New Video

Again, its been a while... sorry, I get caught up in my little world of illustration and I forget that in order to keep this ball rolling I need to give it a push once in a while... so here is the push...
Last fall, I was involved (as the talent) thats what they kept calling me.. it was weird... in a television commercial for Blue cross of Idaho, its a long story, anyway, after the commercial came out the producer agreed to make a promo reel for me, mostly as payback because one of the light reflectors blew over and almost knocked me out... it was bad. A story for another time...
So after finally settling on the edit, which seem to take forever... I now have my first professionally done promo reel. If I do say so myself... I think it turned out fantastic, the only problem is that its me painting and not some hollywood actor playing me...Russell Crow would have been a great me... so here I am in all my glory, doing what I love to do in a place that I love to be.
Here is the link on vimeo:  https://vimeo.com/219166688

New Book ( The Miracle Maker)

When I say new book, I mean my latest... this book came out for Christmas... I know, save your comments... I was so busy with my other work that I forgot to post this book here, not that anyone is reading this... Anyway, its a wonderful book for next Christmas... great story, fabulous illustrations... and designed really well by the folks at Covenant books. Again, sorry for being so delinquent and lazy when it comes to this blog... Great book for the family... here is a link if your interested in getting a copy or ten...

Troutspots T-Shirts

I guess I'm in the T-shirt business, this is something that I have been thinking about for years and oh, by the way, sorry for not posting for a while...I've been busy working on the job from hell... 140 illustrations... ya, like I said, job from hell... it really is a great project, just a very large, time consuming project... like all of my time... anyway I digress... back to the T-shirts... They are very nice shirts, Ive test ordered for myself and I like them a lot, I plan on making a bunch of designs in time for a variety of shirts that I would wear... Printful is the company printing and shipping so you wont have any trouble getting your shirts right away... I promise (again) that I will post more in the future, I have a variety of great projects that I am working on and I think you will be interested... at least I hope so... Here is a link so you can buy a bunch of shirts for family and friends....

ta ta for now,

Dan

Tiger Trout

Ive never painted a tiger trout before, the colors and patterns in these fish are incredible, an artists playground. I could not resist the pull to give it a go, I tried to keep the painting loose and fresh but ,it looks like I might have gotten carried away. I'm toying with the idea of putting some images on T-shirts, this one might make it there.

Out with the old, In with the new...

   2015 was a good year, I guess...the work was fun and entertaining, my health was good for the most part, I had a complete ankle replacement that caused me to loose 20 lbs...I didn't fish as much as I wanted but all in all I should not complain about 2015.
   I (with my daughter the designers help, lets be honest, I was sort of assisting her, sort of being a very loose way of saying I was giving verbal cues as to whether I liked what I was seeing) as I was saying... I just finished my new web site, danburr.com, it was long overdue to be updated with new images and a fresh new style, (the new me...) I'm not sure I'm ready for a new me, but the site was ready, even my son complained that it needed to be brought up to the current decade. That's bad when your kids complain about your web site...
   I know I have neglected this blog too... I've been busy... trying to keep up with work and family takes alot of time and the older I get (just turned 55) the longer it takes this old hard drive to spool up.
   I promise I am going to try to be more active on my blog... just in time too, as blogs are winding down in this new social media frenzied world that we call home. I just cant bring myself to say, much less participate in tweeting or twittering...
   So... check out my new site and because you have been so patient here is a painting from my latest book project, its not done, (deadline looming) but so far has been really enjoyable to work on.
   I've also decided to try... to paint more animals this year and I have a book project of my own that I really would like to get sold this year, I guess that will be my wish list for 2016, I better write these goals down so I have a better chance of making sure they happen...
   Happy New Year, I wish you all a healthy happy and prosperous 2016, especially me...

Happy Trails 2015

Latest Book, "Emiline"

Man its been a long time since I posted anything here, with Facebook, instagram and all the other social media sites its hard to stay on track and keep those who might be interested up to date with what I am up to. 2014 was a very busy year, too many projects, too little time.
I finally finished my latest book, "Emiline" a great story about a black woman from the 1800's who despite being born a free woman, had to sue for her freedom in Texas. This painting will grace the cover of the book.
I really wanted to illustrate this book, I almost didn't get to do it, hard negotiations finally worked out and I got the go ahead to do the paintings, the models are local friends and neighbors who willingly agreed to give their time for the project.
The story is very touching, from a 10 yr old girls perspective dealing with a serious subject. The paintings, looking back now, turned out well for the most part, like always I suppose I would change a few things or recompose this and that but... I won't be afforded that opportunity for now, such is the life of the illustrator and his deadline...

I'll let you know when it comes out but for now, enjoy the cover...

Dan

Rainbow Trout

I've been working on a series of trout in the net paintings, not for anything special but just because I really like they way they look, a few years ago we fished all summer for a really big cutthroat trout on the Teton River, one afternoon my son and I were floating and we stopped where this big fish liked to hang out, well long story short, I caught him... I took a photo of the fish laying in the net. The photo turned out really great and I thought at the time, "this would make great reference for an interesting painting" so I painted it and if you follow me you probably saw the painting, well here is the next painting in the series, a rainbow trout in the net, this fish my brother in law caught while fishing the South Fork of the Snake river. The next painting will be of a brown trout my son caught on the Henry's fork of the Snake river. Anyway, the paintings are great fun to make, the net is particularly challenging to paint, and I really I like how it turned out, I hope you agree. I'm going to sell prints of these paintings due to some interest, I'll post the details if you are interested.

Sketch for painting

I do a fair amount of illustrations for Pheasants Forever magazine, this is a sketch for a painting for an upcoming story about hunting in Iowa, its a great story and was fun to come up with the sketches for the story. I use a fun process in Photoshop to do my sketches, I use an overlay layer filled with the color of my choice on a separate layer above the drawing layer, it gives the drawing this nice color that you can't get by just changing the color your drawing with. Anyway, just mixing it up a bit.

Sams Secret Christmas, (my latest book)

On friday I finished my latest book, I have been working on this one day and night for a while now, I don't know why but deadlines seem to creep up before you know it and then... a disaster happens. Fortunately this one I was able to pull off, I only had to ask for a few extra days to finish it. Its another Christmas story written by the great author George Durrant. The story is a touching one that will pull at your heart strings, (It did mine) the characters were fun to try to capture and make feel like they fit the part of the book, the main character, Sam, takes a big jump in time so I had to find two models that I could use to try to make the jump. I really enjoyed illustrating this book, it seems that most of the paintings turned out good, I remember reading some thoughts that NC Wyeth wrote when he  finished painting the images for Treasure Island, he seemed to be satisfied with the work he had done on the project, I sort of feel the same way on this book, the paintings turned out good for all the right reasons. I am satisfied. Of course if I had time to make changes I'm sure I would find something to fix or change, but alas the deadline has come and gone and I am on to the next project, actually I'm going to take a few days off and do some yard work and boat work. The book will be out for Christmas of 2014, I hope it does well, it was like I said, very satisfying to work on. Here is one of the illustrations of the angry Sam. He eventually comes around to grateful, happy Sam.

One Little Match

One little match,(my latest book) came out in March, the designers did a great job putting the book together and the publishers did a great job with the printing, all in all the book looks great. I was glad to be part of such a great book by such a great author. You should all run right out and buy several dozen copies for all your friends and family. Here is a link to buy it.

Newest book finally done

I finally finished the illustrations for my latest book, sorry for not posting for a while, I have been up to eyeballs with this project, short deadline, 15 paintings, mix in classes twice a week and you have a very busy schedule. I ended up doing two paintings a week for the book and fitting in the odd projects that came as well, I always say I do my best work when I am swamped and under tons of pressure and I am happy to say that the paintings turned out well, I still think if I had more time that I would make a few changes here and there, maybe work on the color or complete the environments a bit more, I guess that part of being an illustrator never goes away. I suppose that is a good thing to constantly want to make your work better but there comes a time when you have to say its done and send it off. Here is one of the paintings from the book, its the last scene, when the boys learn a hard lesson. I don't want to give up the story. The book comes out in the spring, its titled "One little match", I really had a great time working on it, great story, good characters…
anyway, hope you enjoy the painting.

Eagle Paintings

Quite a while ago I posted a painting of an eagle, I have committed to paint 4 paintings for nephews earning their eagle award from the BSA. Here are paintings 2 and 3, one more to go... the paintings are small, 9x12 so in this smallish format I wanted to have fun with the brushes and marks that describe the form of the bird and environments. The colors were fun to play with here and there, the more I study about color the more fun I have just trying new things and trying to make progress as a painter, still my color has much room for improvement but every once in a while I paint something that makes me smile, not because it is a great painting but because I learned something and feel myself growing. This year I am 52 years old, I have been working as an illustrator for nearly 25 years, some days I feel like I have arrived and some days I feel irrelevant. I wish this roller coaster of emotion would smooth out and not be so dramatic, I still need to feel relevant and I still need to provide for a family, so that means I need to work for many more years, maybe not as long of hours but work none the less. I guess this process is called life, we learn, grow, increase, do, rinse and repeat, everyday  until we die. Sounds good to me as long as there is fishing mixed in here and there.
Here are the paintings.

Friends of the Teton River Poster

Every year I make a poster for a local organization, Friends of the Teton River to help announce and advertise the annual river celebration, this is the 13th year of the event. I started creating the posters in 2004. I served on the board of directors for many years and care about what they do so the poster is the least I can do for them, plus it gives me an opportunity to paint something fun and use my rusty graphic design skills. Anyway here is this years poster. I had a great time painting and designing it.

New Brown trout

I can't seem to leave this stuff alone, I need to get back to work so this is the last fish for a while... anyway here is an updated version of the Brown Trout, like most artists, we are constantly trying to improve so after looking at the previous brown trout sketch I decided to redo it.

Brook Trout

Here is one more to complete the set. My Son said that the fish looked depressed so I repainted the head, this is the repainted version. I think he looks better.

Fish sketches

With spring break right around the corner and snow still falling here in Tetonia, I have an itch that must be scratched. We are planning a fishing trip on the Colorado river in the sun and warm red rock cliffs. Fish are on my mind, in between tying flies for the trip and getting gear ready, I can't help myself by not painting a few fish as well. I really like this quick sketchy process and how it looks, the spontaneity is something I crave but is hard to work into illustrations done for clients. I think I am going to print these to see how they might look on the wall of my studio.

Too much fun

Here is another sketch using same technique, this is so fun to work this way I can see doing a bunch of work for some of my clients. Just what I need, another hobby... oh yea this is my job...

Sketch of Brown Trout

For some reason today I find myself in the mood to sketch a little. I really like drawing and messing around with different techniques in photoshop, I came across some ps notes from days gone by and started fiddling with process, I made this sketch and started to paint a little, fast and furious. I like the look of this sketch, it was great fun to just do something for fun... kind of ironic. Maybe I will do a series of fish in this style, look for them soon.

How to shoot a quail flush

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to do an illustration showing how to shoot a covey of flushing  quail, having never hunted quail I was in  a bit of a quandary. The editor filled me in on all the details and what he wanted to see in the illustration. I went through the regular routine of sketching and composing what I thought would make a good painting. The result is here for you to see. I love this sort of project, It seems I don't get to paint too many hunting scenes these days and I miss them. The painting turned out, for the most part,  how I planned it,  there are always happy accidents that happen along the way that improve things, I call it "controlled spontaneity" the light is interesting, the color does its job and the characters look natural and like they belong in the painting. All in all I am pleased with the painting. I'm going to try to do more work like this, When I started out as an illustrator I did a lot of outdoor sporty sort of illustrations then sort of migrated away from them for other work. Now that I am older and a bit more selective I want to return from whence I came... at least I hope so.

Here is the painting.

Scribbles

The other day, my daughter ( who is getting married tomorrow by the way) asked if I could do some rough quick sketches of antique cars for a project she was working on, I was busy at the time but given her fragile condition ( the impending wedding) I decided I would do it for her. I don't draw cars very often but am always telling my students that subject matter doesn't matter so I dove in and drew some old cars, I had a great time, it was a nice break from the project I was working on at the time, I thought I would share them on the blog and hope to do more "scribbles" like them in the future, It is a bit liberating to just draw, no real parameters, not much expectation, just draw... very refreshing. Anyway, here are the scribbles. I think I might do this more ofter.