Don Ivan Punchatz - "Doom" Box Art Creator Has Passed Away

**[MyIS]Zips** · 11-02-2009 01:42 AM

Don Ivan Punchatz, the artist who created the box art for the original Doom died on October 22 as a result of cardiac arrest he first experienced back on October 11.

Punchatz, in addition to creating the Doom box art, also did cover work and illustrations for Playboy, National Geographic, Boys Life, Penthouse, TIME, Newsweek, and National Lampoon.

Don also taught illustration and graphic design at Texas Christian University for nearly 40 years and was a regular guest instructor at Syracuse University: the number of student artists he influenced and helped and encouraged over the decades is countless. He taught through nudges and suggestions and gentle guidance, always colored with his quick and mischievous sense of humor.

Through it all Don was a humble and self-effacing man: he was always far more interested in listening to what others were doing than he was in talking about himself. And he never groused about the business or the "ones that got away." Years ago he was hired to produce the packaging for a new video game by a start-up company; the owners offered to either pay him his fee (which he had cut to meet their budget) or give him a percentage of the game's profits if it took off. Not being familiar with this new market and having his own bills to pay, Don opted to take his fee instead of the percentage. "So how was I to know this thing called DOOM would make a jillion smackers?" he laughed years later.

Rest in peace, Don Ivan Punchatz (1936-2009).