Hi! My name is Julie and I am a Visual Development Artist.

I create real-life interactions with character design, world-building, and storytelling. Let’s go on an adventure together!

Portfolio

Project “Lily’s Garden” Hybrid educational TV show. Live action and animated.

Project “Ice Cream Fest” Peace, Love, & Ice Cream Inaugural Year

Learn about my character design process.

Telling the story of Julie Ann’s. It’s more than just frozen custard! See why.

There’s something about a chalkboard.

I love drawing on chalkboards because it gives me a sense of great freedom to create. I have been drawing on chalkboards since I was a child. My parents had a chalkboard in our basement, and it was where I developed my passion. I feel fortunate to have clients who welcome me each month to come and create on their chalkboards.

Lily’s Garden is a hybrid educational TV show. Part live action and part animated. Lily Fernsby lives with her two botanist parents. She imagines herself as a superhero of the garden and the plants and creatures are her friends. Dandy Lion, the garden gypsy, accesses her parent’s field journal using his “crystal ball” to help Lily solve the problems of the garden. Queen Thistle has other plans!

The show begins with live action where we see Lily inside the Fernsby conservatory looking through her family’s prized field journal. She then closes the journal to run to the mailbox to see if her aunt has sent her a postcard from her travels. The show can then take two directions for storytelling. One direction is around her aunt’s travels around the world, the other is in Lily’s backyard. This is when Lily goes into her imagination and the animated storytelling adventure begins. She uses a magical item depending on the season. When the problem is solved, she exits her imagination. The end of each episode will then show real children in their gardens solving the same problem.

Process video of the mural. We had fun letting this be “process art”. We threw, dripped, and scraped paint. We used brooms, cups, brushes, and bubble wrap to create this work of art.

Collaboration Project

Max and I collaborated on a beautiful mural for Ice Cream Fest, sharing skills and techniques and lots of laughs!

Ice Cream Fest’s inaugural year was in 2023. Located in Crystal Lake, IL at Main Beach, the festival was a sold-out hit for its patrons. It was an evening of charming characters, themed lands, activities, contests, ice cream trucks, and music. The story continues… 2024 coming soon!

My Process

I like to begin my creative process by sketching out some initial ideas on paper. This helps me generate fresh ideas and brainstorm different concepts. After that, I begin extensive research and create mood boards using a range of visual references, such as animal and human photos, poses, clothing, textures, and actor photos (if relevant). From there, I sit down again and create more detailed sketches, taking into account the client’s budget and how many versions I can provide. Once I have narrowed down my sketches and revisions, I move on to final sketches and layouts, value studies, color studies, and then finally, the finished artwork.

As a child growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, my love for animation was heavily influenced by the UPA style, Disney, Don Bluth, and the comic books of Calvin & Hobbes and Garfield. I vividly remember my first concept art book – The Return of the Jedi Sketchbook – which truly sparked my passion for concept art. It was a wonderful era to fall in love with the art of animation.

“Julie adds a lot to the projects she is involved with. She is super fun and injects super-wit. You can bring a general idea to the table and she will really take it to the next level. Julie is the kind of person that simply amazes with her raw talent.” – Pete with Julie Ann’s

“Julie Kukreja has been showcasing her talent at Duke’s Alehouse and Kitchen for over 5 years. While she is very creative in her own right, she works with us to have custom, affordable, and unique chalk art on our large chalkboard in our dining room. Her work is the centerpiece of our dining room and always gets rave reviews from our staff and guests. It’s so refreshing to have someone so talented and reliable to make art for our business.” – Zak Dolezal with Duke’s Alehouse and Kitchen

What could be more fun than creating lovable characters for ice cream flavors? You guessed it… sampling the flavors! Julie Ann’s understands the importance of storytelling and has made it the priority for their business model.