Nice to meet you in this online space; thank you for visiting!
My name is Gijs Batelaan, and I am a musician living in the Netherlands (Haarlem, to be precise). Music is one of my big loves, and I have been working as a guitarist, composer, and songwriter since I was 13 years old. I work as a teacher at the Utrecht Conservatory, and besides playing live, I record music in my own studio.
"So why make a portfolio?” I hear you ask. Well, that is a great question that I will probably need to answer a couple of times…
I guess my explanation would be that drawing is my second (or maybe first!) big love. Drawing, to me, is a celebration of life. It is an act of playful courage that connects me to my human roots. I also found a way to combine music and drawing, if that interests you, go check the animation page. To be honest I am equally terrified for this space to exist, as for it to be nonexistent. Sharing parts of my sketchbook and comics feels really ’naked' because I never feel they are properly finished or ‘good enough,' but I need to put them out in order to move on, or so it seems. It might also motivate me to try and make better things every time, haha…
I wish this space will allow me to meet other artists like myself. That would be so much fun and valuable as well. I want to learn so much more and find out what my story is about, while working on all those foundational skills in drawing, writing, scripting, and thinking about art and music in general, this is it!
Find out about all kinds of my music projects on my website or on my Instagram. But I must admit, my social media behavior is not yet ‘commercially’ smart in any way. However, I do occasionally like to doomscroll around the park. That being said, I would still love to hear from you through all means provided.
Hope you feel inclined to do so,
Gijs Batelaan
PS: the portrait above was made by photographer Jaap Kroon, you can find a drawing on him in my sketchbook, just look for the camera...
Thank you!