During his training at Disney Feature Animation, Dominick learned all aspects of the production pipeline. Soon after starting on production on Lion King, the artist Development Department asked him to lecture on 'the making of an animated film' to artists-in-training, as well as to the public. In addition to his illustrious career in filmed entertainment and the literary realm, Dominick Domingo founded the Entertainment Track at his alma mater, Art Center College of Design, where he amassed 20 years of classroom experience. As such, Dominick honed his presentation skills, further applying them at book signings, readings and conventions over the years. Dominick has served as keynote speaker, lecturer, presenter, panelist or visiting artist for the following notable clients:
Disney Feature Animation
Disney Publishing
Disney Interactive Media Group
Big Fish Games
Creative Talent Network
CTNX Animation Expo
Center Stage Gallery
Art Center College of Design
California State University Long Beach
Creative Talent Network (CTN)
CSG Studio
Laguna Art Institute
Montecito Fine Arts
L.A. Academy of Figurative Art
California State University Long Beach (CSULB)
BIOLA
Animation Institute
Animation Academy
Online teaching/workshops/lectures
CG Master Academy
Creative Talent Network
Center Stage Gallery
Withsong
Choose from Dominick’s current offerings:
Package # 1
PANEL DISCUSSION
Travel, accommodations (if applicable) plus $500 participation fee
Veteran Disney Feature Animation artist Dominick Domingo (Lion King, Pocahontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan, Little Match Girl, One By One) lends great value to any panel discussion on storytelling, cinema, or animation specifically. Prompted by a moderator, Dominick can field a broad range of questions, including but not limited to those of interest to students in any animation program, film or illustration track. He is equally adept at appealing to those with an affinity for the Disney tradition—in other words, fans of the animation medium. Drawing on his thirty-five plus years in animation, he is a walking arsenal of nostalgic anecdotes and war stories from the trenches of production. Topics of expertise include:
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Behind-the-scenes of the Animation Renaissance: Animation fans seem to thrive on lore; Dominick is often asked to confirm or deny given myths about the iconic films on which he worked. He loves nothing more than to relive his golden days and share the nostalgia—from first sitting down with a tiny crew to hear Elton John pitch Circle of Life for the first time, to witnessing the regime change from Katzenberg to Eisner when Frank Wells was killed in a helicopter crash. Every day on production was a memory in the making, and blissfully Dominick is a born storyteller with a sharp memory!
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The production pipeline: the making of an animated film, start-to-finish, including the various departments and positions therein.
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The skillsets and sensibilities associated with each department/position, from Visual Development and Story Development to Storyboarding, Animatic, Scene Planning, Layout, Backgrounds, Character and Effects Animation, Compositing and post.
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The fundamentals of 2D animation
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Foundational Principles, Theory and Technique: Having founded the Entertainment Track at Art Center College of Design and amassed 20+ years of classroom experience, Dominick can speak to all traditional skill sets from color theory and light logic to perspective, composition, draftsmanship and painting technique.
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The Western Storytelling Structure that informs Screenwriting
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The role of storytelling in culture—why we tell stories in the first place
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The evolution from 2D to 3D (or CG) in Feature and TV Animation, having been on the ground floor. Dominick was one of three artists to develop the alpha release of ‘Deep Canvass,’ the technology that gave Disney’s Tarzan its immersive look by allowing artists, for the first time, to paint directly on the wire frame.
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The rules of various formats and genres of storytelling: Having transitioned from animation and gaming to live-action film and ultimately the publishing world and literary realm, Dominick is an authority on the trappings and regiments demanded by each.
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The Creative Process and the lifelong Artistic Journey
Package # 2:
One on-One LIVE INTERVIEW
Travel, accommodations (if applicable) plus $1,000 participation fee
Interviewed by a host, Veteran Disney Feature Animation artist Dominick Domingo (Lion King, Pocahontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan, Little Match Girl, One By One) has a wealth of production experience and nostalgic reflections to offer any student body interested in cinema, entertainment, filmmaking, or animation in general. Drawing on his thirty-five plus years in animation, he is a walking arsenal of nostalgic anecdotes as well as war stories from the trenches of production. Topics of expertise include:
-
Behind-the-scenes of the Animation Renaissance: Animation fans seem to thrive on lore; Dominick is often asked to confirm or deny given myths about the iconic films on which he worked. He loves nothing more than to relive his golden days and share the nostalgia—from first sitting down with a tiny crew to hear Elton John pitch Circle of Life for the first time, to witnessing the regime change from Katzenberg to Eisner when Frank Wells was killed in a helicopter crash. Every day on production was a memory in the making, and blissfully Dominick is a born storyteller with a sharp memory!
-
The production pipeline: the making of an animated film, start-to-finish, including the various departments and positions therein.
-
The skillsets and sensibilities associated with each department/position, from Visual Development and Story Development to Storyboarding, Animatic, Scene Planning, Layout, Backgrounds, Character and Effects Animation, Compositing and post.
-
The fundamentals of 2D animation
-
Foundational Principles, Theory and Technique: Having founded the Entertainment Track at Art Center College of Design and amassed 20+ years of classroom experience, Dominick can speak to all traditional skill sets from color theory and light logic to perspective, composition, draftsmanship and painting technique.
-
The Western Storytelling Structure that informs Screenwriting
-
The role of Storytelling in culture—why we tell stories in the first place
-
The evolution from 2D to 3D (or CG) in Feature and TV Animation, having been on the ground floor. Dominick was one of three artists to develop the alpha release of ‘Deep Canvass,’ the technology that gave Disney’s Tarzan its immersive look by allowing artists, for the first time, to paint directly on the wire frame.
-
The rules of various formats and genres of storytelling: Having transitioned from animation and gaming to live-action film and ultimately the publishing world and literary realm, Dominick is an authority on the trappings and regiments demanded by each.
-
The Creative Process and the lifelong Artistic Journey
Package # 3
FINDING YOUR VOICE through Personal Myth
A Two-Day WORKSHOP
Travel, accommodations (if applicable) plus $2,000 participation fee
In founding Art Center’s Entertainment Track and amassing twenty-plus years of classroom experience, Dominick has had the pleasure of nurturing countless artists on the journey toward finding their respective voices. This sometimes elusive objective was most urgently on display in the upper-term ‘portfolio lab’ class he co-taught for many years; in it, students were tasked with showcasing their unique voices before graduating and pounding the pavement as Visual Development or Concept Artists. In this context, many discussions centered on the difference between style (which is often project-specific) and the overarching, more authentic voice that’s the amalgamation of an artist’s world view, emotional imprint, aesthetic sensibility—even their ancestry and cultural identity. Dominick has reviewed portfolios and offered workshops for Creative Talent Network since their inception, for a global community of artists. The question most often asked is ‘how do I stand out?’ The guidance most needed centers on how an artist identifies and cultivates the often indefinable, distinctive flair that will empower the work and set them apart. The artist’s unique thumbprint.
As a place to start, some instructors craft projects centered on aesthetic preferences, asking students: what do you really like? They then assign bodies of work meant to infuse craft or technique with that love and affinity. This makes perfect sense and can only help. But Dominick has found the biggest nudge in nurturing voice in the context of cinema is helping students discover their connection to story. Often words like story and narrative are thrown around as buzzwords, without much attention to their true meaning. More hindering to personal development of voice in discussions of story: the focus is most often on the nuts and bolts of craft—story arcs, character arcs, formulaic structures, templates and even tropes. This is only one half of the equation. Work begins to explode with intrinsic power and authenticity only once an artist moves past craft to ponder why we tell stories in the first place. What is the role of STORY in culture? Telling stories has been with us since the dawn of time: how does it serve as catharsis for the individual and, by extension, contribute to our collective evolution?
Visual Development and Concept Artists are visual storytellers, no different than centuries of artists whose work has been narrative in nature. Even the more conceptual image-making in modernism is a cerebral form of storytelling. In entertainment, when tasked with bringing an animated feature to life through color scripting, world building and asset designing, the trick to sinking one’s teeth in is said to be ‘finding the love’ in the project. I would go further to define that pursuit as finding one’s personal connection to the story’s thematic content. Discovering how those themes resonate personally for the artist within their universality. By bringing one’s own personal experience to the narrative, the work explodes.
Dominick’s latest workshop, Finding Your Voice through Personal Myth is a tool for making a quantum leap in the development of voice. By cementing their personal relationship with story, artists pinpoint how to self-express through narrative and thereby transform others. A less clinical fusion of narrative therapy and art therapy, the two-day workshop is designed in a way that reveals how life is story. Our life is one continuous narrative, and we are the authors of it. Participants walk out with the tools to get their hands in the clay and co-create that narrative—through both the written aspect of myth and its visual representation. Without issuing any spoilers, the workshop uses exercises to guide students toward identifying their personal MYTH—the myth of their life. This can be very eye-opening and revelatory. And the predominant narrative is not often what students think. The workshop culminates in the creation of a visual representation of that narrative. Whether that final piece leans toward the narrative or conceptual, the power of truth always transcends and shines through in groundbreaking ways.
This indelible workshop is nothing less than a two-day epiphany artists carry forward in their respective journeys. The five-hour sessions are spaced a week apart, allowing students to perfect their final pieces—the culmination of both the intellectual stimulation and pure inspiration that came before. The benefit of this workshop lies largely in sharing the work—identifying with a community of likeminded peers, comparing notes and seeing not only the solutions others have come up with, but the growth that results. Finding Your Voice is an inspiring time for all!