Back in the late
1970's, the National Football League employed the services of many
established young, up and coming artists to produce artwork for
publications, posters and promotions. Many of these artists had long and
fruitful careers with the NFL and produced some of the most memorable
sporting art ever seen. Artists such as Chuck Ren, Jim Lamb, Paul Kratter
and Keith Batcheller particularly gave us some memorable images, including
program covers, prints and the now highly desirable Damac range of team
and city themed posters.
This site is a tribute to those artists and
their wonderful work, and in particular the late Charles Ren, whose work
continues to be inspirational and influential to aspiring artists like
myself. We hope this site not only highlights some of these fantastic
works, but also serves as a fitting tribute to Chuck
Ren.
Throughout the site, we'll have features and interviews with
artists like Paul Kratter, Keith Batcheller and Chuck's son Jon, who
learned from his father and is a talented and successful artist in his own
right. There's a special section on the famous Damac range of posters, and
some analysis, as well as, stories behind their creation. We've also got our own
Damac tribute section, where we have created our own team themed
style posters.
The 'Pro!' section of the site concentrates on the
excellent cover work that graced the NFL's own Gameday magazine, with work
by many different artists including those featured here.
This site
will be an ongoing project, as we uncover more examples of the artists'
works and the stories behind them, and we hope this becomes a useful resource and
interesting archive of their work.
Enjoy the site!
Dan
Tearle and Michael Princip