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Steve Hanks (24 November 1949 – 21 April 2015) was an American watercolor artist. Upon graduating high school, Hanks attended the Academy of Fine Arts in San Francisco, excelling in commercial art and figure drawing. He transferred to the California College of Arts and Crafts, graduating with a bachelor of fine arts degree, and decided that he would pursue art as a career.

Initially, he drew in pencil and painted in oils. His paintings were impressionistic while his drawings were more realistic. Eventually, an allergic reaction to oils forced him to experiment with watercolors. Using the techniques learned from other mediums, he found he could create watercolors as “finished” as oils.

After marrying his wife, Laura, with whom he had three daughters, Hanks was inspired to convey the complexity of children. His work focused on capturing intimate moments he called “moments of introspective solitude.” Laura and their children were the subjects of some of his works.

Hanks considered his style “emotional realism,” and created works that portrayed the smallest of details, such as the patterns on a skirt to the expressive faces of his subjects, whether they were infants, children or adults. He would also obscure the faces of his subjects, instead allowing their setting and body language to convey emotions.

Steve Hanks won the Arts for the Parks Marine Art Award of Excellence in 1990 and 1994, and has been one of the Arts for the Parks top 100 artists since 1989. In 1991, Steve Hanks received the National Watercolor Society Merit Award and the National Academy of Western Art awarded him the Gold Medal in 1992. Since 1993, he has been one of U.S. Art Magazine's top ten American artists. When the Pacific Rim show in Seattle, WA decided to open the show up to a wider variety of art in 1999, they selected Steve as Artist of the Year. Steve was one of five winners selected to the U.S. Art Hall of Fame 2000. He was named as one of the top 25 selling artists in the June, 2002 issue of Decor magazine. The 7th Annual Andre Agassi Grand Slam for Children chose Steve as their Feature Artist in 2002.