— Within the scope of the project, I wanted to understand audio description not as an addition, translation, or interpretation, but as part of the artwork itself—a way of making illustration through sound. After receiving short training from Anne Hornsby of Mind’s Eye, a UK-based audio description service, we began working on our descriptions. Throughout this process, Anne’s guidance was invaluable to us.

Illustration is a creative field filled with characters, environments, worlds, shapes, colours, and textures—produced through both analogue and digital techniques, and shaped by personal choices and styles. I imagined, and came to believe, that the audio description of illustrations could move beyond standardised forms. Through this differentiation in sound design, I wanted to emphasise the diversity of illustration itself.

Since illustration consists of visual narratives, I asked each artist questions such as: What emotion is dominant in your illustration? What kind of environment does your illustration take place in? What kinds of sounds do you imagine emerging from your illustration? I asked myself the same questions. For example, for my illustration A Seat at the Table, I imagined the audio narrative as a group of people entering a room, sitting around a table, talking, laughing, drinking coffee, and then leaving once the meeting was over. Visually, they simply appear to be in a meeting, but the audio narrative describes that transient moment in greater, more atmospheric detail.

Some digital illustrations shared a similar approach. For instance, in Gizem Güvendağ’s work set in a hammam, we aimed—at her request—to make the description sound as though it had been recorded within a real hammam. Of course, not all descriptions followed this approach; there were many distinct preferences.

For illustrations created using analogue techniques, I asked a few further questions, such as: What materials did you use to make your illustration? Do you remember what kinds of sounds those materials made while you were creating it?

Sophie Kamlish, for example, works with animation as well as illustration and had already been recording sounds herself. She captured the real sound of removing her prosthetic leg, and also the sound of her felt-tip pens as she drew. Similarly, Aysun Altındağ, who creates paper collages, recorded the sounds of tearing and cutting thick watercolour paper, allowing us to convey analogue techniques and their tactile nuances in a playful way.

For illustrators who left the sound design entirely to the team, we sought advice from blind musician Peter Bosher. In addition to developing the audio narratives, he sometimes suggested adding short dialogues. For instance, for S.K. Schäfer’s illustration, we used sounds that evoked strangers interacting with and touching different parts of the main character’s body.

Audio descriptions by the authors establish a strong individual presence. What do you think should/could happen for audio descriptions of illustrations that are commissioned and hence often heavily negotiated between art-directors, marketing teams, distributors, customers and the whole network of people surrounding the commissioned image?

I’ve experienced two scenarios so far that might offer some insight into what could happen. The first was with my accessible comic “The Land of Uncertainty” and “A Seat at the Table” in Accessible Lines, where the artist — in this case, me — either had the primary role in proposing and directing the audio description with support from a sound designer, or all decisions regarding audio description were left to the accessibility specialists of the collaborating organisation, who then handled it entirely.

In my first experience, working on the comic and within the Accessible Lines, I received support from Paddy Johnston for the sound design. This meant I had the right to decide on the overall direction, while his valuable suggestions made the results far exceed my expectations. In my second experience — with my accessible webcomic The Big Picture: Behind the Social Model — Unlimited’s accessibility team produced the audio description in-house and also prepared all the alternative formats according to their own standards.

These experiences have both been valuable, but I still wish I could have offered more input or perhaps voiced one of the characters in the accessible webcomic. Considering these two experiences, I think commissioned illustrations with audio descriptions could lead to a variety of outcomes. Art directors’ suggestions have often greatly improved my initial illustration ideas, so I’m curious — and hopeful — about how an art director’s approach might influence this process in the future. Still, the possibilities that arise when the entire network has a say are a little daunting; it could be an unpredictable experiment, and we’ll have to wait to find out what results emerge.

— To ensure the online platform remains sustainable and affordable long-term, I used a website builder service and customised it despite its limitations—which I hope will improve in the near future. I created the branding and designed the site to align with it, treating it like a simple sketchbook where illustrations and audio descriptions would be the main focus. Sabrina Tirvengadum helped implement my draft into the final design, ensuring accessibility in line with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA standards through testing and finishing touches. In addition to prioritising bilingual audio descriptions, easy access to full transcripts in English and Turkish, the use of a dyslexia-friendly typeface, and high colour contrast standards for low-vision users were all considered.

— Ah, what a wonderful idea—let’s imagine it right away! I can’t envision a future for illustration, or for any other field, without AI. I suppose many others can’t either, though we often see it as a threat. Rather than using AI purely for visual production, if it were applied in a creative-friendly and accessibility-focused way—with rights remaining with the artist—it could make the accessibility of illustrations much easier.

For instance, when I prepare the image description for one of my illustrations, imagine if AI could create an audio version in my own voice. If I could adjust the tone according to the illustration’s mood—more cheerful, excited, or angry—based on my own data, I could produce audio descriptions for all my illustrations readily.

If AI could also select the most suitable ambient sounds from my field recordings, matching them with my descriptions and arranging them using my sound archive, that would be wonderful. For quicker social media sharing, if it could generate alt-text in my writing style—by applying my descriptive approach—and allow me to edit it easily, that would make ensuring every post includes alt-text so much simpler. Imagining this future is truly uplifting! There’s also a future of illustration accessibility shaped by the preferences of blind and low-vision audiences—I’ll leave that to another daydream, or to the imagination of readers who will encounter this interview.

For this to become reality, accessibility first needs to be part of illustration, art, and design education. Likewise, we need more disabled artists and designers to create this change and, if necessary, drive it forward. In publishing and on digital platforms, accessibility standards must be implemented and promoted more widely; in commissioned work, ensuring accessible delivery should be encouraged by including it in the payment and making it an integral part of the brief.

Years ago, Alice Wong—whom I remember so fondly—asked me to deliver the illustrations I created for her book Year of the Tiger with image descriptions included, for example.