Meet Dominick DeJesus of DOM Creates in North Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dominick DeJesus.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Dominick. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Hailing from Millen, Georgia, a small railroad town not too far from Savannah, Georgia, I was pushed towards the world of animation by my mother and thank God for her. When it came time for me to graduate high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do because simply I did not like the format of going to school every day. I told my mother I wanted to be a writer for professional wrestling, and she did not totally agree with it, but she still showed her support and told me, if I go to college and finish. She would pay for my wrestling training and time at a wrestling academy. It was a deal.

I went to the Art Institute of Atlanta for three solid years with no summer break studying Media Arts and Animation, though I wanted to study sequential art, but they did not have it available. I was kicked out due to financial aid issues that were out of my hands and dig this, I had only two classes left to graduate plus I was interning at Turner Studios Atlanta.

Filled with doubt and depression for the next couple of years, I finally moved to Los Angeles for an animation gig that went from freelance to in house. I made the big move and my life changed. I had a full-time job at ADHD a division of the FOX primetime animation run and I was making mad connections like never before. Of course, when that job wrapped, I was hit hard by reality once more, and I went through the LA struggle of roommates, couch crashing, homeless nights, unemployment, and cheap freelance gigs.

During those two years, I continued to push through all the tough obstacles and managed to keep myself afloat by creating my own freelance projects using Instagram. The Instagram projects opened many doors and opportunities for me, and now I’m back in the animation scene as a storyboard artist at Bento Box Entertainment and still doing my freelance along the way because I am always working on bettering my craft as an artist and as a storyteller.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
First off, Los Angeles will make you grow, and if you’re not ready to grow up, this is not the place for you. I moved out here with a purpose and a mission to be the very best version of myself this go around.

Sadly, I messed that up because I allowed myself to get comfortable with my first studio job out here. I was just having fun and being reckless, but hey, it was the first time I had big pockets. So once that company closed down, I was back at square one. I dealt mainly with financial issues due to not making enough money to provide for myself, and the ever lingering presence of Sallie Mae was and still is heavy burden.

I just did not have enough contacts at the time and in this business networking is key.

Please tell us about DOM Creates.
I formed DOM Creates when I gave my Instagram a new facelift. Instead of signing my name, I would stamp it with Dom Creates and it’s murder she wrote from there.

This is where I created my freelance work from Instagram. When I was laid off, I fell into a music video project for Lil Dickey and Snoop Dogg, and with that content, I used it to propel myself into the independent music scene. I would basically send a message to the music artist and ask for their permission to use their music to animate a short visual to it and they would most likely always be down for it. We would both share it after completion and let the visual do the work. That along is one of the main reason I am able to do what I am able to do today. So thank you, Instagram and to all the music artist that came along the way.

I generally create short animated segments for music artist to help them promote and brand themselves as an artist on all social media platforms.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I loved to go on nature walks and hikes through the woods with my little brother and childhood friends growing up. Exploring outdoors was always fun and different. Though everyone thought I liked to stay inside, read, and draw all day, which was also totally fine.