Today we’d like to introduce you to Parker Howell. Them and their team share their story with us below:
At age five, Parker Howell’s father showed him how to digitally draw a house on their black and white Macintosh Classic. After making a fence post out of a couple of circles and squares, he showed him how to copy and paste it. The concept blew young Parker’s mind, and he immediately asked, “Where did it come from? How many can I make?” His father Park said, “It’s all 1’s and 0’s, and you can make as many as you want.” Park left his son to play with the computer and came back a few minutes later to find that Parker had crashed it by continuously copying and pasting fence posts until there was an exponentially large number of them. As always, he had to test the limits.
Though he had lost all his work on his first project, it was the beginning of Parker’s lifelong obsession with the creative potential of the digital. Early computer games including Myst, Spelunx, & Loom introduced him to fantasy world-building long before the rise of modern day virtual reality.
Believing that filmmaking was the purest and most potent form of modern storytelling, he set off to Chapman University to study film and business. While his films were lauded by his peers and professors, his accolades came from other aspects of collegiate life. He was a science fair finalist for his Short Ranged Carbon Dioxide Ballistics Generator. The university awarded him the New Member Programming achievement for his role as Pledge Educator in his fraternity, and he received best in show for a larger than life painting he created in his undergraduate art class.
After college, he moved to Los Angeles to build a career in film and television. While working as a commercial director, other creative avenues constantly opened up for him. He shot the short film Oh the Places You’ll Go at Burning Man which became an overnight viral success, changing Burning Man forever as it has sold out ever since.
Having a spiritual awakening at his first Burn, he went on to join the fire circus, traveling the world as a fire dancer. From there, he studied healing through yoga and Reiki and became a competitive martial artist as a 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu purple belt.
At the same time, his talents as a digital artist led him into pioneering XR (extended reality) creating projection mapped concert visuals for the Grammys, Billboard Music Awards, Excision and Dancing with the Stars to name a few. In many ways, it was what he always wanted to do, conjure fantasy worlds for audiences using digital wizardry.
With the modern day resurgence of virtual reality, he leapt at the chance to create experiences unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. He shot Red Bull’s first 3d 360 music video, which was named Music Video of the Year at the South Pacific Music Awards. He also crafted Kungfuscius VR complete with haptic combat to give the audience the thrill of simulated kungfu, winning the Grand Jury award for VR at the Awareness Film Festival. His work in taking Dungeons and Dragons into live immersive theater using virtual production on Twitch is still ahead of its time as it merges both the cinematic and video game worlds.
Recently, Howell has crafted VR training simulations for police officers to help them previsualize what it’s like to be in dangerous environments and expand their empathetic connection with those that they’re serving. All of his work in emerging media has convinced him that the power of storytelling, when combined with immersive technology has the potential to transform audiences. That’s where his latest endeavor begins.
During the 2020 pandemic, Parker’s Godfather Chris was hospitalized from Covid-19. While meditating on how to be of service during this wild time of uncertainty and doubt, and experience came to him. It was a culmination of his work in VR and training he’d received from yoga and Reiki masters. In the next two weeks he wrote, recorded and programmed the Cosmic Looking Glass, a guided meditation through a galactic fantasy-scape that takes the sojourner inside themselves, healing their body, mind, and spirit. It utilizes ancient techniques along with cutting-edge technology to visualize energy flowing throughout their being.
Having shared the experience with many friends and healers, Howell is convinced that there is a demand for more experiences like the Cosmic Looking Glass. PwC’s market analysis shows that VR is the fastest-growing segment in media & entertainment, expanding by 31.7% year over year, reaching $6.9 billion by 2025.
In 2021 Howell met Sean “The Stroke Hacker” Entin, who had suffered a stroke over a decade ago that had left him paralyzed on the left side of his body. Entin had dedicated himself to his recovery and fell in love with the Cosmic Looking Glass. The next time they met up, Howell did a full-body VR capture of Entin and created a custom Neural Plasticity Training simulation for him to help him work through the immobility of the left side of his body.
After a couple of weeks of use, Entin called Howell up to tell him that his once paralyzed hand ended up on top of his head by the end of his training session. He was seeing increases in mobility that should have taken years. Today Sean can bench press and is hopeful that he will continue to increase his functionality with training.
With everything that is happening in the world today, people are looking for new ways to step back, calm themselves, and cultivate their inner worlds. Howell is seeking funding and partnerships to expand upon the work and create new experiences to help humanity awaken and strengthen their beings, to powerfully enter a new age where anything is possible.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Being a pioneer in the creative/tech space has its ups and downs. The new wave of VR is really stunning, but adoption is a lot slower than you might expect. Having been in it for years, you see all the different hype cycles. The latest came with Facebook changing its name to meta, and now everyone’s looking for the next great metaverse.
Part of my success in this ever-evolving landscape is that my business is extremely agile. Every VR Simulation/TV Show/Concert has its own team dedicated to seeing that project through. Sometimes that’s working with local crews, and sometimes it’s hiring international developers. So I end up with a rolodex of creative talent that’s capable of building anything. And that’s the secret to staying relevant when everything’s constantly changing.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I moved out to Austin with my girlfriend Jackie Cross last October. Everything just seems to be exploding out here. One of the world’s best Jiu Jitsu gyms The B-Team opened up shop in South Austin. I’ve been training with them, working towards my brown belt.
Jackie and I have been establishing ourselves in the community out here. She’s started the School of Skating and runs an entertainment company (Ignite on Wheels) specializing in roller skaters. We’re throwing a black light roller disco at the South Austin Roller Rink May 12th.
We love Austin’s sprawling green spaces, the kindness of strangers, and the live music scene. It’s been a welcome change of pace from the hectic big cities of Southern California.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
If you’d like to connect, there’s a contact form on my site parkerhowell.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: parkerhowell.com
