
This week i'll be handing in my ballot for this years Inkwell Awards, the award that celebrates inkers and the hard work they do. But many folks don't even know what an inker does.
Many people look at inking as just 'tracing' and if you ask any penciller they'll tell you it certainly is not the case. An inker (or embellisher) will take the pencils and fill them in. They will darken the lines, add depth and bring the picture to life. A good inker will bring to life a pencilled picture. I always use the example of Rags Morales who is one of my favorites. Alone he is incredible but with an inker like Mike Bair, he becomes amazing! Some artists who ink themselves shouldn't.
So here is an example below of what an inker can do! On the left is the beautiful pencils of Jim Taylor. Jim did an amazing job capturing Colin Baker (the 6th Doctor) as he stands by the TARDIS door.
On the right you can see the same inked piece done by Rusty Gilligan. Rusty added serious form and depth to the Doctor but still kept Jim's original look and style. Rusty added dark lines and shade to make it look more uniformed. These darker lines also made it easier for colorist Brandy Dixon to really make the piece come to life.
So as you can see, inking is an important step in the comic book creative process. Without it we wouldn't enjoy the comics and sketches as much as we do.
to find out more go to www.inkwellawards.com
to see more of Jim's work go to www.facebook.com/jim.talor.509
to meet Rusty go to www.puntogallery.com
to sing to Brandy check out her site at www.tfshadowcons.com/forum/index.php