Illustrator Profile: Isabella Abbott

Isabella Abbott claimed that she’s enjoyed art “genuinely, for as long as I can remember. I’ve liked drawing all throughout school, I did lots of art classes.” At the start of the last academic year, Abbott, a fourth year neuroscience student, began her role as an illustrator for The Saint. 

In response to what motivated her to apply as a Saint illustrator, Abbott said, “Well, I just really like doing art, and I thought it was a good way to force myself to do some art every couple of weeks.”

Abbott's self portrait.

“How long have you been into art?” I asked.

“Pretty much my whole life,” she responded. “I come from a very not artsy family, but my family really, really like art. My parents were very big on dragging us to art galleries.”

Discussing her inspirations and favourite artists, Abbott said, “I’m a really big fan of a lot of impressionist art, like Monet and [artists] like that. I went to a really, really good exhibition in Madrid this summer of this guy called Nestor. He’s honestly become one of my new favourite artists; he’s long dead, but it was just really cool.”

Abbott said she was drawn towards the impressionists by “the use of colour and the subject matter. It’s always quite dreamy, the style of painting as well.”

Discussing her process when illustrating, Abbott said, “I normally sketch out roughly what I want to do, and then I’ll honestly just Google different things that I want to be in the illustration.” It takes “normally a few hours, maybe a little bit longer, depends on the illustration.”

A particularly unique part of Abbott’s style is her use of cut and paste elements in illustrations; “That was honestly so random; I was just trying out oil pastels, and then I found it easier to do that. If there’s a lot of elements going on, I find it easier to do them all separately, and then put it together.” Abbott’s preferred mediums are acrylic and oil paint, but she has also “really been enjoying using oil pastels lately. I think they’re really fun.” 

In addition to illustrating for The Saint, Abbott has done art for MAZE, the psychology and neuroscience magazine. I asked Abbott about whether or not there was any overlap between her enthusiasm for art and her STEM degree, and whether there was any relation between the two. “I actually wrote an article in MAZE about art therapy,” she said. “For me, I find art very therapeutic. I think it’s good for the brain, just creating something.”

“And I think for me, when I’m drawing, I don’t really think of anything else specifically. I’m just drawing, and then letting thoughts come to me.”

Abbott’s illustrations are available online on The Saint website. 

Illustrations by Isabella Abbott