Steve McNiven Art!

[Bayani]

Hey everyone! I just wanted to post one of the latests commissions I received of my City of Heroes character, Bayani. This one's done by none other than Steve McNiven, who was at NY Comic Con a few weeks ago.

Mr. McNiven-

I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time outside of the convention to draw my character. NY Comic Con was such a crazy weekend and I'm sure you're very busy with the upcoming Civil War project. I'm a huge fan of your work, and I'm really glad I made the effort to visit. It's a real honor to get real renditions of my hero done.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y236/AngBayani/Bayani%20-%20Art%20Collection/McNiven.jpg

[Professor Oreo]

Cool beans man! You lucked out becase that's a damn fine little piece of art you got there.

[steve mcniven]

hey bayani, glad you liked it. Sorry for the wait.
Yeah, NYC con was crazy but a hell of a good time.

[Bayani]

It was totally worth the wait. Thanks again!

[yusuke85]

Nice work!
I'm from Italy.. and I can only DREAM pieces like this.. :(

[Pyronics]

Seems like as good a place as any to ask. Is there any way to get a 300 DPI version of some of your line art, Steve, so that I can add a little variety to my coloring portfolio? Shoot me a line, if you can.

Oh, and welcome to the board.

[The Shadow]

Nice work!
I'm from Italy.. and I can only DREAM pieces like this.. :(
Heck I'm only in Canada and I'm in the same boat! :surrend:

No one comes to Canada... especially in the winters.

We do have NICE WEATHER STEVE!!! Lots of sun, NO SNOW, no igloo's and even some cute ladies (not wearing parka's!).

Tom Grummett lives up here and he's reasonably normal... come visit us Steve. Canadians like you too!!!! ;-)

[BenPixen]

Steve lives in Canada.

[The Shadow]

Steve lives in Canada.
... GET OUTA HERE!

Where??????

[steve mcniven]

Man, I love Italy! I'm hoping to make it to Rome sometime this year,Yusuke85, to visit my good friend Andrea DiVito.I hear that Dan Slott and him have a cool contest cooking involving some of Andreas original art from The Thing. Can someone post a link to the contest?

Hey Shadow, it's true I live in Halifax Nova Scotia, have been here most of my life. I love living in Canada! Except for Farch.

[The Shadow]

Hey Shadow, it's true I live in Halifax Nova Scotia, have been here most of my life. I love living in Canada! Except for Farch.
Ah! Did you have to do the move to Florida when you went to CrossGen? Maybe that's why I thought you lived in the States.

I'm in Regina, SK... never been to the East Coast yet (furthest east has been Quebec City)... but plan on it when I'm done school. I have some friends in Moncton and Halifax that keep telling me to come visit.

Where do you go in March?

[dave g]

We actually have quite a few artists living in canada
Steve McNiven
Dave finch is moving to halifax, (pretty sure)
Bryan Lee O'malley
Francis Manapul in toronto
Dale Keown in toronto
Hope Larson
Darwyn Cooke
Tom grummett
All i can think of but probably more

[The Shadow]

We actually have quite a few artists living in canada
Steve McNiven
Dave finch is moving to halifax, (pretty sure)
Bryan Lee O'malley
Francis Manapul in toronto
Dale Keown in toronto
Hope Larson
Darwyn Cooke
Tom grummett
All i can think of but probably more
Wow!

The only one I was sure of was Grummett... he lives in Saskatoon.

[tbarichella]

Hi Mr McNiven.
I just had the pleasure of finding out about your website and its NYComic con sketch section ( unfortunately it doesn't seem possible to leave a message there ). Anyway, I just wanted to point out - for the record - that the guy waiting for his sketch standing up on your right on the "no pressure" pic may look unhappy, but let me reassure you he was ( and still is ) actually thrilled by the gorgeous Sue comission you made for him ! ( yep, the "just got to personalize it" one ).
Thanks again for your patience at the con. Next time I'll try to do a better job at smiling on the pic !
( but don't count on it, pics stress me out !). :scared:
Hope to see you in France as well someday.
Oh, BTW,, any chance you'll be selling any of your preliminary art for CW like you did at NYCC ? I'd really really really be interested in those.
Cheers,
thomas

[Bayani]

Whoops...broke the link. Anyhow, fixed it.

Mr. McNiven? Do you mind if I take a shot at coloring this in Photoshop?

[steve mcniven]

Hey Thomas, good to hear from you! Glad you liked the Sue! I wish all the folks that come and ask me for a sketch were as polite and patient as you were! Almost had a con lined up in France in November but I had some family stuff going on at the same time. But I'm determined to get over there! The civil war prelims should be up at stevemcniven.com soon, if not right now.

Knock yourself out Bayani!

Hey Shadow, I did move down to Florida, but from Toronto, not Halifax. And I usually stay in my studio in Febuary / March ( same foul weather for the two months so we call it Farch) , it's good drawing weather!

[dEnny!]

Hey Thomas, good to hear from you! Glad you liked the Sue! I wish all the folks that come and ask me for a sketch were as polite and patient as you were! Almost had a con lined up in France in November but I had some family stuff going on at the same time. But I'm determined to get over there! The civil war prelims should be up at stevemcniven.com soon, if not right now.

Knock yourself out Bayani!

Hey Shadow, I did move down to Florida, but from Toronto, not Halifax. And I usually stay in my studio in Febuary / March ( same foul weather for the two months so we call it Farch) , it's good drawing weather!

Asking for sketches is a bit intimidating at times. I ask as politely as possible hoping they understand I'm not trying to irritate or put them out. For me it's just a really cool memento of meeting someone who's work I admire. I've got a sketchbook that is cool to go through and reminisce, tell the story of how you got it.

And it is frustrating on the other side of the table at times when artist's put you off and stall after waiting in line saying, "I'm not doing sketches, maybe later" then it's maybe tomorrow instead of just saying no. I was so excited to meet this artist and I was hoping to get a quick head sketch, willing to pay, and it just never worked out, but then I saw him do sketches for others. I respect the artist's decision to not do sketches, I don't expect them to do sketches, but just say so; stringing someone along sucks.

And thanks for explaining "Farch." That's funny. Kentucky is now beginning the dreaded summer season where the heat and humidity can get quite oppressive.

[steve mcniven]

I know where you are coming from Denny. Stringing someone along sucks no matter what you are engaged in. Hopefully it wasn't done in a malicious manner. I've done quite a few sketches for people at cons the last few years and I usually need to apologize for being such a slow sketcher. I have fun doing them though, esp. for guys like yourself and Thomas, who really seem to want the 'memento' sketch rather than the 'highest bidder' sketch. Which always reminds me of Stuart Immonen's book, 50 reasons to stop sketching at conventions. Fu*king hilarious. Maybe someone should do 50 reasons to stop asking for sketches at conventions?

[dEnny!]

I know where you are coming from Denny. Stringing someone along sucks no matter what you are engaged in. Hopefully it wasn't done in a malicious manner. I've done quite a few sketches for people at cons the last few years and I usually need to apologize for being such a slow sketcher. I have fun doing them though, esp. for guys like yourself and Thomas, who really seem to want the 'memento' sketch rather than the 'highest bidder' sketch. Which always reminds me of Stuart Immonen's book, 50 reasons to stop sketching at conventions. Fu*king hilarious. Maybe someone should do 50 reasons to stop asking for sketches at conventions?

It's cool to watch the artist work. I got a Tom Strong sketch from Chris Sprouse at a Comicon and the attention to detail was out of this world and it was a free sketch! The next year I waited in line, figured it'd be another chance to chat with him and his friend who comes along, well there were some guys in front of me and I decided I already had one, no reason to wait and I'd sat and watched him draw two sketches already and chatted so that was cool, but then I saw that sketch I watched him draw for this guy on FREAKING EBAY! I was so hacked. He had it in a book and acted like it was for him, then sliced it out and sold out. That hacked me off...that could have been MY sketch. ;)

[Bayani]

Wow, someone EBay'd it? I've paid for all the work I've commissioned or sent a small gift and a thank you note down the line, but I'd never trade it. I think it'd be pretty lame if I did, since all the commissions I've ever asked for are of the CoH character I play, and when you consider the time and other resources I spent to obtain them, well, it cheapens the whole experience.

I like getting sketches of my character done. It makes up for all those years of my mom tossing my comic books away when I was a teenager. And it's a character I thought up. Some of the more die-hard CoH fans have been waiting for a long time to be able to create and play a character they've kept in the back of their mind their entire lives, so I consider myself pretty fortunate that I've gotten to meet and get work done from really cool artists like Steve, Bagley, Colan, and others...I know the other collectors I talk to are pretty jealous.

On the flip side, I do hope all the artists I've commissioned have fun sketching the character though. When I've seen other people hire commissions, especially of their character, they get pretty mean if it's not done in a certain manner. It's pretty silly to get all nitpicky like that, I just do my best to give good reference shots and leave it all up to the artist. If you're really familiar with the artist's work, you really should know what to expect. I think Steve nailed this one pretty well, I really liked the way he did the shades. I wish some of the other artists were as accomodating and cool to meet.

[NickBurgess]

I've only ever asked for a few sketches, and they've all been framed, tucked away safely, or given away as gifts. What a dick move to sell something like that, unless A) you lost your job and don't wanna go broke, B) you're selling it for charity or something because you have nothing else to offer.

[EdContradictory]

Hey, Mr. McNiven.

I bought a page off of you at WWPhilly. This one:
http://www.theartistschoicea.com/scans/civilwar/Civil%20War%201pg30.jpg

Don't know if you're ever interested in this kind of thing, but I thought I'd share my plan for the framing job.

http://yourmomsbasement.com/images/EdAvatar/cwframe2.jpg

I scanned in the comic pages and cover and worked on them in Photoshop to remove staples and printing imperfections. And I got the page of the script for the page I bought (it pays to be a mod sometimes).

Anyway, just wanted to show you that your baby's in good hands. (Once I get the money together to actually pay for the framing, that is.)

[KevinB]

That looks fantastic. Great job! Can't wait to see a photo when it's completed.