Babs Tarr has found something that eludes most comic creators – zen. In an industry where most creators are plagued by disproportionate wages, cancelled projects, and layoffs, Tarr finds herself in a creative renaissance. Thanks to crowdfunding and commissions, Tarr is able to pick her projects, giving her a sense of artistic freedom that has opened so many doors.

Babs Tarr became a household name when she handled art duties on Batgirl. Working alongside Brenden Fletcher and Cameron Stewart, Tarr helped redefine the character in a run that took the industry by storm. This led to Motor Crush, a series Tarr worked on with Batgirl collaborators Fletcher and Stewart. Motor Crush is currently in the rearview mirror (for now), but Tarr’s star continues to rise.

We recently had a chance to catch up with the legendary artist, who shared her plans. From fashion to spicy dating sims, here’s what Babs Tarr is currently up to.

Popverse: After Motor Crush, you seemed to take a break from interior comic work. How has your relationship with comics changed, and what do you want out of comics?

Babs Tarr: I actually did an Overwatch book after Motor Crush. Comics was never my dream or my end goal, but it's been such a fucking fun wild ride to be a part of this community. I've fallen in love with it the more I work on it. And it's so different from just an illustration because you get to get in people's hearts. And on a monthly basis you're in their hearts every week, and you get this fervor of people excited. It is a ton of work. I feel like the people that really are full-time comic artists, and they do nothing else, they're built of different stuff than I am. I can do it for a short stint, but I need breaks and I need to switch it up and do other different creative things. I don't know if it’s an ADHD thing, but I get like super bored with something if I'm doing the same thing creatively.

You have to keep on moving around.

I am talking about maybe another comic project right now. It's been a minute. I also started a Patreon that has helped me sustain myself. It has let me be be really picky with the projects that I take on. That's also been probably my favorite thing that's happened out of taking my comic break, is that I started the Patreon and it's really helped me have some crazy creative freedom.

Do you think that things are better for creators now with stuff like Patreon and Substack? It's really a much different game than it was a decade ago.

I think so. We can sell stuff online. The more traditional guys can have websites and always be moving product. You can make merch. There are these print on demand places. Like if you just took 30 minutes and threw your illustrations on some products, you could just have that out there. I think it's easier to make money. I think they're also not scaling our pay up as it should over time. So we're having to find these other outlets to make money. It is a blessing and a curse that we're not compensated well or we have to do the side things to make money. Capitalism, you know, what can we do? We're just trying to survive,

On the subject of Motor Crush, a lot has happened since the last issue. Where does that sit with you? Would you like to return? Or is that something that you'd rather leave in the past?

Cameron (Stewart) got me-tooed during the pandemic. That is unfortunate, and it really makes it hard to want to work on that book again. I would maybe do it, if I had all of the time and freedom in the world just because I don't love that it's unfinished. We do have an outline for the third arc done. It's just me and Brenden (Fletcher) have to like carve out the time and then carve out the money to support us while we make the time to do that. I don't know if that will ever happen but just know if it was a perfect world, I would be working on it to finish it.

Well, there's an outline out there...

There is an outline out there, and it was going to take a really fun horror turn. Because I wanted to try to draw something a little bit scary and horror related. I don't know, maybe one day. It would be fun to flex that muscle.

I've seen your friend Kris Anka make big waves with his work on Across the Spider-Verse. I could see the same for you if you wanted it. Do you have any ambitions outside of comics?

So the only thing I know about animation is that it wrings people out. I'm trying to live my most chill life. If the opportunity came, I would obviously say yes. But I'm also not chomping at the bit to get into that world. It's a lot of hard work. You're a small cog in a big machine. And then you're probably not the best compensated in that world either. I don't know that for sure. If it happens to fall on my plate, great. If it doesn't, I have these other personal projects and other fulfilling things going on.

I really liked being my own boss, and not having to rely on these big animation companies for my survival, because they cut them all the time. They chop things, they chop animations, they take them off streaming, you don't get those residuals. The thing you love got deleted for a tax write-off. I am perfectly happy doing my own solo thing. And if I want to do something, I'll find a way to make that happen. For example, I want to make a video game. No one's ever hired me to do characters for a romance sim. So, me and my friend are making our own. We Kickstarted one for 149k, and that's what I'm working on right now. I make my own opportunities. If I really want something, I'll find a way to make it happen.

Tell me more about this romance sim.

I'm working on a game called KISS U. It's a spicy dating sim. You have a bunch of co-eds in a magical high fantasy college. There's a sexy jock tiger, a giant demon cheerleader, etc. You can date all of them. And if you woo them, they'll text you spicy photos, and you will have to play a mini-game to unlock them. There's a demo on itch.io, so if you type in KISS U on itch.io you can play a 30-minute demo for free and check it out. Our goal is to have it out early next year.

You've been keeping quite busy since the end of Motor Crush. What have been your favorite projects since then?

Ultramelon is my kind of streetwear brand, which I love to work on. I get to do it maybe once or twice a year. And also Killer Curves, which is another spooky horror themed pop-up I do twice a year with my friends. Last year, we did a physical pop-up and had events like that. Doing Pub Draw with Critical Role has been so fun. I taught the cast how to draw their characters, which is super cool. I just get to do whatever I want now, so it's just a blessing.

Your Burnside Batgirl run has left quite a legacy, especially with the costume. It was seen in the Harley Quinn animated series.

It was going to be in the movie!

When you see that costume out in the wild, how do you feel being a part of that legacy?

I'm going to die, and that legacy is going to go on without me. That's just so bananas. It takes a lot of pressure off of this , 'Oh, what's going to be my legacy' question that some creatives have. I did it. I can just really chill and have fun. And if something great happens out of that, great. If it doesn't, I already did kind of a cool thing.

Culturally, I think it's the most iconic Batgirl costume since Yvonne Craig.

Oh, thank you so much. There's something in the zeitgeist where like, it was wanted. And we just got lucky, and we hit on that note. I think anybody in anything is capable of doing that, we just happened to hit it at the right time.

As an artist, are you concerned about the rise of AI in the industry?

I am. I do think you need a vision, and a lot of these AI artists don't have that. At the end of the day, you're going to need an art director and someone with a specific voice. I think if anything, the Spider-Verse movie has shown you couldn't do that with AI. That had to have specific direction to make that type of movie.

For me personally, I'm one of the artists that are very lucky where I have such a distinct style. If anyone tried to snipe it, they will get called out aggressively because I've made myself a name brand, versus being a small cog on an animation team where you could just type in, concept art of spooky castle purple sky. I hope that the laws catch up, because they are scraping everybody's fucking portfolios on the internet to make those engines, and that's fucked up. But hopefully down the line the law catches up.

How have you evolved as a creator in the last decade?

I think I know myself more. When I first got on Batgirl, which was almost a decade ago, I was more in the mode of whatever I can do to make money creatively, I'll say yes to almost anything. And now I can be very specific and pinpoint and say yes and no. I know myself a little bit more, and what's going to make me happy. I get to make more specific calls on my projects that I get to accept and the projects I create for myself, because I have the freedom to do that now. And that's also beautiful.

I'm confident, I know what I am, I know who I am, and I know what I'm about. Inside, I'm very proud of my work that I make. And I know whether someone likes it or not, as long as I'm staying true to myself, it keeps the work tenuous, and it keeps the people falling in love with it. That's what I try to hold on to, and that's what I have a little more awareness about. When I first got on Batgirl, I was like, 'Oh my God, all these suckers. They want me to draw it? Okay, I'll do it until they figure out that I'm a fraud.' And now I'm like, 'No, I'm here because I deserve to be.' I worked hard and my work is good and I'm proud of it.

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