Drawing music: Evelyn Batista

Evelyn Batista
13.09.2023
5 minutes reading

I've realized over time that music is one of my first ways of making connections with people: when I meet someone I don't talk to them about illustration, or film, I talk to them about music. Every new person is an opportunity to discover a little piece of that world and I desperately go to ask them for their playlists and their songs. I feel it's a good way to get to know the others.

Music is there from the moment I wake up; I have my rituals when I wake up and one of them is to choose what I will listen to. I know I am "present" when I spend some time in the morning choosing what I want to start the day with.

In my head I had done a lot of jobs related to music, then I realized that I don't really have that many and I was amazed, because of how convinced I was that I had a lot to do with this subject... I think because of the desire to be more involved with a world that fascinates me.

The first thing I did related to music was some flyers and a poster for Magazine AM:PM when I was just starting to illustrate. Then, I had the pleasure of being the illustrator and designer of the launching campaign for the album fire flies by Roly Berrío, an artist who came to me through very special people and who has remained very connected to my image of Havana. This is a work that I am very fond of, and of which I feel very proud.

Also, thinking about music, this year I was the designer and illustrator of the Urban Music Festival of Valencia MUV, which I enjoyed every bit and with which I was also very happy, it's very simple: when you like the theme, the work is enjoyed, there are not many turns to give it.

I have also had another form of relationship with music: through animation, where I don't necessarily work with songs but with sound. As a designer at the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños, I made small animation clips, to which I put the sound myself. Many times in a very experimental way I recorded things and put them in the background, or distorted some library sound, sound designers will want to kill me but for me it was a super interesting way to approach music from creation. Other times there have been small animations to which a friend, composer and sound designer, has added the music, and it has also been interesting to see that conversation between my images and their music.

Inspiration always depends more on my mood or the moment of my life than on the type of project. Thinking about Roly's campaign, or a videoclip I'm about to make, I think my formula is to listen a thousand times, naturalize the song, and then detach myself from what I heard and start drawing. That way I find a good balance between what I hear and what I feel, which gives me better results.

What music can't I miss? I have an absolute love for Brazilian, there is something that connects me with almost everything I listen to from Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso, Maria Gadú, Joao Gilberto... they are my comfort zone, what never fails and my way to start the day most of the times. What albums would I take with me to a desert island? That's a difficult question, I think one of Fito Paez, Del 63, Giros; o La la la laby Spinetta. Although he is not an artist that I have been listening to in recent times, his music has been with me since I was very little, in my house it was played a lot, they are special to me, I have kept intact my love for these records for many years.

If I could dream of what other music artists I would collaborate with, without thinking twice I would say Silvana Estrada and Silvia Pérez Cruz. Incredible women, incredible music, I would love to work with them sometime.