EZRA CLAYTAN DANIELS is a mixed-race (black/white) writer and illustrator based in Los Angeles, CA. His critically acclaimed graphic novel series, The Changers, began a unique career peppered with collaborative multimedia projects ranging from video games to animation to feature documentaries.
Ezra is the creator of the popular live art spectacle, The Comic Art Battle, which was a staple of the Stumptown Comics Festival and the template for countless iterations at comics and art events throughout the country, as well as Loaded Blanks Greetings, a line of fill-in-the-blanks comic-art greeting cards featuring both established as well as up and coming comics artists.
Ezra collaborated with Chicago-based chamber group Fifth House Ensemble on the narrative concert series, ‘Black Violet’, which the Chicago Sun-Times called “a modern classic”. He also contributed animation to experimental hip hop luminary Alexis Gideon’s Video Musics series of animated rap operas and has worked on several interactive projects with esteemed interactive artist Erik Loyer. Ezra contributed animation and design to the feature documentaries, Lunch Line and Resistance, as well as the LA-Emmy award-winning second season of KCET’s Lost LA docuseries.
His collaboration with experimental video artist Adebukola Bodunrin, the animated short film ‘The Golden Chain’, has screened at The Whitney Museum, The British Film Institute, The International Film Festival Rotterdam, MFA Boston, REDCAT Theater, ATA San Francisco, and at Art Basel, Switzerland. In 2017, ‘The Golden Chain’ was acquired by The Whitney for their permanent collection.
Ezra’s graphic novel, Upgrade Soul, began as a pioneering immersive serialized graphic novel for iOS in 2012. Upgrade Soul has been frequently featured on the Apple App Store, was named a 2013 IndieCade Finalist, and has exhibited at The Hyde Park Art Center, the Wexner Center for the Arts, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Upgrade Soul was a featured project at the Fantoche International Animation Festival in Baden, Switzerland, Haarlem Stripdagen in Amsterdam, and the Fumetto International Comics Festival in Lucerne. Upgrade Soul was collected in print by Lion Forge Books in 2018. It was the recipient of the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics, nominated for Eisner, Harvey, Ringo, and Ignatz awards, and was named one of the best books of 2018 by Publishers Weekly, Vulture, The Library Journal, and Paste. Upgrade Soul is currently in development as a feature film.
Ezra’s graphic novel collaboration with Ben Passmore, entitled BTTM FDRS, was released in 2019 by Fantagraphics Books. BTTM FDRS was named one of the best books of 2019 by Chicago Public Library, New York Public Library, and Hyperallergic Magazine, and was nominated for both Eisner and Harvey awards. BTTM FDRS is currently in development as a feature film.
Ezra is currently working as a screenwriter with several unannounced projects for both theatrical release and major streaming networks.