We had the good fortune of connecting with Walter Pasion and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Walter, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
The idea of pursuing a creative career was something I did not think of at all until my last year of high school, otherwise my career path would’ve been becoming a pilot, stemming from my interest in planes at the time haha! Going back to my childhood though, I did love to draw, and watch cartoons/anime, but the thought of it as a viable career DID NOT come across my mind at all, other than the encouragement from my teachers to keep drawing or go into graphic design. Anyways, going back to my senior year of high school, I came across all these YouTube videos on accepted CalArts sketchbooks. This was the first step of many, a dive into what careers there were in animation, the processes of each, and the numerous disciplines I could go into. Thus cementing my path going down a creative one. From this research, I realized why I love creating stuff and why I drew a lot, not just to entertain myself, but to entertain others!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

My art is definitely an amalgamation of all the media I have consumed in the past 6 years if I have to be honest haha. There are genres and media that influenced me a lot like sci-fi, action-adventure, anime, and so forth, but I want to give a special shout-out to one of the first inspirations that guided me in how I drew and it was Finnish artist Heikala! Heikala’s influences have been one of the heavier ones that impacted me at the beginning of my creative career with her amazing illustrative works that tell a grand story and world in one painting.

As I kept drawing, there was one aspect that I learned about myself, and what I am most proud of about my own work is my love for drawing robots/mecha!! Drawing them, doodling them, and even animating them gives me so much joy. In my opinion, they can fit in almost any setting if you try hard enough haha!

However, going to today where I am professionally, I definitely couldn’t have done it without my close friends and colleagues that I have met along the way. They are my support group and I support them back as well, especially with how rough the state of the industry has been. Throughout the years, the number one lesson I have learned along the way is making REAL genuine connections to people is what matters most.
In the end, it’s important to take care of yourself and treat others genuinely.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Even though I mostly reside in Orange County in these days, there a tons of LA spots which stuck out to me the most and would love bringing a visiting friend to! One general place that would make for a fun afternoon is the Sawtelle area, where it has many shops along the street, with tasty food and shops to, shop at! Recently, I’ve visited a place called Tartine in the Silverlake area and they had an amazing, delicious lemon cream tart and tasty Ham and Cheese croissant. I’m actually planning to go back there soon to try more of their bakery good and food! Lastly, I recommend in general to go visit local bookstores in the LA area like Vroman’s, the Book-off chain, and Skylight books!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d love to give a shoutout to the friends I’ve made at the Pencil Mileage Club (especially y’all in the 2021 – 2022 Officer board!!) in both inspiring me and also making the experience a whole lot more fun, as well as the found-family that was formed during the 2020 lockdown period with who’d I like to call the 48F family (Eunice Chu, Demarco Crews, Daniel Jungenberg, Kelley Vo) where we went insane together for the funsies!

And I want to give a last special shout out to Vivian Ji, where we went through college together supporting each other’s creative endeavors. Through the thick and thin of what careers we wanted to do, running an amazing art club together as President and Vice-President, and helping each other grow to new heights: A ride or die! She is also creates amazing backgrounds, in both designing and coloring them!!

Website: walterpasionart.com

Instagram: instagram.com/wallerpasson/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/walterpasion/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wallerpasson

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