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ABOUT/BIO

AdamMcDaniel.art

AdamMcDaniel.com

Adam McDaniel is an award-winning artist, filmmaker, and writer. He is also an unapologetic nerd and movie geek.

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Growing up in Connecticut and New Jersey, he was drawing at an early age and winning several local and regional art competitions. At the start of his junior year in high school, he sought out a two-year television production and editing internship with a local cable company; he was the youngest intern they ever had at that time.

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McDaniel then attended Vassar College, where he won honors at various festivals for his student film work, and received the college's academic film and cinematography prize upon graduation. He also wrote and directed a three-hour stage play that had the misfortune of opening the same night as an on-campus Billy Joel concert.

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Following college, McDaniel served as a technical director and set designer for several theatrical stage shows, and as a production designer and cinematographer for independent films and documentaries.

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Since moving to Los Angeles, he has worked extensively in film and television, with considerable emphasis on post production, marketing, promotions, advertising, and research. His work history includes such companies as Ascent Media, Big Ticket Television, Revolution Studios, and Columbia College Hollywood – the latter where he helped the film school with a new web and marketing relaunch, and refined a cost effective outreach program for new prospective students throughout Southern California.

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While at Warner Bros., he managed an extensive overhaul of the Digital Distribution team’s marketing library, and coordinated the deliveries of digital art assets to clients worldwide. He also serviced worldwide end-to-end client onboarding for WB Technology’s Client Relations team.

He most recently was a project manager for digital graphics and effects at DELUXE in Burbank, where he helped manage projects such as WHEEL OF TIME, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER, and key art localization for Disney.

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McDaniel has experience in 2D and hand-drawn animation, motion graphics, and both digital and traditional painting. His artwork has been featured in several galleries and publications, including a film soundtrack release by Intrada Music, and at special events held by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Paris Games, The Newport Beach Film Festival, and Los Angeles' Secret Movie Club.

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He studied traditional, hand-drawn animation techniques in a year-long program under the tutelage of Don Bluth (The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail).

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As a writer, McDaniel's screenplays have garnered over 40 festival and contest honors, and coverage in the popular entertainment website Aint It Cool News. His first novel, How To Succeed in Heaven Without Really Dying, was published in 2002.

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McDaniel's definitive website about American illustrator and movie poster artist Richard Amsel (The Sting, The Dark Crystal, Raiders of the Lost Ark) helped to rekindle awareness of the late artist's work.

 

McDaniel is currently filming a feature length documentary on Amsel's life and career, through his company, CINEMALAD PRODUCTIONS. McDaniel traveled extensively throughout the United States, conducting over 50 interviews with Amsel's friends, colleagues, classmates, and art collectors, as well as new generations of artists whom Amsel inspired.

 

The documentary, AMSEL: ILLUSTRATOR OF THE LOST ART, is the culmination of over a decade's worth of research into Amsel's life and creative oeuvre.

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AWARDS & HONORS

FILMMAKING

 

Director's Citation Award

The New Jersey Young Film & Videomakers' Festival, 1996.

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The David C. Magid Memorial Prize for academic excellence in film studies and cinematography.

Vassar College, 1996.

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Honorable Mention

SMPTE &  Rochester Audio-Visual Association Student Film Festival, 1995.

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Best LGBTQ+ Trailer

Amsel: Illustrator of the Lost Art

Wild Sound Festival for Trailers, 2024.

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ART & ILLUSTRATION

 

GALLERY SHOWINGS include:

  • Paris Games, Paris, France

  • Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, CA, USA

  • Gallery Nucleus, Alhambra, CA, USA

  • POPzilla Gallery, Anaheim, CA, USA

  • Creature Features, Burbank, CA, USA

  • San Diego Comic Con, CA, USA

  • SugarMynt Gallery, South Pasadena, CA, USA

  • Capsole Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA

 

ARTWORK FEATURED with:

  • The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences

  • Intrada Music

  • The Hollywood Reporter (online edition)

  • LA Weekly (online edition)

  • The Newport Beach Film Festival

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PUBLISHED ART BOOKS:

  • For the Love of Movies: The Art of Adam McDaniel

  • Poster Spy: Alternative Movie Poster Collection

  • Pixel Underground: 120 Tribute Posters

 

ARTWORK PROFILED by:

  • 24x36: A Movie About Movie Posters (documentary)

  • Indyfans: The Quest for Fortune & Glory (documentary)

  • PictureFrames.com marketing promo

  • Imagekind marketing promo

  • Indymag (featured artist & magazine profile)
     

FEATURED ARTIST:

  • Alternative Movie Posters

  • DeviantArt.com

  • PosterSpy.com

  • FanArt-Central.net.

  • ARTtitude Publishing House Collective Agency

  • Digital Consciousness

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ART AWARDS:

  • Artist of the Month: Digital Consciousness. November 2005.

  • NJ Courier-News: 1st & 2nd place for student editorial cartoons, 1991-1992.

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GRAPHIC DESIGN CLIENTS / RECIPIENTS include:

Warner Bros., Disney, Apple/iTunes, Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Showtime, Rallie LLC, Tubi TV, Discovery, and many others worldwide.

 

ILLUSTRATION CLIENTS include:

The Secret Movie Club / Vista Theatre • Month 9 / Tantrum Books • Hollywood Stories Publishing • The Academy for New Musical Theatre.

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SCREENWRITING

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MovieBytes.com's "Winning Scripts" rankings

#1 ANIMATED FEATURE SCREENPLAY

#1 HORROR TV PILOT

#1 LGBTQ TV PILOT

#3 COMEDY TV PILOT

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COVERFLY rankings:

Top 1% Overall projects

#8 among all animated projects

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WINNER:

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LEADING PLACEMENTS:


FINALIST:

 

SEMI-FINALIST:

 
QUARTERFINALIST:


OTHER HONORS & MENTIONS:

Website designed and maintained by Adam McDaniel. All original writing, illustration, and artwork featured within this website (unless otherwise noted) copyright © 2023 by Adam McDaniel. All rights reserved. Images (in whole or part) may not be downloaded, copied, linked to, or edited in any manner or form for use on any website, image gallery, clip art collection, printed product, or other derivative uses without express written permission from the artist, unless it is for the purpose of critical reviews or commentary.

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