Doug Chaffee

Doug chaffee.jpg
Doug Chaffee
Born 1936[1]
Died 26 April 2011[1]
Occupation Artist


Doug Chaffee was an early BattleTech artist, first illustrating the cover of Technical Readout: 3025.

Background[edit]

Chaffee believed the future of the human race is in the stars. A product of Cold-War science fiction, Chaffee turned his energies to the technological. He became the head of IBM’s art department during the early years of the space race. His career quickly skyrocketed as one of the leading artists, not only in his genre, but of his generation.

Career[edit]

Chaffee began illustrating space related subjects during a time when the space program was young and at a time when few artists knew how the Earth looked from space. While the "Space Age" was in its infancy, his work was winning national awards in shows relating to the space program and in the aerospace field. Several years before the Viking probes reached Mars, he illustrated a National Geographic article about the Red Planet, authored by Carl Sagan.

Chaffee’s artworks ranged from paintings for NASA, the military, the book and the gaming industry. His paintings were owned by top ranking military officers, corporate executives, and famous authors, including Tom Clancy, as well as a shuttle astronaut. Chaffee did the official program painting for the Trident submarine program and his work was hung in the Smithsonian, the John F. Kennedy Federal Building, the American Airlines museum and was featured in Air Force Times, Think, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report, as well as several military and science magazines.

The US Vice President’s airplane, a World’s Fair poster, a calendar painting for a major aerospace client, a painting for the Air Force’s Special Tactics Group and paintings for government leaders outside the US were also part of his portfolio. Doug won many awards with his art, including Bests of Show from the National Association of Industrial Artists and the World Military Gaming convention. He won the Frank R. Paul award for science fiction and received a nomination for a Chesley Award.

Best-selling author Tom Clancy (Hunt for Red October) was an enthusiastic collector of Chaffee’s submarine art. Clancy autographed fifty artist proofs of Above Top Secret, after he purchased the original.

Chaffee worked for computer game companies and illustrated BattleTech, Magic, and other collectible card games. Chaffee’s paintings appeared in Inquest, Duelist, Scrye, and on covers for Strategy & Tactics magazine, as well as many game box and module game covers. Doug Chaffee was the Guest of Honor at the World Gaming Convention, as well as Artist Guest of Honor at several other major conventions.

Bibliography[edit]

Doug Chaffee illustrated the covers for the following BattleTech products:

Technical Readouts[edit]

Field Manuals[edit]

Sourcebooks[edit]

Box Sets[edit]

Novels[edit]

BattleTech CCG[edit]

Over forty five (45) paintings.

Black & White[edit]

Doug Chaffee illustrated many BattleTech products, including various House sourcebooks, with black and white line art in the above and in the following:

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Catalyst Game Labs: "Doug Chaffee: Passing of an Artist, of a Friend" (WebArchive)

External Links[edit]

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