Domics

Background

Dominic Panganiban was born in Manila, Philippines. His father, an accountant, wasn’t present for the first few years of his life because he worked in Saudi Arabia to provide for the family. Panganiban and his family were eventually able to relocate to the country. During this time, he never picked up on the idea of having different nations with distinct cultures. He thought Saudi Arabia was still in the Philippines because he lived in a part of the country with a prominent Filipino community and attended the Filipino International School in Al Khobar.

In 1997, Panganiban moved to Hamilton, Ontario, for a year. He made two close friends, Paul and Anthony, who shared the same birthday as him. Later, he lived in several cities before settling in Mississauga, where he lived for seven more years. While there, he started watching anime and drawing from those styles. When his family moved to Virginia, U.S., he struggled with relating to his peers, so he took up break dancing and Tae Kwon Do.

Although he wanted to pursue an art career, his parents worried about its financial viability. In his senior year of high school, his father told him they were moving again. They moved back to Canada, this time to Toronto, and Panganiban was accepted into the Department of Architectural Sciences at Ryerson University, where he trudged through a heavy workload unrelated to his passion. A while later, he found his way to the comic world, which eventually led to his signature animation style. He created his YouTube channel in 2012 and started posting videos. By his fourth, he had found the vlog format he is known for. Panganiban has amassed 7.39 million subscribers and over 1 billion video views.