French-born art director and illustrator based in the San Francisco. Over the past nine years, I've built a freelance practice spanning character design, visual development, and brand illustration — working with top-tier animation and advertising studios across Los Angeles, New York, and Paris, for clients including Netflix, Amazon, Riot Games, Instagram, Meta, and MTV. My work is rooted in giving characters distinct personality and visual consistency across formats, expressions, and contexts. I've art directed Emmy Award-winning projects, led creative for national and international advertising campaigns, and contributed illustration to animated series produced by studios like Buck and Hornet. I'm equally comfortable sketching a character lineup from scratch and delivering polished, production-ready assets under tight deadlines. As a Black French designer, I bring a bilingual, cross-cultural perspective to everything I make — shaped by training at the École Émile Cohl in Lyon, years of working across the French and American creative industries, and a lived experience that informs how I think about representation, character, and visual identity.

Daniel Amdemichael

French-born art director and illustrator based in the San Francisco. Over the past nine years, I've built a freelance practice spanning character design, visual development, and brand illustration — working with top-tier animation and advertising studios across Los Angeles, New York, and Paris, for clients including Netflix, Amazon, Riot Games, Instagram, Meta, and MTV. My work is rooted in giving characters distinct personality and visual consistency across formats, expressions, and contexts. I've art directed Emmy Award-winning projects, led creative for national and international advertising campaigns, and contributed illustration to animated series produced by studios like Buck and Hornet. I'm equally comfortable sketching a character lineup from scratch and delivering polished, production-ready assets under tight deadlines. As a Black French designer, I bring a bilingual, cross-cultural perspective to everything I make — shaped by training at the École Émile Cohl in Lyon, years of working across the French and American creative industries, and a lived experience that informs how I think about representation, character, and visual identity.

Available to hire

French-born art director and illustrator based in the San Francisco.

Over the past nine years, I’ve built a freelance practice spanning character design, visual development, and brand illustration — working with top-tier animation and advertising studios across Los Angeles, New York, and Paris, for clients including Netflix, Amazon, Riot Games, Instagram, Meta, and MTV.

My work is rooted in giving characters distinct personality and visual consistency across formats, expressions, and contexts. I’ve art directed Emmy Award-winning projects, led creative for national and international advertising campaigns, and contributed illustration to animated series produced by studios like Buck and Hornet. I’m equally comfortable sketching a character lineup from scratch and delivering polished, production-ready assets under tight deadlines.

As a Black French designer, I bring a bilingual, cross-cultural perspective to everything I make — shaped by training at the École Émile Cohl in Lyon, years of working across the French and American creative industries, and a lived experience that informs how I think about representation, character, and visual identity.

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Language

English
Fluent
French
Fluent

Work Experience

freelance art director and illustrator at Studios (Buck, Hornet, Les Monstres, Bien...) & Companies (Meta, Netflix, CNN, Apple...)
February 9, 2017 - Present
Emmy Award-winning freelance art director and illustrator based in the San Francisco Bay Area, with over 9 years of experience in character design, visual development, and brand illustration across animation and advertising.

Education

Bachelor in Drawing Arts at Emile Cohl, Lyon, France
September 20, 2011 - July 29, 2013

Qualifications

Emmy Award-winning art director
February 11, 2020 - May 4, 2020
In 2020, I received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction for The Burning of Black Wall Street, a short film produced by Studio Meister for CNN commemorating the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
    paper “We the People” - Netflix animated series produced by the Obama Foundation, Buck Studios, 2021

    (episodes “Active Citizenship” and “Stronger”)

    paper “The Burning of Black Wall Street”

    short film awarded an Emmy for “Outstanding Graphic design and Art direction” (Studio Meister, Portland
    for CNN, 2020)

    paper “Goodfist” - Animated TV series project (Buck Studios, LA in 2021)

    paper Advertising campaign with Madison Square Garden (Transistor studios, NYC, 2021)

    Advertising campaign with Madison Square Garden for the New York Rangers hockey team

    paper KFC national advertising campaign, Paris (Studio Les Monstres, Paris, 2023)