Meet Dominic “Dangerdom” Flask. Midwesterner, family man, and remote designer & illustrator.
Dangerdom Studios is the work of Dominic Flask, a designer and illustrator who works hard to make the world a beautiful and more interesting place to live in…one small piece at a time. Dom hails from Kansas and has worked with folks like Dropbox, Uber, Ueno, and most recently Yelp. We dig into his background, how he works, and what he’s up to.
Sandip: Let’s start from the beginning, where are you from? Tell us a bit about yourself (growing up, family, school, etc).
Dom: I’m from the middle of the middle of the US, a tiny town in rural Kansas called Halstead. During my first 18 years of life there were about 2,000 people there. While I never lived on a farm or anything like that I know how to throw hay, how to tip cows and not to pee on electric fences. After bouncing around a bit post-High School I went to college in another small town out in western Kansas, Hays, where I got both my BFA and MFA in graphic design.
Sandip: Growing up, would your parents say your current career choice was pretty obvious given your hobbies or what you were good at?
Dom: My current career is an interesting intersection of something that I was really interested in growing up, computers, and something my parents or I never saw coming, art. Since the days of computers that required floppy disks just to boot up I’ve been closely connected to a screen, but somehow I’ve always been drawn towards the visual side of things and it’s ended up in the
world of digital illustration which I never would have seen coming back then. I didn’t take a single art class in High School.
Sandip: No art classes in school? Wow! What was your first job in “design”? What did you like most about it? Thing you learned from it or disliked about it?
Dom: That’s kind of a tough one, I mean my first real “design” internship at an ad agency in Chicago didn’t come until I finished my undergraduate degree. But at every job I had I was always doing some kind of design, whether or not I realized what I was doing. I used to make, hand stamp and package business card CDs at the insurance company I worked at back in 2001… I’ve always loved design and the process of making and I treat every thing I make as a learning opportunity so even though those CDs were terribly designed it was still something that I learned a lot from.
Sandip: You design, illustrate, and dabble in animation too. How’d you learn all of these? Which would you say you’re the best at and which would you say you enjoy the most?
Dom: Ha, I do have kind of a well traveled history when it comes to my professional career and the different mediums within design. I’m not sure what it is, but I am just constantly searching for that new adventure and that has kept me moving over the past decade. These days I pretty much exclusively do illustration for tech products and that’s definitely been the most rewarding and satisfying experience of my career…so far.
Sandip: You’ve worked on all sorts of projects. From print to broadcast and for big clients and small. What would you say was the common thread for all of those projects to be successful?
Dom: That’s assuming they all were successful, haha! But seriously, I think that in order to achieve “success” you have to outline the parameters of what that means to you, the client, the audience, the project, etc. If you do that early on and everyone agrees what that looks like I think then the process is just getting there.
Sandip: You’ve got experience working at agencies, in-house, and on your own. What was the hardest thing about making the switch? Do you have a preference? Do you miss anything about working at an agency or in-house or freelancing?
Dom: What I like most is working from home. I’ve never been good at working an 8 to 5 or 7 to 3 or whatever and if I feel like I’m on the clock it makes me extremely anxious. So freelancing or remote work or anything that keeps me working whenever or wherever I want to is definitely my preference. That said there are lots of nice things about working right next to other people (in small doses) that I have to work to get through Slack channels, hangouts, social media, etc. But it’s a small price to pay for the option to not wear pants while I work.
Sandip: You work remote now, how do you like that? Any challenges with that? What do you do to make that transition better?
Dom: Pretty much what’s in the answer above. The challenges aren’t really that difficult at all and I’m relatively certain that the world of remote work is only going to grow in the future. You just have to be aware of what they are and have a team that’s open to work through them with you.
Sandip: What’s the best part of running your own studio?
Dom: The best part running Dangerdom Studios is getting to pick what projects I work on or turn down.
Sandip: Walk us through the process of starting a new project. What’s that look like? How do you like to start, processes you use, tools or products you might use, etc.
Dom: Oh man, it’s different every time but generally speaking there’s some kind of kickoff. You get to know the client, understand the project, define success and discuss schedule, etc. Then it’s off to the races. Generally I like to do as much research and exploration as time allows for, then it’s just working through the details. Keeping an open chain of communication with everyone
involved is super important and making sure that you’re talking openly about the work, deadlines, road blocks, etc.
The best tool for any creative work is a pencil (pens and tablets are acceptable too).
The best tool for any creative work is a pencil (pens and tablets are acceptable too) but I use the following things daily: Field Notes, Copic Multiliners, a Wacom Cintiq 13HD, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Shauna Panczyszyn Pencil Brush Pack and Dropbox. Ideas flow through you and the pencil is a much more direct connection to your thoughts, when you put a computer in between the ideas and you it at the very least slows down your process immensely.
Sandip: Awesome! What’s been your favorite project to date? Why?
Dom: The best projects are ones where there is trust on each side of the relationship from both you and the client. If they trust you to do what you do and you trust them with what they do it makes the whole project .
Sandip: What do you think is the hardest part of what you do (in terms of the day job)?
Dom: The hardest part is understanding yourself and being honest about your work. You have to admit when things aren’t working and at the same time ignore outside opinions from everyone except you and the client. It’s easy to get wrapped up things like styles, trends and opinions from other people in our interconnected digital world, the hardest part is distancing yourself from
that and focusing on the work at hand.
Sandip: You’re posting work weekly now and as you mentioned, could be new or old. What’s the backstory behind that?
Dom: Right…I need to catch up on that… It’s just a personal thing where I’m trying to push myself to not only share my work more often but to be making something on a weekly basis that I’m proud enough to share with the rest of the world.
Sandip: What advice would you give your 20 year old self?
Dom: Shit’s about to get real. Be honest with yourself and trust in others, keep trying and don’t dwell on failure.
Sandip: Simple and straight to the point, I love it. Do you have a place, thing, or person that inspires you? If and when you’re feeling in a creative rut, what’s something you do to help pull you out?
Dom: My wife has helped me through every step of my career and most of my adult life. Any time I need help I ask her and she, along with our 2 kids, inspire me more than any book, Dribbble post or anything else in this world.
Sandip: My family serves a very similar role too! You’re in Wichita, Kansas (just to the north of us), what do you love most about living in there? If someone was coming to Wichita for a few days, give me your list of must-do, must-see, must-eat places!
Dom: I live in Wichita because it’s close to family. Once you travel a bit you realize that while there are some things you can only do in certain areas there’s no pizza parlor, wine bar, hiking adventure or tricked out office space that is as impactful or supportive as your family and friends.
The best stuff to see is on the drive in and out, enjoy that prairie, most people think of us as a fly over state but it’s beautiful to drive through. My favorite place to eat is The Artichoke, the food isn’t fancy but the atmosphere is perfect.
Sandip: Being based in OKC, I can totally see and understand that perspective too! Do you have a favorite book or podcast (or both)?
Dom: Too many to list, my library of books is huge. Recent additions to the collection include; The World Shines For You, illustrated by Don Clark from Invisible Creature and Spawn: The Vault Edition by Todd McFarlane. A perfect cross section of recent and past influences for me.
Sandip: What are you listening to? Do you have a favorite artist/band?
Dom: The Oh Hellos make my playlist every day, have for the past several years. I’ve got that new Macklemore anthem, Glorious on repeat lately too. I can’t wait for the new album from The Rural Alberta Advantage.
Sandip: I’m loving that new Macklemore album too! Lastly, any daily routines? Something you do almost daily?
Dom: Hug my kids, kiss my wife, drink coffee, shower, ponder my existence, try to make something new, think about the past, hope for the future, try to focus on the work at hand.
Hug my kids, kiss my wife, drink coffee, shower, ponder my existence, try to make something new, think about the past, hope for the future, try to focus on the work at hand.
Thanks for reading! Each week our team will be publishing an interview with designers, illustrators, filmmakers, animators and artists that inspire us. A big thank you to Dom for taking the time to chat with us! You can see more of Dom’s work on his site, follow him on Dribbble, Twitter and Instagram.
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