Creatures by Jeff Coatney

Add an iron hook, leather straps, and depart from the standard pale skinned, dark eye-shadow zombies we're used to seeing and we might have something that inspires dread. I can't stand the sleepy eyed look that all TV zombies seem to have, so I added manic, unblinking orbs that would ideally dart wildly about, searching for prey.

For some reason I find this image disturbing. The feathery hide, the glowing eyes, it balances precariously astride the line separating the frightening and the ridiculous. Maybe it's the shape of the head? Imagine waking up in the middle of the night and seeing this at the foot of your bed.

This is my take on the legendary Spring-Heel Jack, the freakish madman that terrorized villagers in the English countryside. My Jack is a nobleman consumed with opium addiction and mercury and lead poisoning so profound it has claimed much of his nose.

Here's an infant-stealing Harpy that's more hallucination than mythical beast. Imagine this image as a fevered mirage borne out of uncontrolled parental anxiety.

Gigantopithicus north-americanus. This is my pseudo-anthropological portrait of the elusive Sasquatch, a personal favorite.

Ghost inmate from a haunted prison, this is an exploration of how the visual effects might appear in the finished film.