Growing up in Türkiye, Başak spent her childhood immersed in the worlds of Asterix, Tintin, and Le Petit Nicolas. She created her own magazines, sketched her favorite characters, and imagined stories. As the eldest child of an engineer family, her journey began with academic excellence and degrees in environmental engineering and business.

Moving to San Francisco shifted her perspective. While living there, Başak took her first drawing classes—architectural sketches, figure drawing, and watercolors—and fell in love with the creative process. Designing her wedding invitations introduced her to the craft of letterpress, where she combined her eye for design with a tactical approach to creation. These experiences planted the seeds for her artistic career.

When she moved to Chicago, she pursued design certifications, honed her skills in illustration, and eventually worked with global names like Penguin Publishing and Cartier. She has been commissioned by companies in Turkey and locally in Midwest. Her art became a reflection of her bicultural life between Turkey and the US, blending personal nostalgia with universal themes.

Today, Başak Notz is a visual storyteller based in Chicago. She belongs to Women Who Draw directory and Society of Illustrators. Her illustrations, paired with handwritten words, invite viewers to slow down, reflect, and find beauty and wonder in the everyday. With her first studio and a new focus on original art, she’s crafting a future as meaningful as her journey.