About a Phil
Well, here I am, you lucky people! Feel free to absorb my awesome presence, but don’t get too close or make eye contact of any kind. I feel like smiles are aggressive, so don’t do that either. Also, don’t irritate me, or else—
Oh, can you imagine if I was actually like that? Awful. Let me start again, this time in self-interview style.
Q: Tell us who you are and why you’re dressed like a disco velociraptor.
My nomenclature is Phil Walton and to a very select group of people who are really into Snapchat Lenses, I’m somewhat of a ‘known individual’— celebrity is an overstatement. I was the deranged mind behind the Potato Snapchat lens that went viral more than once. I’ve also created others that have appeared on Saturday Night Live, Japanese music videos, the Super Bowl, and I’m the primary AR creator for Nickelodeon’s Unfiltered. But that’s just my resume, to get to your (my) question about who I am in the philosophical sense, I’d say that I’m a naturally creative individual who loves to make stuff. I was the kid in class who was constantly drawing stuff on my math homework, which wasn’t ALWAYS dinosaurs, but yes, in fact, it was almost always dinosaurs. Even during my time in the military, I would be working on a comic book about a violent, cold war era relic moose, who was a cross between Bullwinkle and Rambo. I love to create and I love the reactions I get from people who appreciate my work. For me, there’s nothing better than that smile or laugh or gasp that you get when someone is getting unencumbered delight from something that I’ve made.
And in answer to the second part, this is just how I normally dress when I attend funerals.
Q: After you were defeated by the ghost of Tom Clancy in straight sets at the Australian Open, how did you get started in your creative career?
That was a painful memory, so thanks for bringing it up. I blame the line judges.
But after my enlistment in the USAF, I went to art school out in Portland, OR to a school that no longer exists, and yet I’m still paying student loans to— try to figure that out. My education was good enough to land me my first job as a 3D animator at a tiny studio in Minneapolis, MN, so we packed up my very pregnant wife and moved back to where we both were from. Even though it wasn’t the dream job I was hoping for, it presented me with continual opportunities to expand my skill-set and experience. At the time, I don’t think I appreciated some of the difficult but essential lessons that I think every creative person needs to learn in order to be successful. (What are those things? That would be a great next interview question.)
I spent ten years working for this studio that was progressively shrinking in staff as it limped along, unprofitable and shifting focus faster than a kid with ADHD and a Red Bull. But it was there that I got my first taste of Virtual Reality—which was an Oculus Dev Kit 1, that had a low-resolution screen and made me nauseous for hours after. But I was also HOOKED. I knew that was what I wanted to do with my career. Not long after, I moved to Tennessee to work with my old pal, Dustin, who was involved with a VR production company, which is where I learned about Augmented Reality. It was though taking the next opportunity that presented itself, I came to discover Snapchat’s Lens Studio and their Official Lens Creator program. I didn’t know it at the time, but this program was very new and I was there to Carpe the Diem at the right moment. I’d blame the current condition of my career on that— see an opportunity, and go with it.
Q: What are some of the difficult lessons you think every creative needs to learn either by experience, mind control, or other more invasive methods?
When I was a young boy, climbing the grassy hills of Austria and singing loudly to no one in particular, I developed a notion that my art was perfect and God’s pure light of creativity would always shine down on my golden head, making me the goodest, bestest artist to have and would exist. But several reality checks were waiting in my future. One came in the form of a boss who wasn’t trained in the fine art of delivering gentle criticism to a sensitive artiste. He was downright mean about it. How dare he?! Doesn’t he know who I am?? But this was an important lesson for me. Once I actually got over my ego for a minute and listened to what he was trying to say, I actually saw that he was offering me the chance to improve on the work I had done. The way he was delivering it may not have been the most diplomatic, but I can’t control how people behave. I can learn to take my personal feelings out of what someone is saying about this beautiful baby that I’ve created and maybe even see that the substance of what they are saying has some merit. It doesn’t mean that what we’ve made is an abomination, but that it (like anything) has some possible room for improvement. And it’s really up to you to decide what that means.
Q: If you could time travel back to stop the Spanish-American War, would anyone notice? And what do you actually plan to do at BlackSteel Press besides take up space and drive your co-founders crazy?
Yes, if nothing else, Theodore Roosevelt would be somewhat less of an icon and the whole “Bully Stick” industry would collapse, leaving nearly two Americans out of work.
I am in the stages of outlining a book set in the world of Galhadria. Without getting into too much detail, the story will be a sort of Fantasy Noir story focused on a hard-boiled former spymaster who uncovers a dark conspiracy in the Elven city of Sarmatti. There’s twists and turns, a femme fatale, someone gets punched— highly entertaining stuff in the vein of Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe.
In the meantime, I’m trying to be a story consultant and idea-haver in support of Dustin and Tiff’s soon-to-be best sellers. I’m really excited for them to get their stories out so you all can see their amazing work!
Q: Let’s talk about how much you wet the bed as a kid and why—
This fake interview is over.
(Phil gets up and leaves the room)
Wait, come back. Question speed round:
Favorite genre? - I like a lot of different genres: fantasy, thriller, mysteries, and horror. A lot of that comes out in the stories that I write.
What makes a good villain? I think a good villain is one that is clever in their own way, keeps you guessing at what they’ll do next and makes you want more than anything for them to get their comeuppance.
Biggest creative challenge? Finishing a project. I get so many fun ideas that get a burst of energy, but then something else comes up and I move on.
If you could steal a character from another story, who would it be? Judge Holden from Blood Meridian. He’s at the same time so creepy and civilized, smart and evil. “Anything that exists without my knowledge, exists without my consent.”
Where do I get my ideas? I’m often inspired by other people’s work or just random conversations I have. That spark can come from anywhere, and it’s important to write it down when it happens. It may not turn into anything but it’s possible that it might become it’s own thing or combine with another idea to make something else.
