Sophomore gains YouTube fame

For the past three years, Clayton Valley student DèJon Caballero has been making waves on YouTube.

Caballero is a sophomore and the son of Clayton Valley campus supervisor Nesia Brown. 

“My parents wanted me to start a YouTube channel and I just ran with it,” said Caballero.

He makes animated videos about indie horror stories with his most popular series starring a well-known character, Cartoon Cat. Caballero uses an app called FlipaClip for his designs.

“Most people use a digital pen to draw and animate, but I just use my finger to draw.” 

When he finishes drawing and animating, he uploads it to his YouTube channel.

Caballero’s YouTube channel, @dejoncaballero8462, is three years old. The channel has raised 12.2K subscribers and collected 2.9 million views in only 44 videos posted. Caballero’s channel’s views are rapidly going up.

He started his channel four years ago when he was 11. Over the years he has improved his art skills, noting that he started his art on an Etch A Sketch. 

DeJon Caballero began his YouTube channel four years ago and now has 12.2k subscribers. (Photo by Isaac Isidro of the Talon staff)

“I don’t really have a due date on making my videos, I just create them whenever I feel like it,” said Caballero.

Although he has an amazing YouTube channel that is doing really well, he also has an awesome life outside of YouTube. At school he is “doin good,” and at home his parents are very supportive and encouraging of him, and push him to be his best.

Danielle Eastman, a special education assistant at Clayton Valley, supports him by always being there for him if he has questions or needs help with homework.

“DéJon is a simple, easy, chill, humble kid and doesn’t act famous,” said Eastman.

Caballero plays and watches indie horror/video games like “Poppy Playtime” or videos on YouTube. His inspiration is horror illustrator Trevor Henderson, the creator of

Cartoon Cat. Henderson commented on one of Caballero’s videos and arranged a collaboration video together with one of Henderson’s characters and one of Caballero’s characters.

Caballero has made a name for himself through his YouTube creations.

"He always has good stuff,” Eastman proudly said.

Caballero has put a lot of hard work into his videos and his viewers like what they see.

“It’s just the comments mostly,” he said, “and people finding it and thinking it’s cool.”