Playing around with colours, Illustrations, and designs

JULIA Cornelius is a Jan Juc-based surface pattern designer, and emerging illustrator with a passion for colour.

Originally from Germany, Cornelius’ journey to Jan Juc, like many, began with travel around Australia in a van.

The avid surfer was looking for waves and a creative coastal community with her partner Mark and border collie Zozo.

“I grew up in Germany, near Hamburg. It’s pretty close to both the Baltic Sea and the North Sea and also close to Denmark so we used to spend quite a bit of time by the water,” Cornelius said.

“Believe it or not, I actually learned to surf in Germany. I remember I took part once in a ‘Ripcurl Girls Surfing Day’ on the island Sylt, and was hooked immediately.”

From a young age Cornelius loved the idea of going to Australia, with vivid pictures of coastlines, waves and warmth.

 

“My parents visited here when they were younger and kept talking about it,” she said.

“So, after I finished my studies in communication design in 2006, I finally packed my backpack and flew to Sydney, the very next day I went to Bondi Beach to hire a board and haven’t stopped surfing since.

“I literally drove around the continent in old cars and vans, with no air con, spending quite a bit of time in Margaret River, WA while working heaps of different jobs.

“I met my partner Mark here not long after I arrived, and we’ve been on adventures together ever since.”

The pair moved between Melbourne and Berlin for a few years, with Cornelius working in advertising at the time, until they decided to make the trek back to the coast.

“After spending pretty much every weekend driving down from Melbourne to the Surf Coast, we finally decided to move here in January 2020, just before COVID, best timing ever,” Cornelius said.

Now, Cornelius’ day to day revolves around what the waves are doing, giving her the creative clarity for pattern design as a freelance graphic designer and to craft colourful illustrations that stand out.

“It’s different every day, I’m a freelance graphic designer so it depends on the workload.

“Then it’s basically something like this: surf, work, dog walk, lunch, work, dog walk, dinner, work. With lots of coffees in between.”

 

For Cornelius, illustrations ­began as a hobby, incorporated into her design jobs, and grew into larger projects including her recent work on Katherine Sabbath’s recipe book, ‘Bake My Day’.

“It was a really fun project which allowed me to combine both design and illustration work,” Cornelius said.

Although Cornelius said she was still defining her style, she will always be drawn to colour and inspired by the coast.

“For client work I like to create a mood board before I start to help figure out a direction, colours and an overall ‘look and feel’.

“Illustrations are a fun way to create a mood or add personality to a project. There are no rules and you can be super creative.

“I also usually change colours continuously along the way. That’s my favourite part. I really love playing around with colours, it can change the whole design completely.

“Sometimes it can be quite whimsical, like some of my watercolour patterns. But I also like to use simple, bold shapes, stemming from my background as a graphic designer. I also really like to explore textures and create montage-style patterns, and illustrations.”

Recently, her works have been drawing from the colours and textures of the details of the wild coast she now calls home, noticing things many might not see in its spectacular details.

“I feel inspired by this beautiful coastline every day. Sometimes I get inspired by something I see on the beach, it can be a detail, like ripples in the sand or a tiny shell. And in general, spending time outdoors puts me in a better mood no matter what.

“I get inspired by my everyday life, walks on the beach or along the reserve, constantly taking photos of leaves and flowers when I walk my dog. I also like all kinds of plants, I love looking at all the gardens in our neighbourhood and I have around 70 house plants myself, so they are also a big inspiration.

 

For Cornelius, the most difficult part of illustrating and design will always be deciding when something is finished.

“Ideas can be limitless but that’s what’s great about digital art, you can always go back to it and change things. My digital files usually have hundreds of layers, but if it’s a watercolour or gouache painting I can take scans at different stages which allows me to go back a few steps if I choose to.”

 

Looking to the future, Julia is looking forward to enjoying the creativity and flexibility of her design and illustration and collaborating with other local artists and brands in the future.

“My aim is to keep doing the things I love for a living, illustrations, pattern designs and graphic design, while being able to surf and travel with the freedom to visit my family in Germany whenever I can, my nieces are still little and I want them to know their auntie in person.”

Currently Julia is working on more pattern designs available for licensing, now available on Spoonflower.com and Patternfieldapp.com.