Moving across the country, battling uncertainty and chasing his dream has been no easy feat but more than worth it for alumni Giovanni DeMartinis.

“People ask me, ‘what would you have done if you didn’t do animation?’ And I have no idea. There was really never a backup plan. If you know what you want to do, do it because you’ll never know unless you try,” DeMartinis said.

Inspiration struck DeMartinis while watching behind the scenes bonus features from his favorite movies like Disney’s Monsters Inc. At a young age, DeMartinis knew that he wanted to be a part of creating the animation for movies like this. 

“Growing up and going into school, I always loved taking art classes, that was inspiring even more and is what led the way,” DeMartinis said.

DeMartinis took every art class available to him including AP art where he created his portfolio with the help of Jennifer Ramirez, his art teacher who always supported him.

“He was such a go-getter. He was determined. He has such a wonderful personality, and he’s just a big ball of happiness,” she said.

Once selected to attend the College for Creative Studies, DeMartinis was introduced to new 3D animating programs in order to learn the ropes behind animation. After graduating, he furthered his education and skills by moving to Emeryville, California to do a year-and-a-half program called the Animation Collaborative.

“At Emeryville, it was much more hands-on and more of an intimate experience because they’re with you [the teachers]. They’re looking at your work. And they’ve spent a lot of time reviewing your work,” DeMartinis said.

The first project he went to work on was a Netflix Series called “Ask the Storybots” which eventually received two Emmy nominations. Finally achieving his dream and working with very supportive people is when he started to feel like he had truly made it.

“At that moment, I felt like all those years of CCS, collaborative and everything made it all worth it.”

After “Ask the Storybots” wrapped up, he went on to work with studios such as Marvel and worked on well-known productions such as ‘Loki’ and ‘Black Widow’. He was one of the first animators to work on Miss Minutes, a talking clock in the Disney Plus series ‘Loki’, which has been his favorite project yet.

“I was able to work on a lot of things in that show and that one is very special to me,” DeMartinis said.

DeMartinis had grown up watching the MCU and going to late night viewing of movies like the Avengers. 

“It’s crazy to be part of that continuation,” DeMartinis said.

Moving from Michigan to California was a great sacrifice for DeMartinis, but when it comes down to playing it safe or following your dreams, he encourages people to choose the hard route. 

“You’re doing all of this and you’re thinking, ‘is this going to be worth it?’ It was sort of a thing where you had to keep trudging through if things got frustrating. You just have to keep reminding yourself this is what you want to do. This is your life goal,” DeMartinis said.

Throughout his journey, DeMartinis has worked hard in hopes of reaching his dream destination. His support system of friends and family has been the foundation of getting to where he is today. 

“At the end of the day,” DeMartinis said, “I’m happy with how my path went.”