In parallel with his commercial career he was a prolific multimedia artist, painting in acrylic and in watercolor, in various fields such as landscape, portraits, sports, and political graphics.

[6][7][8][9] McDaniel was born during the Great Depression on a farm called The Jake White Place on Rabbit Ridge near Zaleski, in Vinton County, Ohio.

His father Hoyt Glenn (Ben), a 25-year-old cattle farmer, married Lillian, age 16, in West Virginia three months before Jerry was born.

At the beginning of World War II, McDaniel's father, fearing the draft, sold all the livestock and moved the family to Athens, Ohio.

After military service as a Spec 9 architect, McDaniel returned to New York, becoming a graphic designer/art director for the LW Froehlich Company, a large pharmaceutical advertising agency.

This work appeared full-page every Monday in the New York Times for 52 consecutive weeks, followed by 300 drawings in three months for Intercontinental Hotels, which ran worldwide for three years.

The painting was seen on national and international television for 32 minutes of airtime on the Today Show for the Apollo 11 Space Launch.

In the late 1960s, McDaniel designed and illustrated the complete Zane Grey Western Series for Simon & Schuster, and also created book covers for the S. S. Van Dine "Murder Mystery" series for three different publishers, including Charles Scribner's Sons's over a ten-year period.

As the MCCAA Tennis Champion for 1971–72 he was afforded the opportunity to work as a Sports Artist and Designer for Philip Morris.

McDaniel's 1972 Grand Prix Philip Morris International large black & white Harlow's poster was among those selected.

In recent years his work was shown in Düsseldorf, Germany, Bucharest, Romania,[1][2] and he had solo shows in Beverly Hills, California (2012),[21] and the "LOOK AT ME" exhibition at the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC) of California State University, Northridge (CSUN), September 18 – October 22, 2013.

[23] Among his recent achievements he illustrated poems by two well-known Romanian poets, Lucian Blaga and Ana Blandiana; created several videos with about his art;[24] designed posters and promotional graphics for the (AOI) Art of Innovation Conference (2013 & 2014, CSUN); banners for non-profit California organizations (2014 & 2016); the cover of the Art Volume and the design for the poster of "Salon ARTIS 2010",[2] and was a member in the Awards Jury for Best Cinematography at SEEfest (South East European Film Festival), Los Angeles, CA, 2015.

They had two children, a son, Teja, who currently lives with his family in Melbourne, Australia; and a daughter, Saskia, who died in 1999.