Denver Artist Creates Video To Help Kids During COVID Pandemic

DENVER (CBS4) – For six years, Julie Reiters has lived and worked as an illustrator in Denver. She says, during the pandemic, her creativity is at an all-time high.

"I think that hard times inspire great creativity," she explained. "COVID has grounded so many things to a halt. There are so many true hardships going on out there, but with animation and design, you kind of have to be isolated to create things."

The past several months have allowed her to create short, animated films. Her latest is called "Christmas This Year."

Reiters told CBS4's Mekialaya White she got an inkling to put pen to paper about a month and a half ago.

"I found myself getting another creative spark I suppose. Since I had already laid the design with some characters in a previous film and color palettes in the style – I was like, 'I have the time. I think everyone could use this message right now and it could be really fun.'"

From there, her holiday creation unfolded quickly.

"I wrote the voiceover script and had the images in my head already. And then it was go time. Time was of the essence, and I wanted to get it out to the world before the holidays," she said.

The two-minute film explains how Santa will continue to make his rounds dropping off presents and assures watchers he has all the tools to safely make it happen.

"Santa is ready, he's got his mask. It's an odd Christmas, yes, but he's up to the task!" the narrator explains. "The reindeer will stand a good six feet apart, and there will be temperature checks before they depart. He'll enter your home, heading straight for the tree. He will not roam."

Reiters says the overall message is that the holidays will happen no matter what.

"Like the video says Santa is one dependable guy and not much of anything can get in his way, so even if the holidays look and feel a little different, the important part is they're still there," she explained.

"It's just so worth it. I love bringing a smile to someone's face even if it is as goofy as Santa needing hand sanitizer," Reiters laughed. "It's really shown me that if you have a little bit of a vision and you just take the time to develop it, take those baby steps you can really hit the ground running and create something that brings joy or makes people happy."