Meet Daniel Combs

Born in Washington State in 1979, Daniel Combs, self taught from an early age, has always had a fascination for movement and form. From an early age, Daniel knew that his passion in life was to create beauty in artwork. Daniel started entering art competitions at the age of 5. At the age of 9, he won first prize at the Northwest Indiana Art Competition, for a drawing of a dash hound. In his later development, he focused on the human form and abstract, being inspired by many art history books and literature. He was drawn to works by Rembrandt, Degas, Bosch, and Picasso to name a few. Daniel’s work started getting recognition by many of his peers while in high school. He attended Valparaiso University for a year and a half of general study before deciding that he needed to focus more on getting life experience and personal growth. In 2001, he started selling his work out of a small start-up gallery in Valparaiso, IN. His first sales were to a couple of Northwest Indiana attorneys. Daniel left Valparaiso in 2003, and went on to show and sell in the Lake Street Theatre of Miller, in Gary. While showing at Lake Street, he met the press of the Post Tribune and received a notable article in the Regional Section of the paper, for his first solo show. The same year he was also displayed in Crown Point, IN at Pop Culture. Between 2004 and 2005, Daniel furthered his education at IUN Northwest. In 2005, he was featured as “Artist of the Month” of September at Barnes and Noble in Merrillville, IN. In 2006, he sold two pieces to a local physician at St. Mary’s Hospital in Hobart, IN, where they are displayed in the lobby of his office. In 2007, after meeting Lori Ritchie, a Northwest Indiana dog breeder, he was commissioned to do a portrait of her dog, Libby. The portrait brought Daniel back to his days as a child and his portrait of the dash hound, and he decided to focus his talents in the direction of and specializing in “Portraits of Pets and People.”