We’re looking forward to introducing you to Jim Julo. Check out our conversation below.
Good morning Jim, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What battle are you avoiding?
Currently my studio space is an absolute disaster. I have been putting off cleaning it for months. It’s filled with stacks of sketches and books. Random projects, materials and proofs are piled up on tables. It looks like a grenade went off. I have avoided cleaning it or even attempting to clean it and organize it for months now. It hasn’t gotten so bad that I can’t work but I have lost things in the stacks. I’ll have some time coming up that I will finally organize everything again and then I’ll be ready to start the off season with a nice clean space.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m James Julo, but I go by Jim or Jimmy (if your feeling bold or are related to me), and I’m the artist behind Cursed Hallow. I’m a traditional style pen and ink illustrator that draws inspiration from 14th and 15th century engravings and woodcuts, old scientific animal illustrations and weird occult manuscripts. I like to blend traditional fine line work into new designs. My subjects tend to be animals, monsters and skeletons. Truth be told I just enjoy drawing things that I think would look interesting or different.
I started selling my work semiprofessionally four years ago at a weekly arts and crafts pop up called Art Garden KC. Art Garden KC is a 501c3 that offers low cost events for both new and established artists and crafters and provides things such as tables and tents to those who are just starting their art journey out, as well a whole community of other artists who bring experience and knowledge. I started volunteering before and after shows and now I’m a site manager for the organization. So now I help plan layouts of events, assist vendors to where they need to be, set up the stage (the Art Garden has a large portable stage that hosts local musicians and DJs at most of their events) and problem solve the random issues that spring up when you have 60+ artisans every week. Over the years Art Garden KC grew from a handful of artists in a small neighborhood park to hosting the vendors in the Crossroads Art District on First Fridays and doing the programing for the events and activities in the Kansas City City Market on Sundays and their holiday market.
The opportunity that I got with Art Garden KC allowed me to find a community that I didn’t know existed and gave me a place to start my path to professionally sell my art. Four years ago I started selling only my hand illustrated originals and now I have expanded into more practical things. In addition to my originals I now sell prints, keychains, pins, banners, shirts, tarot cards, stickers and hats, all with my designs, 25 years ago this type of production was unheard of and would be impossible without taking out a massive loan. But now, I have been able to take the money I’ve made from selling art and reinvest it into making new products, without ever having to borrow a dime. Four years ago I wouldn’t have believed that I would be spending my weekends travelling to different shows in the Midwest or doing events with galleries. It has truly been an empowering experience.
I’m currently working on some character design illustrations for a local author. Her newest book comes out on November 1st, so I’m fully engaged in that to meet that deadline. I also have a few new shirt and hat designs I’m working on as well as a bandana. And my last current project is to add some more cards to the tarot deck I have been working on this year. I can’t settle one just one design per card so I have different illustrations for the card, or they have different color ways. It started as a thing I would just add to and has grown more and more in scope over the past couple months.
The next few months are my busy season for travel. I have some local shows coming up as well as some Renaissance fairs I’ll be doing in October, ending my season down in Arkansas. Then I’ll be back to start work on whatever new projects or designs I thought of while I was on the road.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
Money. I hate it. Truly mankinds most evil invention. I can’t think of anything that has inherently caused more fights or worries or insecurities than money. At this point, just burn it all down and start over. If we didn’t need it just to exist, I would give everything I made away if it meant it brought some kind of joy to someone. I’ll tell people to steal my work if they like it that much. I don’t charge people if they want to get one of my pieces tattooed, I just say send me a picture when it’s done. I still will give stuff away, because it helps remind me why I even make art. If I started doing shows with an expectation of something other than trying to have a good time then I’ve lost sight of why I even put myself out there like that. Trying to make money in art is exhausting and is shockingly expensive. People don’t understand that. But making something for someone you love and surprising them with it only costs time. So while I think money divides, true love and kindness patches that divide. What I do isn’t important in the big scheme of things, but sometimes someone just needs that small act of kindness to change their whole perspective and if I can do that by making something or giving it away, then that’s worth it.
Is there something you miss that no one else knows about?
There’s lots of things I miss that I keep to myself. Some a lot more than others, one thing in particular. And some are just silly or ridiculous. But for the sake of answering this question, the thing that I miss is probably sleep. Not normal sleep though, there’s a sleep that you only get when you’re a kid that I desperately miss. That sleep where you know you had an amazing day and all the great things happened and it lasted forever. The kind of sleep where you don’t spend time worrying about what happened that day or what is gonna happen the next day. A sleep that is actually restful where I actually dream. That’s what I miss and one day I hope I can have that again.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Is the public version of you the real you?
No, not exactly. There’s some elements of the real me in the public persona. I’m inherently a very private person. I don’t like the idea of people getting too close or getting to really know me. I have imposter syndrome pretty bad so I can project something else that’s more confident when it comes to doing in person events. Over the last couple years the line between the two has started to blur though, for better or worse.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
Hope and reality are two separate things, but I hope people would tell a story of someone who finally had enough confidence to follow what his heart was telling him to do and do what made him happy. That he followed though and finally made up his mind on what his dream was and accomplished it and then some. That he found success in his passion that allowed him to be comfortable and not wanting to crawl out of his skin. And that he stopped comparing himself to others and went down his own path that lifted others up and was selfless and because of that he did something important. Because in the end of all things, he just wanted to matter and to a few he did.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ko-fi.com/cursedhallow
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/cursed_hallow
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/cursed_hallow
Image Credits
Image credits: Jim Julo
