Interview | Joëlle Jones - Creator of Yara Flor, Lady Killer and the first woman to illustrate Batman comics

Divulgação | Joëlle Jones

• Por Alisson Santos

American artist and screenwriter Joëlle Jones draws some of the most beautiful women you'll ever see on a comic page. Joëlle Jones has worked on several titles that we admire in the industry: Catwoman, Batman (the first woman to illustrate the character's comics), Supergirl, Wonder Girl (Yara Flor) and Lady Killer. She took the time out of her busy schedule to chat with us, and we're super excited to share some of the questions he answered about his creative process, developing the Lady Killer narrative, and creating Yara Flor, so read on!

1 - What is a typical workday like for you and what is your creative process like?

A typical workday for me seems pretty dull whenever I talk about it, but maybe it's interesting to other people! I usually wake up around 11am and start drawing or writing around 2. I use the time before work to get chores/errands/social time/emails done before then. From there it's just drawing as much as I can, with a one hour break for dinner, and quitting around 3 am. Rinse, lather and repeat! But lately I've been trying to slip in a day or two off somewhere in the week.

Divulgação | Joëlle Jones

2 - What are some of the biggest challenges or frustrations you've had to deal with in creating art?

The most challenging and frustrating thing I've found about art is just how unreliable it can be! Some days I can sit down at my desk firing on all cylinders and have everything fall into place. But other days can be the extreme opposite. No matter how hard I try, nothing seems to come together, everything looks like garbage and all at a snail's pace. This job would be a lot easier if I knew beforehand what kind of day is in store for me but c'est la vie!

Divulgação | Joëlle Jones

3 - I love your work Lady Killer, Catwoman and Wonder Girl. So far, what is the most challenging and memorable job of your life? 

Thank you! I really get excited and fall in love with almost every project I am working on at the time but for me I continue that romance still with Lady Killer! When I'm working on it it almost feels like play, no restrictions or rules that I don't set myself!

Divulgação | Joëlle Jones

4 - Now speaking exclusively of Lady Killer; The story covers much of second wave feminism, a period of activity for women's rights that began in the United States and spread to several other countries ― and that fostered important discussions such as awareness of the use of contraceptive methods, and the combating physical violence and sexual harassment both at home and in the workplace. The amazing thing is that you manage to make the reader sympathize with the murderer – but wait, she is an amoral murderer! There is no pretense that it is serving a higher purpose! It's deeply disturbing on that level, but you know how to drown the reader in the bloodbath. How was the process of building this narrative?

With Lady Killer, I always approach it as if I am the only one in the world reading it. I suppose that might be part of what I find so rewarding, there isn't a scene I don't want to draw and characters that I don't love!

Divulgação | Joëlle Jones

5 - In creating Wonder Girl's look, you've already stated that you were inspired by the appearance of Brazilian actress and model, Suyane Moreira. Have you known Suyane Moreira's work for a long time? And how did this idea of basing the character's aesthetic on her come about?

When I was creating the look for Wonder Girl I followed the template that I have used for creating most of my original characters. I create mood boards or look books that consist of many elements that inspire me, including Suyane and other actresses and models. I think for Yara, I had about four or five. After I make my boards I work on concept sketches to get a feel of things then I move on to making definite character sheets and 360 character turn-arounds. After that I find I don't really need to rely on my previous references as much and the character takes on a life of its own. For example, with Josie Schuller from Lady Killer, I used Natalie Wood, Elizabeth Taylor and Virna Lisi, took all three, put them in a blender and now she is her own thing. Or at least, I'd like to think so!