Dan Shefelman
Education
BA, Kenyon College
Biography
Dan Shefelman is a cartoonist and director with vast experience in visual media ranging from newspapers to virtual reality. He began his New York City career as an editorial cartoonist for Newsday and King Features. Moving into animation design and storyboarding, Shefelman worked on several major NYC-area productions, including MTV’s first foray into animated features, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, and one of Nickelodeon’s first animated series, Doug. At Blue Sky Studios, Shefelman was a senior story artist on their first feature, Ice Age, as well as Robots and Ice Age: The Meltdown.
Visual storytelling and design are at the heart of Shefelman's work—whether it be for mixed reality, feature films, or television. As visual storytelling modes rapidly evolve, he continues to explore new ways of shaping these stories, adopting new technologies, techniques, and forms. At FIT, Shefelman founded the Visual Story for Evolving Media program, leads innovation in emerging creative technology, and is currently chair of the Illustration & Interactive Media Department, comprising illustration, game design, animation, and creative technology. In 2019, as creative director of NYC youth workforce development program The Animation Project (TAP), Shefelman directed a team of TAP trainees on several projects. Among them was a 300-foot mural and augmented reality experience in East Harlem and the animated short film Frog Legs.
Clients include: Newsday, NY Daily News, The Village Voice, Twentieth Century Fox, MTV, Nickelodeon, VH-1, Disney, Oriental Dreamworks, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, Volkswagen, Optimum, NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment, CNN, ReelFX, Digimax, DQ Entertainment, and SXSW.
Selected Publications
Planning Visual Narratives (Illustrations), Drawing Ideas: A Hand-Drawn Approach for Better Design, 2013.
Obama & Romney, Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year: 2013, 2013.
Grants
Musicians Treatment Foundation (MTF) Music Driven Game, Epic MegaGrant, 2020, Epic Games. Shefelman developed a game representing the services the non-profit Musicians Treatment Foundation provides to musicians in need of medical care for injuries affecting their professional practice. The game features an animated MTF board member Elvis Costello. Epic Megagrants Project
Awards
Interactive Bronze Award, 2006, One Show
Award for Excellence in Humor, 1999, ASIFA-East
Annie Award nomination, 1999, ASIFA Hollywood
Gold Award, 1999, Promax
Courses
- IL 473 Advanced Visual Story Studio
- IL 491 Mentor/Specialization Projects
- IL 493 Illustration Portfolio Thesis