When WWII broke out, he left art school to join the Marines. As a member of the First Marine Division, Moss was sent to the South Pacific where he defied all odds to survive ferocious fighting on Guadalcanal. He was luckier still to be pulled from active combat duty to serve as a map maker and illustrator on the island of Guam for the duration of the war. Here he met Gene Davis, an officer who also happened to be the art director for Hearst Corporation, who became a key mentor. After the war, Davis encouraged Moss to enroll in Pratt Institute in New York through the G.I. Bill, while at the same time steering illustration assignments his way.

Moss stayed at Pratt for one year, where he met his future wife, Virginia “Sally” Hardesty, in her last year at Pratt and on her way to a successful career in package design. As the assignments rolled in, he took a leap of faith, left Pratt, and launched his career as a freelance illustrator.

From the late 40s through the late 90s, his opportunities were vast and varied – magazine covers, advertising art, book illustrations, logo design, and stamp design. Thirty years as a top artist for Sports Illustrated magazine from 1954-1984 shaped his career as a sports illustrator, happily matching his own love of sports and his admiration for athletes who give their all to their sport. He painted more covers and editorial illustrations for Sports Illustrated than any other artist. Together with SI Art Director, Dick Gangel, they imagined a steady stream of assignments that took him around the world, down famous ski runs, across the greens of world-class golf courses, and into conversations with some of the most iconic sports figures of his time. Along the way he conceived his assignments with stylish and playful explorations of Surrealism, Pointillism, Impressionism, Pop Art, Futurism, and trompe l’oeil. He embraced it all.

As photography began to dominate visual representation in the commercial world, Moss maintained that painting was still vital to delivering a story with full intensity. “Photos do not bring out the values, color, depth, length, or height that an illustration can. And they do not glamorize the majestic mountain or the dramatic pitch of a downhill trail,” Moss said in an interview with the New York Times in 1979.  Moss was an artist of his time. If Moss could have seen the artistry now possible with programs like Adobe Photoshop and AI-generated imagery, he doubtless likely would have embraced these new mediums.

As you explore the many genres on this website, you will find more details on the work of Don Moss. Above all, he was a man who never lost sight of the good fortune that came his way, and the many resulting adventures and stories that made his life as an artist so satisfying and successful.