Elspeth Alix Batt
Illustrator , Designer
Biography
I’ve always been able to draw quite well. I won awards in a couple of national design competitions while still at high school. I studied architecture and worked in fashion design before deciding to concentrate on “art” in some form. I completed a graphic design degree at AUT in the days before the computer revolution, but what I learnt there was a good start to illustration.
Since then, I have been on a continual learning curve, climbing rather more steeply when I taught myself to use a computer and design software like Photoshop and Illustrator. Using the computer has brought major changes in the way I produce illustrations, starting with instant access to reference material via the Internet through to the ease with which I can edit my work, erasing mistakes and changing colours with a few computer operations, without disturbing the rest of the illustration. The opportunity to play around with scanned textures means that I am really only limited by my imagination (and time, of course, as always with commissioned work). Occasionally, I still create an illustration with real brushes and paint, and if I make a mistake, I find myself wishing I could press Ctrl + Z!
My styles of illustration are usually realistic. I use pencil and/or pen for my initial drawings before scanning them and colouring them on the computer in various ways. I use a Wacom tablet with stylus on a PC with as much RAM as I could get crammed in. Photoshop is the software I mostly use, but Illustrator comes in handy for some work, like diagrams and artwork for screen-printed products such as flags and labels that need to be enlarged or reduced without losing definition. I have an A4 scanner but an A3 one would be better – piecing together a drawing on the computer can be time-consuming.
I have worked for book publishers, schools, greeting card companies, and I have even designed a set of stamps for NZ Post. Illustrating for Learning Media has been very stimulating because they work on such a diverse range of subjects and formats. I’ve learnt a lot about all sorts of things ranging from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to the Māori Battalion.
I have written a couple of stories, which I hope to illustrate sometime with a view to getting them published. I have also started painting “fine art” again and won a few awards in competitions.
It can be difficult to make an adequate living in freelance illustration. I have often had to have part-time jobs to help make ends meet. An aspiring illustrator needs lots of determination and self-motivation to keep illustrating and improving. I have tried to become as versatile as possible, which means I can confidently accept most commissions I am offered.
If I have any advice to give new illustrators, it would be this: try to be as objective as you can about your work. When you’ve spent many hours on an artwork, it’s hard to see what you need to change. And if you find drawing hands difficult, don’t draw figures who always have their hands behind them or in their pockets. It’s a dead give-away and limits your work. Don’t forget that you are trying to illustrate a text, and hands can be very expressive. Get a mirror and draw the ones at the ends of your arms! Understanding perspective is also a very useful skill to have.