How Babs Tarr found creative freedom

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