We were lucky to catch up with Julia Williams recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Julia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

My parents take the cake on this one. They always encouraged me in my creative pursuits, and never said a word of discouragement when as a child I would proclaim that I was going to be an artist when I grew up. I got discouragement in other areas of my life, especially in school, where visual art is looked upon as an unrealistic life path. But, I am so grateful that I never felt any of that from my parents. I often thank them for their support in this way. It’s funny, when I thank my mom for being so supportive of my dream of being an artist, she says, “well I wouldn’t have been if I didn’t think you could do it!” Thanks for believing in me :)

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I always knew I was going to be an artist; from the time I could hold a pencil I was always drawing. As I grew up I knew I wanted to have a career that would allow me enough creative expression to be happy, so I chose to go to school for graphic design. After college, I worked as a designer/illustrator/art director at several design agencies in Boulder. After 8 years in the industry, I decided I wanted the freedom of freelance, so I quit my agency job and went out on my own. I had been interested in painting murals, so I painted a few in my own home, and then applied to CRUSH Walls in Denver in 2019. To my surprise, I was accepted! This was the first real big wall I got to paint, and the first time I had used spraypaint in an artistic way. I immediately fell in love and realized this was what I wanted to do. After that experience, I aggressively pursued any and all opportunities to spraypaint on big walls, and started making headway into fully making it my career. That passion has led me to where I am today – a full-time artist, which was always my childhood dream. I am so proud of the artwork I am creating and the opportunities I’ve created by going after this so hard.

Something that sets me apart from many other artists is my robust design background. Working in agencies for many years, I became very comfortable working with large teams, under different types of constraints, and with varying budgets and deadlines. I can easily take feedback and work together with the client to come up with the best artistic solution. The sense of professionalism I gained from my time in design agencies comes through in the way I run my business, and makes me easy to work with. My design background also makes my artwork very focused and considered. It has dramatically affected the way I create compositions, and I have a good sense of flow and hierarchy that would have been difficult to develop any other way.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson that I had to unlearn to be able to fully pursue this path was that being a visual artist is not a viable career option. When I was a child I always knew that I would be an artist when I grew up. It wasn’t until high school that I started to pare down my expectations. I didn’t see anyone making a good living as a visual artist, and I knew that I wanted to start my life out with a stable job. I truly believed that it wasn’t possible to make a living selling artwork. So, I decided on what felt like the next best thing: a career in graphic design/illustration. So, I made it my major in college. I was so set on having a creative career that I wasn’t willing to take the risk of getting a degree in studio art and then having to waitress to pay the bills. I wanted to spend the majority of my time creating, and graphic design was the clearest pathway to this. I did love graphic design, and I became the go-to person at my design agencies for illustration work, which was what I enjoyed most. But I reached a point where I knew that I wanted to develop my own artwork style further, and was tired of imitating the styles of others in order to fit a particular design project. I quit my job with the intention of doing freelance design and illustration work and trying to carve out a niche in illustration. It wasn’t until I found murals that I realized that being a visual artist could be a truly viable career. Because of the scale and pricing of murals, coupled with the speed of spraypainting, creating mural artwork quickly became more lucrative for me than graphic design and illustration had ever been. It’s almost like I accidentally proved to myself that my long-held belief was completely false. And wow, I am so grateful to have been proven wrong. I still think that being a visual artist is a very difficult career path, and you must be very skilled and dedicated to make it work. But it’s definitely not impossible!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being an artist is something that I didn’t truly discover until I started painting murals, and that is the effect my artwork has on other people. It is an amazing feeling to be out there painting and to have people coming up to you constantly, thanking you for making their community more beautiful. I’ve heard countless stories of locals who walk past my work daily and it brightens their day. The fact that I am bringing color and joy to people is such a wonderful feeling. I don’t even know how many people have been affected by my artwork, and having that kind of impact feels so rewarding. I love that sharing my gift in this way can help bring joy to others.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thedesignosaur.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedesignosaur/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thedesignosaur/

Image Credits
Main Hero Image: Seth McConnell