The Official Website of Jeffrey Combs

Each month, I will be featuring a different artist who has been inspired in some creative way by Jeff. It could be anything from a drawing, to a songvid, to a story, or beyond.

This month’s focus is on Cheniah ThunderEagle (Ridley on the JCFC forum), who is a highly gifted artist and very sweet girl! She and I met through our love of Jeff and his work and have become good friends in the process.

Cheniah had the great opportunity to meet Jeff last year at the Festival of Fear in Toronto. I was there as well and we must have missed each other by seconds, because she and I were at all the same events!

Here are her thoughts on creating her artwork:

“Art has always been a big part of my life, I’ve been drawing since I can remember. I started to get into Fanart a few years ago, I just find it enjoyable to draw my favorite characters and enhance the characteristics that make them unique. The first film I saw Jeffrey Combs in was The Frighteners, I was only eight years old then. Of course I had no idea who he was, but I recall the first scene you see Milton (Jeff) enter, my mom practically went ballistic, “Oh my god it’s Jeffrey Combs” So that’s how I got introduced, my mom has been a fan for years since she saw Re-Animator, then Castle Freak. I was aware of the two films, I had seen the battered Re-Animator VHS in her room, but that was one of the few films that was off limits to my “fragile” young mind.

I gave this drawing to Jeff on behalf of Cheniah at a horror convention earlier this year.
He really seemed to like it!

It wasn’t until I was 12 that I saw Re-Animator, and fell in love with it, then shortly after that was Castle Freak. So slowly I was getting introduced to Jeff’s various films. However I wasn’t a full fledged “Jeff Fan” until I saw Beyond Re-Animator…I’m unsure why, that one isn’t even remotely as good as the first, still entertaining though. I was only 15 then, so now nearly four years later I’ve grown to be a very big fan of Jeff. Even had the pleasure of meeting him last summer at Festival of Fear.

Cheniah meets Jeff at Festival of Fear in Toronto, summer 2006

I had begun to delve into the realm of Re-Animator fan art around the age of 16, starting out with some horribly inaccurate doodles. Up till then I was used to drawing just animals and creatures, so I was still in the process of developing my skills in drawing people. At first my medium was just pencil on lined paper, which went on to colored pencil on white printer paper. Then eventually to digital. I like the digital pictures because the colors are so much more clear, although it is very time consuming. Especially since I do not own a graphics tablet, so everything is done with a simple wireless mouse. I still do all the drawings in pencil first, then I just scan them into the computer and open them in photoshop and proceed with the lines and color.

My technique and skills have improved along with the drawings themselves. Also the knowledge of the various tools that are available in the Photoshop program. I like to draw Jeff’s characters, Herbert West and Milton Dammers, because they are just fun. I usually like to draw Milton in a bit more of a comedic cartoonish style, and Herbert is basically the style I use for most of my drawings. Although I sometimes venture in a humorous direction with Herbert, just for a bit of variety. Also there is a heavy lack of Re-Animator and Frighteners fan art out there, so I like to fill that void for other fans. They all seem to enjoy the pictures I create. So I basically do it for not only self satisfaction, but for others too!”

This drawing of Jeff was done especially for me by Cheniah. I absolutely love it!