Tim Jeffs

Tim Jeffs is an American artist and illustrator best known for his intricate and highly detailed drawings of animals. He has received global attention for his artwork, and his coloring books and art prints have sold worldwide in more than 20 countries. Using only black ink pens and colored pencils he continues to bring animals to life through his ongoing series of portrait illustrations. His drawings capture even the smallest details of each animal’s fur, skin texture, and patterns. His artwork and his love of animal conservation has led Tim to help raise animal awareness and research funding for well known organizations including The World Wildlife Fund, The Seattle Aquarium, The Cheetah Conservation Fund, The International Rhino Foundation, and The Panama Wildlife Conservation.

“Drawing has always been my passion and something I constantly do. The incredible diversity and complexity of animals has always intrigued me. They offer endless pleasure to look and marvel upon. Having the ability to enlighten the public to these incredible creatures through my artwork is my lifelong wish. In every drawing I try to capture the unique quality of each particular animal. I will always enjoy creating my perspective, love and admiration of these amazing creatures we live among.”

Tim was born in 1965, the 7th in line of 8 children, and grew up in Rockville, Maryland. His father Joseph Jeffs worked as head curator of Georgetown University’s Library and his mother Jeannine raised their family in a small house in a middle class community. After winning numerous art contests and awards in high school, most notably receiving Silver medal in the Nationwide Presidential Scholar Award, Tim won a scholarship to attend Parsons School of Design in New York City. He graduated with a BFA in Illustration in 1987. In the late eighties he became a founding member of the heavy metal band White Zombie, along with his college roommate Rob Cummings who turned out to be no other than Rob Zombie, an American musician, film director, screenwriter and film producer. Tim appeared on White Zombie’s Silent Explosion 1985 Pig Heaven LP, the Geffen 2008 Box set Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, and the Numero Group 2016 Box Set It Came from NYC,. He also holds the position of being the first guitarist to play live with the band, appearing in White Zombie’s debut show at CBGB’s in New York City on April 28, 1986.

He has worked in the New York Publishing Industry for over 25 years designing books, logos, and websites for well known publishers like Time-Life Books, Reader’s Digest, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, Hearst Books, Sunset Publishing, International Masters Publishing, Rodale Press, Oxmoor House, Wholehealthmd.com, Wildoats, International AIDS Trust, Rebus Books, Johns Hopkins University, The University of California, Berkeley., and Scientific American. He currently works for Remedy Health Media as their Creative Director and lives in Northern New Jersey with his incredibly supportive wife of 25 years Jane, his daughter Jenna, and his son Harrison.

“Over the last 25 years of my life I’ve been working in New York City as a Creative Director in publishing. While my career has involved exciting design and branding work for numerous well known websites and books, drawing has always remained my passion. I especially enjoy working in pen and ink. Drawing in black and white allows me to create dramatic moods and details that I couldn’t achieve with other mediums. It’s all about the details for me. When I decide to draw a certain animal I do extensive research on it. Reading about its statistics, its habits, and the environment in which it lives, and if it’s endangered, its future. I fill my brain with the textures, skins, furs, and patterns that it is made up of. The detail patterns of my drawings are found by chance once I start drawing, discovering interesting shapes and patterns as I go along. Most of my work doesn’t mimic the exact look of the creature’s skin or fur. I would rather it be my own creation. Finally the eyes are my most cherished part of each animal that I draw. I feel the eyes give it a personality, express emotion and let the animal tell it’s own story as it looks back at the viewer.”