"That was the inspiration for it," Chicken K told NHL.com via phone interview. "They've been teasing the designs for a while. And the jerseys were released right around my six-year anniversary of moving to California, so I just wanted to create something to express love for this place."
The 28-year-old artist, who preferred they/them pronouns and their pseudonym, is originally from central New Jersey. They moved to California about six years ago and fell in love with hockey, and specifically the Sharks, right before the 2019-20 season.
"I didn't really get in to hockey until shortly before the pandemic. I was never a sports person," they said. "A good friend of mine took me to see the Sharks in person and it was about the coolest thing I've ever done. It was such an experience."
When the pandemic shut down the NHL season, that's when Chicken K really started focusing on art and creating hockey art.
"It was my lockdown activity," they said. "Just to show my appreciation for this thing that I now loved."
The Nieto piece took about 10-12 hours including drafts and revisions. Other works, like a drawing of the Svechnikovs - Hurricanes forward Andrei and Sharks forward Evgeny - have taken much less time.