Annette Reilly is Here to Make Your Doodles Come to Life
Posted on June 29, 2026
What do you get when you take a child’s doodle and place it in the hands of a professional artist? Something a little—make believable!
That’s the whimsical, art-filled atmosphere of wonder that digital content creator Annette Reilly brings to her TELUS STORYHIVE Voices series, Make Believable. Each week, Annette (known on Make Believable as Artsy Annie) welcomes a young doodler with a big imagination to the Make Believable Studio to share a drawing and what inspired it. They visit a local artist who brings the artwork to life by baking, sculpting, forging or more. The results are always magical.
We caught up with Annette to learn more about what inspired her series, what makes kids such wonderful artists and storytellers, and the magic of bringing these doodles to life.
STORYHIVE: Tell us a little about yourself and your creative background!
Annette Reilly: I began in theatre, participating in community theatre as a kid before earning a degree in theatre (BFA) from the University of Victoria. While I was still in high school, I also got into film and television as an actor, and that really sparked my interest in filmmaking.
In my late twenties, I started making my own short films and eventually went all in on behind-the-camera work. I wanted to understand every aspect of filmmaking. That led me to continue acting while also directing and producing. Today, I primarily work as a first assistant director.
STORYHIVE: What inspired the idea for your TELUS STORYHIVE Voices series, Make Believable?
Annette Reilly: Make Believable was inspired by my eldest daughter during the pandemic. She's incredibly creative. She's autistic and ADHD, and one of her special interests is drawing. She would draw things for me, and then we'd make them together—cupcakes, outfits, all kinds of creations.
Around Halloween, she'd design costumes and I'd make them for her. It became this really fun creative tradition that we shared. At some point I started thinking, "How cool would this be if professional artists did it?"
Through filmmaking and theatre, though, I know so many incredibly talented artists here in Vancouver. I thought it would be amazing if different kids could draw pictures, and then these artists could use their incredible skills to bring those drawings to life.
Around the same time, my younger daughter was born, and I found myself thinking about children's television. It's changed so much over the years. A lot of it is very flashy, very fast-paced, and mostly animated. I have this nostalgic streak for shows like Mr. Dressup, Fred Penner, Polka Dot Door, and Sharon, Lois & Bram. I loved the slower pace of those shows—the music, the teaching, the art, the quiet moments. I remember thinking, "We need more content like that today."
STORYHIVE: At the heart of the series are kids’ drawings and imaginations. What do you think makes kids such natural storytellers and creators?
Annette Reilly: I think they just haven't learned all the rules of society yet, and that's brilliant. If they want a tree to be blue, then the tree is blue. They haven't had someone tell them, "No, trees aren't blue. Trees have green leaves."
Kids' imaginations are this beautiful, untapped world of creativity and exploration. If you keep saying "yes, and..." to kids, they'll continue to explore and create. It's this incredible ability they have that, unfortunately, tends to get stripped away as we get closer to adulthood.
STORYHIVE: What was it like seeing children's drawings come to life for the first time?
Annette Reilly: Our first test was actually with my eldest daughter, Gwen! We worked with Holly from Punk Rock Pastries, who was wonderful and already had television experience. Watching Gwen see her drawing recreated was incredible. Her face just lit up.
Another child, Esther, had drawn these two koi fish intertwined. It was pen on lined paper; very simple, very unassuming. And I think she almost felt a bit apologetic about it when she submitted it. But the drawing itself was so beautiful.
An artist suggested it might be better suited to someone else they knew, someone who had a deeper cultural connection to koi fish. That kind of collaboration ended up being really meaningful.
And then when Esther saw her drawing transformed into an actual sculpture in front of her, you could see it hit her. It was like, “Oh wow…my drawing is something real, in the world!” I think there was this shift in her, this quiet moment of pride. Like she realized she didn’t need to apologize for it at all. That one really stands out for me.
As we get older, we're often told our ideas aren't possible. Seeing these wonderfully wild drawings become tangible made me hope those kids leave the experience thinking, "My dreams are possible. The things I imagine can become real."
STORYHIVE: The series has a gentle and encouraging tone that invites kids to explore their own creativity. How did you approach creating that atmosphere both on and off camera?
Annette Reilly: It starts with treating children and their artwork with respect. It's easy to dismiss something as "just a kid's drawing," but it isn't. Their art is an expression of who they are.
We took genuine interest in every drawing. We'd ask how they made it, why they chose certain colours, what inspired them. We treated their creative process as something meaningful.
As parents, we're all guilty of sometimes saying, "That's nice," while we're distracted by everything else happening in life. But when you really stop and engage with what they've created, they feel seen. That helped put the kids at ease on set.
Having worked as an acting coach with children, I also know that kids respond to authenticity. If you're open and genuine with them, they'll respond in kind.
STORYHIVE: This isn’t your first time funded by STORYHIVE! Your short film, A Typical Fairytale, was funded back in 2018. What has your experience been like participating in the STORYHIVE program, and what are some of the biggest lessons or highlights you've taken away from it?
Annette Reilly: When I made A Typical Fairytale, it was the first time I had been fully in charge of a production. There was still a lot of self-doubt. This time, that doubt wasn't there. I've grown in my confidence and self-belief.
What STORYHIVE has given me is the opportunity to step into creative positions I wouldn't otherwise have access to, and prove to both the world and myself that I can do them. A Typical Fairytale was deeply personal, but I was directing someone else's script. Make Believable came entirely from my own imagination.
I spent much of my life being told my dreams wouldn't happen. Now here's a show that existed only in my head, and it's become real, just like the kids' drawings!
Without STORYHIVE's support, patience and belief throughout a production where just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong, this series wouldn't exist. They gave me the opportunity to believe that what's inside my imagination works, and deserves to exist.
STORYHIVE: What's next for Make Believable?
Annette Reilly: Right now we're seeking funding for a second season while also exploring additional international distribution for Season One. We're also talking with producers in other countries because the vision for this show has always been much bigger than Vancouver.
There are artists everywhere in the world, and there are children everywhere in the world. I'd love to see local hosts in cities around the globe connecting children with artists in their own communities. Whether it's Tokyo, London, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City or anywhere else, the concept remains the same: bringing joy through art while celebrating local creativity and culture!
Join us in congratulating Annette on her incredible success! Explore Make Believable Season 1 now streaming on TELUS Optik TV Video on Demand channel 9, Stream+ and STORYHIVE Kids TV’s YouTube channel.