see your art, and others who are in the film or comic businesses see your art and like it…and it opens up the door for work and new opportunities.”
Through the years, the artist also has done covers for a variety of magazines including the horror publication Fangoria.
“Doing the covers for horror magazines was unbelievable, especially when I got to do one for Fangoria. I remember Chris [Alexander], calling me…the magazine’s then editor-and-chief, and getting a chance to do the John Carpenter cover. It was unreal. One of my top five favorite films ever is the Thing. And I loved watching other Carpenter movies like Escape from New York. And again, to do this cover was definitely a benchmark for me,” he stated.
However, the illustrator remembers creating his own comics at an early age and many years after, developing the Rise of the Harvester series.
“I was always putting together stories in comic books, even from an early age, but it was years ago when I was actually at a war con, and my wife and I were there. We were vendors, and I was selling my art, and I had this idea for a slasher in my head…as people were coming up to my booth and putting down real weapons on the table like machetes and axes when they were looking at my art and talking to us. And I just thought: what if someone there freaked while in cosplay and just started going crazy? I wondered if people would think it’s real…running for their lives or just think it’s a show, and simply start recording it with their phones? So, I thought that would be a cool premise,” McGinnis recalled. “It was back around ten years ago when the horror genre was really lacking, and that’s another reason I really wanted to do a slasher-type comic. And now having an idea to put this slasher in the middle of the convention and just have them go wild in here was a fun idea. I then immediately started writing the story when I got home after that con. I quickly wrote the first book, and then the second one. And started penciling the panels immediately after that. It just all poured out of me.”
The series, as McGinnis explained, has a connection to his hometown of Brantford too.
“Brantford is unique in a way. It’s a little bit isolated. When you edge out of the city, there’s country everywhere around it. And I thought, what if I use this country scenario [when the] killer uses it to disappear into the fields and the forests. And isn’t’ just hiding in an urban area…I thought that’d be kind of interesting. So, I was using our surrounding areas for that country background and everything. And I think it really worked well,” he stated.
Currently, the illustrator has been working diligently in trying to secure a possible movie deal for Rise of the Harvester.
“We have a script written and have been shopping it around. Hopefully, we’ll have an announcement sometime in 2026 about what’s happening with Rise of the Harvester.
“I worked with a bunch of people on horror films, and I have a good friend…who’s made a bunch of films, and I’ve worked with him doing poster art or storyboarding. He really liked the Harvester graphic novels. So, I pitched to him on doing a script and he loved it. And would up combining the first two books in a script he wrote and it turned out great,” he said. “We have been shopping it around [and] hopefully we’ll have an announcement sometime in 2026, about what’s happening with Rise of the Harvester.”
However, McGinnis has also been attached to one of the most popular horror franchises in recent memory, and explained getting involved with it.
“That’s a funny story. I always stay up late and like to illustrate at night. And I used to make these Scooby Doo-crossover horror drawings. So, I made one for, Negan Smith, a character from The Walking Dead smashing in Thelma’s head after Glenn died…[and] recreated that with Scooby. Then I was up late illustrating one night, and watched Terrifier…and thought that hacksaw scene in the movie was insane. It inspired me to do an illustration of the clown hacking up Velma in the same fashion. And I shared more work for the kicks,” he recalled. “Damien [Leone], who’s the film’s director, got back to me about it and really liked my photorealistic approach. So, I did some samples for him…and we just went back and forth about the art. Until, all of a sudden, he asked if I was interested in doing the graphic novels. And it’s just snowballed from there, doing other projects attached to the franchise.”
While McGinnis has been involved in many comic conventions through the years, he became part of the Brantford Comic Con, and relished in its growth.
“It’s amazing watching this grow. Brantford is a sport centric town…so, it needed something like this. We’ve got a huge comic warehouse/store here with CaptCan Comics, so obviously there’s a love of that genre here…as well as the city having a strong nerd culture. James [Wright], Andrew [Thomas] and Shayne [Maracle] and everyone [involved] had the foresight to put the Brantford Comic Con together and they pulled it off,” he noted. “First year cons.. can sometimes be iffy…because people really don’t know what they will be getting, but with the one Brantford Comic Con…it was unbelievable. People were lined up out of the building before the show, waiting to get in. They were tapped into the pulse of the nerd culture here and James and the team delivered.”
McGinnis shared some advice to up and coming talent, as well as detailing some goals going forward.
“If you’re an artist, you have to keep grinding it out…and even when you’re down, keep going. It’s also important that when things slow down, you just need to just keep pushing forward because you’re doing something that you love doing…and being a creative…there are always amazing projects out there to jump into,” he said. “And for me right now along with pitching the script for Harvester, I’ve written and already started panels for another horror book, a different one that’s going to start in World War Two. I also love to jump on some bigger horror movie poster projects for Blumhouse or A24. That would be a dream for me.”
