Interview of Ryan Smallman, the artist behind "The Joker: Joke's on you!" poster

- Where does your passion come from?

I take inspiration from everything around me, but my love for pop culture is a huge fuel for my creative work. I've always drawn my favorite characters, ever since I was a kid, from my favorite movies, cartoons and comics. That's been the foundation of my work and passion as an illustrator and continues to give me inspiration to this day! Every time I watch or read something that gets me excited, I'm inspired to create as well.

 - How old were you when you started drawing?

Some of my first memories are of me drawing, so it's literally the thing I've done for the longest in my life. I don't remember a time where I wasn't drawing and I hope to do it for the rest of my life.

- What is your background?

I was born in Ohio, USA, and lived in Michigan for the first 6 years of my life before my family moved to Brazil, where I've lived ever since. So I'm a lot more Brazilian than American. I grew up in a city called Bauru, but I moved to the big city of São Paulo where I've been based for the past 5 years or so.

- Which medium do you prefer to work on between paper or graphic tablet?

I really learned to draw with ink and paper, it's definitely my favorite medium, but my professional work has shifted to almost fully digital in the past few years, so I'm very used to working in Photoshop with my Wacom Cintiq. I love working this way, it's super convenient and offers so many possibilities of brushes and techniques, I'm always exploring new and better ways to create digitally.

- Do you have any artists who have influenced your style or your illustrations?

So many artists have influenced my work over the years, too many to count, but my main inspirations at the moment are probably Jamie Hewlett, Tomer Hanuka, James Jean and Tradd Moore. 

- Who is the first character you drew in your life?

My earliest memories are drawing the Iron Giant, from the beautiful animated film by Brad Bird, and also Disney's Tarzan, which is where I fell in love with the work of Glen Keane. Tarzan also got me drawing human anatomy at a very early age.

- Do you prefer comics or movies from the Batman universe?

My first true love of Batman was really the Christopher Nolan movies, especially the Dark Knight, but I later came to love the comics. My favorite now being the Batman: White Knight series by the incredible Sean Murphy.

- If you had powers, what would they be?

Probably a perfect photographic memory or never having to sleep, those would be super useful as an illustrator!

- Who is your favorite character in the universe of Batman?

My favorites are definitely the more grounded and human characters, like Gordon and Alfred. I really love their characters, their role in the world and how they relate to Batman. I'd say my favorite is James Gordon for the mustache alone.

- The Batman team or The Joker team?
Well the Joker is kind of a murderous psychopath, so I'll probably do team Batman (which you could argue is also a bit of a psycho? But at least he doesn't kill... or, he tries not to).


You can follow Ryan on social networks  @ryansmallman