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Steven Miller
Sketch Card Credits
Xena: Warrior Princess (Rittenhouse, 2004) BioThe instrument doesn't matter: guitar, microscope, brush or pencil. In the life of Steven Miller all roads lead to art. Early in life his nimble fingers danced along the frets of a Fender Stratocaster making music professionally as early as high school. Miller's lead guitar formed the sound of a hard rock band. As The Killing Noise Steven and the band played major venues and festivals in Maryland and Delaware. They even thrashed the airwaves of local radio stations like 98 Rock. When Miller wasn't working his day job he was working the strings of his stratocaster. It seemed like a normal day... June 26th, 1997, and not at all memorable until the drive home after a long day managing dimensional lumber slingers at 84 Lumber. Ready to get home to rest Steven started the drive home. Out of nowhere a semi charged him crossing the centerline. Steven's grip tightened on the steering wheel, he steered sharply managing to avoid the truck, but smashing a brick mailbox post. He woke up in the hospital surrounded by the friends and family that would form his support system for the years of rehabilitation that followed. Unable to return to work at the lumberyard Miller returned to school setting his sights on a histology (microscopic tissue anatomy) degree and started to study art as he peppered his schedule with every art class he could find. He also found the anatomy and other medical classes perfect to help hone the sharpness of his pencil. Wheelchair bound, and anxious Steven was always looking for ways to get out of the house. In 1999 he started checking out local comic book shows with his friends. Those trips turned out to be more than opportunities to check out the latest Alex Ross books and Star Wars happenings. From table to table Steven realized the art he'd been working on for years was up to par with many professional comic artists. He decided to try his hand in the comic industry. By 2000 Steven's was up and about. He scheduled his first professional comic show appearance at a local hotel show that spring, and followed it up with other comic and art shows over the next several months. It was among those rows of tables and stands that summer that he met a retired master of the Japanese Sumi-e style of painting, who after some prodding agreed to teach Steven the traditional methods of painting Sumi-e. The subtle touches Sumi-e added to Miller's work may just be what caught Rittenhouse Archives' attention at a Pittsburgh ComicCon. They were looking for artists to work on sketch cards for Rittenhouse Archives' Art and Images of Xena Warrior Princess - Steven's likeness of Lynda Carter and Wonder Woman grabbed the attention of the manufacturer. Of course we all know that Steven got the Xena gig, and has since worked for Topps, Artbox Entertainment and Breygent Marketing illustrating Paramount's Star Trek, New Lines Cinema's Lord of the Rings, Universal Studio's Frankenstein and Xena: Warrior Princess, Turner Entertainment's Wizard of Oz as well as 20th Century Fox/Marvel's X-Men. |
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