The man behind one of the most well-known game covers in history died October 22, 2009.

Don Ivan Punchatz created art for National Lampoon, Playboy and National Geographic during his decades-long career.  He suffered a heart attack October 11, 2009, and never regained consciousness.

When hired by then startup iD Software to do the cover art for Doom, Punchatz had the option of taking his fee or a percentage of the game’s profits. Not knowing how much profit there would be, he went for his straight fee.

“So how was I to know this thing called DOOM would make a jillion smackers?” he later joked.

And so it did. Punchatz’s cover is still instantly recognizable piece of gaming culture, one of the bright lights of an era infamous for bad game covers. Right there on the cover is everything you need to know about this game. There is a well-armed, bad-to-the-bone space Marine surrounded by a whole lot of demons.

The cover and the game are influencing designers even to this day.

Who says games aren’t art or that game art isn’t worthwhile?

Read [Spectrum Fantastic Art] Via [Joystiq]