EMMA RIOS Interview

The Lovely, charming, and extremely talented EMMA RIOS, artist on BOOM! Studios' HEXED (due out this month) took the time out to talk art, comics, and "Lucifer" with us. As an added bonus she gave us some art samples, including four penciled pages from HEXED # 2.

SEBASTIAN PICCIONE: Ok, let’s start with the basics; Emma, tell us a little bit about yourself.

EMMA RIOS: I´m Spanish, I’m in my early thirties, I used to draw and write sometimes and now I´m lucky enough to be able to draw everyday and write sometimes. I had an architecture career, but I really love comics so I became self-taught. I´ve been working as an architect and a freelancer illustrator but I really think of myself as a comic artist.

SEB: When did you decide you wanted to be an artist?

EMMA: To make my living as an artist? Four months ago.

SEB: Is HEXED your first comic?

EMMA: No, I´ve been involved with several indie and professional publications in Spain. I´m also a member of a self publishing association, it´s called polaqia, and I used to collaborate with them regularly.
I did several fanzines and self published a three issue miniseries about 6 years ago called “A prueba de balas”. I’ve also done some short stories for magazines and books in Spain. I work a little in Belgium and also flirted with France some time ago, but besides learning a lot, it ended up fading away.
Hexed is not my first comic, but it is my first long story published professionally. The comic industry in Spain is fairly poor and it´s not possible to make your living just as a comic artist. I can say that this is the first time I´m totally focused.

SEB: How did you get hooked up with BOOM! STUDIOS?

EMMA: My editor, Matt Gagnon, wrote me just like this:
“Hey, how are you, I saw your work on the internet and I have a four issue miniseries waiting for you if you have time” or something like that. It was totally amazing. What can I say, I feel so lucky about this. That email changed my life. I left my work as an architect and started to concentrate on comics.

SEB: There is a lot of life, a lot of energy, in your drawings. Is that something you work towards, or is that just a natural gift?

EMMA: I’m a workaholic, seriously, and I´m kind of obsessed with improving. Especially right now. I´m full of energy because I really feel like starting my professional career at last.
I´ve never quit drawing or doing comic books since I was a child but I was also involved in many other things, first studying and then working. Architecture is not easy to combine with other things. It absorbs a lot of time, just like comics do, it was like hell to do both things at the same time. As comics are my real passion, every time I had the chance to do it (weekends, trains, bars...) I really put a lot of energy into it, trying my best and really enjoying it. Maybe this kind of “exasperation” and energy could be reflected somehow in my work. How poetic...hehe…

SEB: HEXED has its mix of lighthearted moments and darker themes. Artistically, how do you handle that balance?

EMMA: To make violence and bizarre stuff believable, it has to look just like reality itself. Of course I do some cheap special effects, smoke, blood, strange creatures... but a normal environment and atmosphere is needed to make the impact stronger. So, I try to handle all the scenes together, as a whole, and keep the art somehow at the same level.
Weird things and violence are truly lovely but feelings and emotions are equally as important. The mix works fine for me.


SEB: Luci Jenifer Inacio Das Neves, “Lucifer”; the main character in HEXED, had her start in FALL OF CTHULU. Who is the character, to you? How do you define, Luci?

EMMA: An intelligent but normal girl, with bad luck. Self-confident, courageous, and with no qualms about doing anything in order to survive and to do what she believes she needs to do. She is morally gray and she has a code.

SEB: What kind of qualities do you bring to the drawing of Lucifer?

EMMA: I try to make her as natural as I can. A strong and sensual woman with a fragile appearance. I really try to show her feelings through her eyes.

SEB: You give her a very sensual, though not overly sexual, quality. I find that very telling of the kind of person Lucifer is, graceful but controlled. Are the poses and motions written out in Michael’s scripts or do you come up with those yourself?

EMMA: I really had the feeling of this look from the very beginning. Just the first monologue Michael wrote for the 1st issue made that absolutely clear. We both wanted a sensual but believable character.

SEB: You have a real knack for capturing little gestures. There is a scene in issue one when Val tells Lucifer that she smells like cigarettes, and Luci is sniffing her hair to check. Do you use references? Do you have a little mirror and make the poses yourself?

EMMA: Haha... I have a little mirror but it’s more for capturing foreshortened figures and more difficult stuff. I don´t like using too much reference, sometimes it´s needed of course: specific documentation, mechanical stuff, martial arts, etc. But for posing I try to evade that as much as possible and as my style is…not so realistic, I try to deform and twist them. I don´t like the photographic approach too much in comics.

SEB: Michael Alan Nelson, writer/creator of HEXED, raves about you. When I asked him if you might do an interview, he just gushed, “And if you think this first book looked good, just wait until you see what Emma has done with the rest of the series. Seriously, she's going to skyrocket into the big leagues really soon.” So, what’s it like working with Michael?

EMMA: He is great! All the team is really cool. Everybody is so kind and I feel really comfortable working with them.
Michael and I are connected by the bizarre elements. haha...I really love to draw those weird things he has in mind and defy him to try to make them worse. It´s so funny. I really enjoy it.
Also his scripts are so clear and easy to visualize. His dialogue is very natural and makes the characters real. It makes my work easier.

SEB: So, without giving away too much, what can we expect to see in HEXED?

EMMA: A terrifying story which involves common people. Just as if you could be right there, being able to interact. It´s genre but at the same time it’s easy to see yourself reflected somehow.

SEB: How far along is HEXED? What issue are you working on right now?

EMMA: 4 issues. I´m finishing the third one at this very moment.

SEB: Do you know how far Michael has scripted?

EMMA: Nope.

SEB: Is HEXED a limited series, or is it ongoing?

EMMA: I think it will continue.

SEB: Are you working on anything else at the moment?

EMMA: I´ll do a short European album for June. A classic adaptation of a medieval Spanish book called Amadís de Gaula. It´s going to be a different kind of work since I´ll do the inks and colors


SEB: We are seeing more and more female creators in “mainstream” comics. What do you think the draw is?

EMMA: I don´t think that a female approach to mainstream comics should be very different from what male creators do. In fact, I don´t care too much about this as long as the work is well done.

I feel that it’s kind of chauvinist when people see a girl drawing action, violence...superheroes... and everybody feels a little surprised and think it’s somehow cooler, but it´s not. Art is the only thing that matters, after all.


SEB: What would you say to other young women, trying to make their way into the comics industry?

EMMA: I haven´t made mine yet. I´m not so suitable to give advice, but what I really think is that if you are very fond of something, you’ll eventually be able to do it well if you work hard.


SEB: Anything else you’d like to say to our readers?


EMMA: Please enjoy my work, I´ll give all my best.


SEB: Thanks for talking with us, Emma, it’s been a real pleasure.

EMMA: The pleasure is mine. Thanks a lot for giving me this chance.






Click the attached thumbnails to view more of Emma's beautiful artwork