Meet LA-based illustrator, Julia Yellow

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hi hi, I’m Julia Yellow, an LA based Taiwanese Illustrator.

I grew up on the edge of the city of Taipei. Although I’m pretty much from the city, I spent a lot of my childhood in Wulai Mountain—running in the rain and mud, climbing trees and rocks, making fire almost the “survivor” style, catching fish with bare hands in the river.

In 2008, I came to the States to attend SCAD to study illustration and graduated as the valedictorian of class 2012 (so proud of myself as a broken English speaker so I had to brag, and yeah, I’m pretty nerdy).  After that, I moved to New York, started my career as a freelance illustrator, broke a bone the first time on my drawing hand while snowboarding, and met my life-long human and cat partners.  Then 8 years after, we decided to leave NY and move to LA so my inner forever-child have enough space to go wild.

I love creating illustrations that have a whimsical atmosphere with some wittiness and playfulness; love hiding little things in the illustrations and make viewers play hide-and seek with them.

When I’m not drawing, I’m either sniffing my cat, admiring my plants’ new growths, or watching Youtube on how to do an Ollie.

Describe the city you’re living in and what it’s like to live there.

I’ve only lived in LA for 2 years now so I don’t think I have a full scope of the experience. It’s definitely a very diverse, colorful, vivid, outdoorsy city. The weather is always good and the cactus is amazingly huge and it’s everywhere (I’ve only seen cactus on desk before)   

I’ve only lived in LA for 2 years now so I don’t think I have a full scope of the experience. It’s definitely a very diverse, colorful, vivid, outdoorsy city. The weather is always good and the cactus is amazingly huge and it’s everywhere (I’ve only seen cactus on desk before)   

What is the best and worst thing about living in your city?

The best thing living in LA as an Asian is that the food is SO GOOD! When I lived in NY, my LA friends kept telling me how good the food was and I was rolling my eyes like “c’mon, I’m from NY, we have one of the most diverse food. too!”  Then I moved to LA and now I’m that person who can’t stop telling friends in NY how good the food is.

The worst thing is the 24hr traffic and the subway that doesn’t go to too many places. LA is so huge!

Give us 3 words that describe what it’s like to be a creative in your city.

NY: Energetic, Stimulating, Ambitious,

LA: Nutritious, Colorful, Balanced

Taipei: Cozy, Friendly, Growing.

How did you start your career in art?

In my last year at SCAD, the department invited a New York Times art director as a guest speaker and he was going to give portfolio reviews for the graduate students the next day. The professor who held the event winked at me (I was an undergrad) and said “If you happen to pass by room 101 and you happen to have your portfolio with you, we might happen to be able to look at your portfolio, too”   

So I went and was let in.  I was so nervous I ended up chatting only about food in New York while he flipped through my portfolio.  The next day I sent an email but I was too shy to promote my work so I simply said thank you for the feedback and have the links of the places I recommended with my website at the very bottom.  Who knows? The next week I got my first gig and he was my first regular client.

Then the rest was just slowly building up over time from there, though my promotion skills remain rookie.

Were the people around you supportive of your decision on working as a creative?

Thankfully, yes. I grew up in a family full of scholars and scientists that really focus on the academic success. I think my family would have wanted me to go for another path but luckily I always struggled at school when I was little and drawing was the only thing I loved and did pretty good so there’s not much of “what if you try this? maybe you can be that? is there better options?”  and I was really lucky that I was free to be the way I was.

I used to think that my goal was to do this big project or that big project. But later working 10 years and working on all kinds of big and small projects, I think my goal shifts from outer to inner—I’d like to stay excited about the work I do and curious of the new things.

What are some goals and ambitions you have for your future work?

I used to think that my goal was to do this big project or that big project. But later working 10 years and working on all kinds of big and small projects, I think my goal shifts from outer to inner—I’d like to stay excited about the work I do and curious of the new things. It is so important to stay fresh and well-balanced for a long-lasting career but it can also be very challenging and could be a constant struggle for a lot of creatives.

If it’s simply just the outer goals, I’d really love to one day have the opportunity to bring my work into 3D sculptures, murals paintings and have my own line of merchandise.

If you could collaborate with any person in the world who would it be?

Haha! I’d love to collaborate with Taili Wu! I love her playful mind, colorful work and also her kind kind soul.  Her style and process is bold and expressive, which is something I feel like I lack of and I’m very attracted to it.

In fact, we are currently working on some projects together remotely (sigh, 2021’s norm). But I’d really really love to collaborate on some stop motion or ceramic creation project with her in person!

What are the biggest challenges you face in working as a creative?

The biggest one is finding the balance of commercial and personal work—sometimes it just feels like your brain juice is dried up and the excitements are all gone!

I think especially I work digitally, I really miss working with my hands and creating something that I can touch.  Having a creative career is probably like having a long-tern relationship—how to keep the sparks and not get beaten up by the daily little things are the all-time challenge.

I am surrounded by women who are very caring, humble, honest and playful.

How would you describe the women around you?

I am surrounded by women who are very caring, humble, honest and playful.

Were there any local female creatives that you looked up to when you were growing up?

Not really, I was those kinds of kids who were really living inside of their own worlds and not really noticing what was outside.  I loved reading manga but never really paid attention to the artists until I was older.  Also, I was reading boy’s manga mostly.

Believe in yourself. Have fun with it. Explore.  You’d always improve the most when you enjoy it.

Do you have any advice for other women who are aspiring to work in your field?

Believe in yourself. Have fun with it. Explore.  You’d always improve the most when you enjoy it.

What type of music do you like to listen to?

When I work I like listening to coffee table jazz or Bossa Nova—something light and refreshing.

But to be honest, I spend a big chunk of the time listening to crime shows and podcasts. I think my husband is scared of me now.

What’s your favorite local food spot?

There are too many good food in LA to pick from! I love the restaurants in Thai town—Rodded, Hollywood Thai, Ruan Pair, etc.  My husband is from Thailand so we go very often.

I also really enjoyed the taco trucks introduced in an episode of Ugly Delicious and would love to explore more of it!

Ke Cui asks: Do you prefer sticking with one style or experimenting with different styles?

For commercial work, it kind of needs to have a cohesive look on the website so I try to stick with one or slowly merge new things in.  But in private time, I love to explore and try different styles and medium.

Seo young asks: What is your favorite process of working?

For work, I do everything digitally in photoshop—from sketch to final. I’m a little uptight and sometimes get too obsessed with details—I don’t want to blame myself so I’ll blame it on the unlimited zoom in and control Z.

For personal work, I really try to let loose and get out of control (which is not so easy for me) so I always doodle without sketching to force myself to go with the flow.

What question would you like us to ask the next artist?

What do you do when you hit the artist-blocks and what do you do to prevent burn-outs?

Photos courtesy of Julia Yellow