Catching a Vision Interview Exclusive
The Inkwell Awards Roundtable with: Bob Almond, Bob Shaw, Dave Simons, Jimmy Tournas and Daniel Best of the Inkwell Awards and guests Dan Panosian, Ernie Pelletier, and Mark McKenna.
CES: By a bit of luck and good graces, I am very pleased to be hosting this exclusive, roundtable interview with some of the top guys behind the Inkwell Awards. Why don't you guys start by each giving a brief introduction so we know who you are?
BOB ALMOND: Bob Almond here, founder and director of the team. I try to set the agenda each year and keep the plates spinning with my dedicated team of all-stars. For what it's worth, I'm the face of the group and I handle whatever duties these guys don't. I also do some inking 24/7 and write a column, 'Inkblots', for Sketch Magazine, which is where the Inkwell Awards were born.
MARK McKENNA: Heya. Mark McKenna here. Working in the biz over 24 yrs, lots o' book credits and lot o' pages inked.
DAN PANOSIAN: Dan Panosian present and accounted for! Penciller/inker for Marvel/DC/Image/Dark Horse.
BOB SHAW: I'm Bob Shaw. I own and operate a couple of art for sale websites along with my wife Kim. I handle running the EBay auctions for the Inkwells along with a few other duties.
DAVE SIMONS: Abandoned as a child and left to fend for myself in the Andes Mountains, I was raised by wild condors, who taught me how to fly. I've also developed a taste for carrion. But, seriously, folks (and less esoterically)...I never had any formal art training. After high school I enlisted in the United States Coast Guard. During my last year of service, I began taking John Buscema's workshop class in comic art. I went on to do a lot of inking at Marvel in the early 1980s, mostly over Gene Colan and John Buscema. One of my most well-remembered runs was on Ghost Rider, inking over Bob Budiansky. In the mid-80s I moved to Los Angeles from New York and began working in animation. Since then I've done storyboards for many shows, ranging from Jem and the Holograms, "truly outrageous!" to Exo-Squad. I've also continued working in comics, pencilling as well as inking.
ERNIE PELLETIER: Ernie Pelletier, attorney by day, original comic art collector by night, and now the owner of a comic book store, Friendly Neighborhood Comics (www.friendlycomics.com)!
JIM TOURNAS: Jimmy Tournas AKA "Jimmy T". I host the Yahoo Group "the Inkwell" and I have inked a few books, covers, pinups and backgrounds. And love it.
DANIEL BEST: Daniel Best and what's to say? I live in Australia and I write, not for a living though, as in Australia 'writer' is another name for 'unemployed'. I've written one book that's been published and more magazine articles than I can remember, both locally and worldwide. I also maintain a few web-sites around the place and am quite active on the internet, breaking stories and interviewing people.
CES: Now that we got that out of the way, how about you fill folks in on what the Inkwell Awards are all about, give us a little history, some background and a bit about the vision and goals of the award.
JT:
Bob? You there? He does this part so well.
BS: It's Bob's baby. That's your cue Bob!
BA: Ok, but remember, you guys asked for it!
While the craft has been used in comic strips and the early days of animation, inking has been almost exclusively a comic book construct from the early days created to expedite production back when printing straight from the pencils alone was not practical or possible. It allowed popular Pencillers to produce more product. But over time the craft developed into an art form, especially with the advancement in paper and printing techniques. But it's the most-perplexing step of production as there's no equivalent to reference it in the public workplace and because of this our job description is often a paragraph long. But everyone knows what a Penciller does. He's the 'rock star', the lead guitarist to our bass guitarist. As the metaphor expresses, we're the support and the support will always fall under the radar. We accept that niche as we do what we love. But between the nebulous work title and job description, the advances in digital technology, and the diminishing credit status of ink artists over the last few years, I would listen as inkers would moan about the state of things. But whining doesn't do anything. So, while my name wasn't going to get people's attention, I felt that someone had to take the bull by the horns and act, so I did. I started asking the folks who review books and credit cover and interior art online to credit the inkers. I began writing my Inkblots column and one column topic was for The Inkwell Awards (Inkblot Awards originally) but it was meant as simply a small-scale reader participation election. But after seeking input from Jimmy T's Inkwell mailing list I realized the potential to go further so I asked some notable folks to join me (Danny, Jimmy, Bill Nichols, and Tim Townsend) and we established our mission of informing the public of what we do as craftsmen and recognizing and showing appreciation for the artists of inking through our annual awards process. We got the support of editor Mike Marts and the legendary Adam Hughes, and after the first election we had a committee shuffle with Dave Simons and the 'other Bob', Bob Shaw, replacing Bill and Tim. And now we're back for our sophomore year even better than before!
DB: The Inkwells...what are they about? Simply put they're about celebrating the art of inking. There's been a tendency of late to ignore inkers - I've seen reprints of trade paperbacks where inkers just aren't credited anymore - for example, the classic Claremont, Byrne and Austin X-Men stories are now credited, on the cover at least, to Claremont/Byrne. The classic Punisher mini-series is missing a cover credit for John Beatty, despite Beatty being the only artist to work on all five issues and being credited with finishing Vosburg's lay-outs on the fifth issue. Vosburg gets a cover credit though. It's shameful as companies don't need to do this, but there it is. What's next? An Andru & Esposito book credited to Ross alone?
The visions are all there, and the goals? Well the goals are to raise the awareness of a craft that is far from dying. An inker, working with a brush or a pen, can still make a page sing in an organic way that an artist working on a computer just can't. There's something about art on paper that moves people. It just looks better. Fancy PhotoShop effects can't cover up a bad inking job, but an excellent inking job will always shine.
DP: Tim Townsend and Bob Almond approached me a while back about creating a logo for the award council dedicated to inkers and finishers. It's an art form that a lot of fans don't quite get. I thought something like this was well overdue!
CES: Now that we know all the background, I know May is a big month for the Inkwells as we close in on the actual awards this year, bring us up to speed, what's happening now? What's next? And where should people go to find out more?
BA: Last month or so we selected our first rotating Nomination Committee from all areas within the comic book industry. After some weeks they emailed in their nominee ballots and we've been tallying and validating those choices since. Our revised ballot categories will be circulated with our informative press release this month and the public ballots will go live June 1st and run for a month at our site, which is incidentally where you would go to find out more about us and all things inking. And the voting is open to all in the community, pros and fans alike! JimmyT should have the results immediately after the voting deadline concludes and we'll post them at that time.
DB: Go to the web-site -www. inkwellawards. com- and you'll learn all you need to know about what we're doing. But, what are we doing? On my side, Inkwell wise, I'm busily doing site updates when time permits, along with verifying some of the people who've been nominated for awards.
DP: I believe all the information is on the website. Fans and Pros should feel free to pass that LINK on to others.
CES: I'm guessing, since all you guys are involved with the Inkwells that comic book inking is near and dear to your hearts. What drew (pun intended) each of you to inking as an art form?
DS: By me, it's just not the same without the inking. If it's not inked, the art is just not finished.
EP: As an original art collector, I have an appreciation for all facets of the craft. This naturally includes the worthwhile contributions of talented inkers. These artists play a vital role in presenting art of the highest quality, adding to the story-telling experience in often subtle ways.
JT: Wally Wood and Will Eisner!
BS: As a collector and then as an artist's representative, I truly appreciate that inkers have to adapt to each new penciller's style. Since there are very few artistic "teams" anymore, inkers now have to be able to handle a multitude of different styles.
DP: I became aware of inking because of Terry Austin. He inked Carl Potts on Last of the Dragons for Epic Illustrated [Marvel] and I noticed how special the ink finish was for the first time. I became obsessed with everything he inked. Later I found out he was Dick Giordano's apprentice and so was Klaus Janson. If you look at Giordano's inks, you can see a little bit of both of those artists in his work. You can see where each one went with Dick's schooling.
BA: After graduating in illustration, I tried but got nowhere with portfolio samples as a Penciller. At the right place at the right time I was hired at Marvel at the end of 1991 after doing some inking samples on a whim. And while I was learning on the job for my initial assignments, I studied the work of the ink artists I cherished as a fan and reader for years such as Terry Austin, Joe Rubenstein, Bob Layton, Mark Farmer, Bob McLeod, Tom Palmer, Joe Sinnott, Klaus Janson, and many more. I couldn't have been any prouder to join the ranks of such a respected and talented group of artists. And I haven't looked back since.
MMcK: I was always a comic book fan from probably my pre-teens right up to college. I would drop off and then get renewed interest in the hobby after a year or two away. I used to love to draw superheroes and create some of my own. When I was about to graduate high school my guidance counselor asked me what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I thought of either becoming a film student, since I was a big Super 8 amateur film maker in high school or a comic book artist. I ended up taking animation and cartooning classes in the School of Visual Arts in 1983, the year I graduated. I always thought I would use inking as a way to get fully vested in the industry, thinking I would eventually become a penciller. When I started to do quite well with the inking, I never took it to the next level.
DB: Well I'm not an artist. I've always said that I failed finger painting in grade two and never looked back. What attracted me to inking as an art form? Well, that's an easy answer. I remember as a kid buying comic book after comic book and noticing that the art wasn't always the same, although some of the main artist's names were the same. Then I noticed that while names like John Buscema, Neal Adams, Gene Colan, Frank Robbins, Ross Andru and John Byrne stayed the same, other names credited changed. It was the inker. I then began to notice that not all inkers were created equally. I soon noticed that names like Tom Palmer and Terry Austin were always a good bet, art wise. Then I began buying books based upon art teams - Byrne/Austin, Byrne/Green, Von Eeden/Mahlsted, Romita/Mooney, Perez/Tanghal, Golden/Gil, Budiansky/Simons, Miller/Janson, Robbins/Springer, Starlin/Milgrom, Kirby/Sinnott, Starlin/Weiss, Buscema/Palmer - in fact ANYONE and Palmer - and as such I began buying books accordingly. After a while the inkers names became just as important to me when it came to deciding if I should hand over any of my skinny. I did the same with colourists - Tajiana Wood's colours always shone to me.
As years passed I noticed other inkers and art teams popping up - Vellutto/Almond, McKone/McKenna and Breyfogle/Mitchell were three that really got me excited when it came to reading comic books once more. When I started interviewing artists I made it a point in going after inkers as well as Pencillers - and I declined to differentiate them; they're all artists to me.
CES: I know one of the goals of the Inkwells is to cultivate a better understanding and appreciation for it as an art with both fans and fellow professionals alike. What are your thoughts on how inking has been perceived throughout the history of the medium?
DP: I don't think it's perceived much at all! That's the problem. There was a brief period of time when Austin would ink a cover and it would sell 30K more copies. His "look" was that special. Later, in the 90's the X-Men/Image ink style was very popular. But I believe it was still perceived as the Penciller's doing, which, in most cases, it was.
BS: Personally, I don't think I would have enjoyed my childhood nearly as much without the efforts of such people as Joe Sinnott, Dick Ayers, Wally Wood and the like.
DS: I can't really speak to the history of the medium on this one-- I know it was impossible to shoot from pencils most of the time. In the 70s, even when I was still a fan, I was very aware of the difference inking makes. Buscema inked by Jack Abel was very different from Buscema inked by Tom Palmer, though both were great.
BA: Until the '90s, few artists actively sought to be inkers. Everyone wanted the 'rock star' status of the Pencillers. Inking was a position Pencillers took on because they were usually quicker at it so it was a more lucrative option to take. Because of the training these vets had in overall illustration, they could easily take the roughest of layouts of a Penciller and 'finish' it to completion with few realizing the extent of the contribution they made and giving the bulk of the credit to the pencil guy even though the reader was seeing the inkers interpretation of the original drawings. Today much of the pencil work produced is very tight with all the info needed already included. This is because of the high standards and higher production quality in a very competitive field and the fact that some pencils are now colored over without the inking so it must be tight as there's subsequently no one else to follow-up in the cleaning, editing, and enhancing of it. Today's pool of inking talent is talented, meticulous craftsmen but sadly the skill of finishing rough pencil art has diminished a bit. But these are observations that mostly an insider would know about. In general, the public perception has always been a rather vague and low-key one.
EP: For the general public, I think inking is a subtle craft. Readers seem to give credit for accomplished inking to the penciller. For art collectors, an inker can really make or break the quality and appreciation of a page.
JT: It is not thought of by general readers of comics today because they have no understanding of the medium, Not all readers mind you, but there is a vast amount of readers that are growing up in a "good enough" world, that would not recognize a Bob McLeod if they saw one. I do think early comic readers have a better understanding of inking; they started collecting original art and became aware of what was happening in those wonderful pages. Hopefully people will become aware and understand what makes a quality comic. I don't think a lot of today's editors understand as well. They just want to push product through and be ..."Good enough". Anyway this is a great way to educate and develop the Inkwell Awards site into a learning tool as well.
DB: How long do we have? I think within the industry inking has been taken as seriously as Pencilling over the years. Outside of the industry, casual readers might not know what an inker does, hence they don't notice them all that much, and therein lies the shame. A reader might not notice a Wally Wood inking job but they salivate over Woods art. Go figure. The funny thing was when I came to write the Andru & Esposito book a large number of Pencillers and inkers both raved over Ross Andru's pencils. Some claimed that Mike wasn't that great an inker, but all agreed that Mike was probably the best inker for Ross - and when I finally saw Ross's pure pencils I understood why. Talk about all over the place! Over the past few years inkers have been overlooked, ignored and ridiculed. There's not that many Pencillers who can carry off a book shot straight from the pencils but the emphasis seems to be focused on this. The advent of digital inking and Chasing Amy hasn't helped things along either - people began to think that inking was as easy as putting your pants on in the morning - any twit with Photoshop could do it. Go ahead, have a shot and see how it all turns out. It's not tracing, its art, and anyone who wants to say different is merely showing their ignorance towards art in general.
CES: If inking was undervalued and there were challenges before, what has the advent of offset and digital printing done?
DB: The reality is that very few people can successfully ink digitally, and I mean that. If it's so simple then why don't more people do it? Surely if it's that easy then it'd be money for jam. I have a challenge for all of those out there who say inkers are mere tracers and that digital inking is so easy anyone can do it - I have two pages of Ross Andru's pencils from an issue of Amazing Spider-Man. I know what they look like when inked by Mike Esposito. I've handed scans of those pages to digital inkers and each time they've come back, frankly, they look vile. Lines missing, art incorrectly interpreted...it's just not there. So, anyone out there who thinks digital inking is that easy, drop me a line and then tell me how easy it is, because, let me tell you, you'll have to be better than damned good to make these pages work.
DP: Digital printing has done more for Digital Coloring than it has for inking, in my opinion. I think Colorists can do as much good or bad as a good or bad inker...They can make you look good or bad, depending on their skill level. Color is so vibrant and detailed I feel it's over shadowed the role of the inker. Black and White comic books are still very appealing and certainly a good inker is very important in both color and b/w printing. Obviously, the better the inker, the better chance the color will look good too. Pencils/inks/colors all need to work hand in hand to be profound. But inking is a very important ingredient in that delicious sandwich.
JT: Nothing whatsoever. As far as how the comic is drawn up. However it has made a quantum leap in coloring. CYMK or RGB won't matter, and colorists can kill or make brilliant the work before them. There is a tendency to saturate art in Photoshop that does horrid things to pencils and inks by unskilled eyes or novice editors. I see the major houses once in a while put out books rendered wonderfully, only to be mucked up by someone's in-law with a tablet. (Gee what's taking Marvel so long with my contract?)
BS: In past years, inkers were thought of as an integral part for the creation process. Unfortunately, the present has inkers being devalued as artists and sometimes being taken out of the artistic chain altogether. Books that go straight from pencil do not have nearly the polished look of those that employ a solid inker.
CES: I noted in one of my previous columns that there seemed to be an attempt to forego inking on quite a few titles as companies went more and more digital, but that seems to be swinging back. What do you guys think about where things stand now and what will happen in the next few years?
MMcK: I've been hearing about the demise of the business of inking for more then 10 years now. I understand that it's a step that publishers don't want to afford, nor have the 3 weeks it might take to ink a book interfere with the shipping schedules. The bottom line, to me is, the books look best when penciled and inked. I don't anticipate being around in this biz a few years from now, but I certainly hope its stays a healthy aspect of comics creating for many years to come.
DS: What am I, the Amazing Kreskin? Get back to me in a decade on that one.
DP: I think it has more to do with the pencil artist's abilities. Inking always has. Because of today's printing, if a pencil artist pencils tight enough - you really don't need inks. But in some cases, a pencil artist needs a good inker to tighten them up. The main goal should be story. How is the story being served graphically? So I believe there's a place for both in today's comic book market.
JT: I personally think it is just a way to get things done faster, Even though there are a few artists who actually think they are good without inks and MT and a few others need a wake-up call. Not good guys! It looks flat and distorted. Feather lines that look like furballs, and line weights that send Jack Kirby spinning in Comic Book Heaven. The art does not POP!
BA: I'm not against technology. It's wise to try new, innovative ideas, especially if you have a limited publishing budget. But I think the jury has finally realized that there are many clear pitfalls to skipping the inking step and the main issue is the lack of quality. Many think that we simply trace and I think the evidence speaks for itself. If that was the case, then why don't editors, interns, or monkeys just do it? I've seen mention made about the 'digital revolution' with artists like Brian Bolland and Alex Maleev digitally inking themselves using a wand on a tablet or the screen. But this is a slow revolution. As has been mentioned by the others, it takes longer, there's limited range/flexibility, and no original art pages to sell on the market which is a huge supplementary income to artists. The tech will most-likely progress in the coming years to be more practical, adaptable, affordable and easier but I don't see traditional inking altogether disappearing anytime soon.
EP: Customers seem to prefer a more finished look. With better paper quality comes the responsibility to showcase the art.
DB: I'm hoping that more and more companies realise that digital inking doesn't always work the more emphasis will be placed upon things that do work - such as organic inking, as I prefer to call it. Shooting from pencils can be highly effective - the Origins mini-series showed that - but also hit and miss at times, especially if a colourist really goes all out on the job. I'd like to think that editors are seeing this and wondering what went wrong, and then seeing inking as it should be and understanding what goes right. Digital inking has too many variables to consider and doesn't always give the best results. Organic inking also has a lot of variables, but the right inker on the right project can save a book. A bad inker, or bad digital inks, can sink the book. Also, most inkers work over blue-lines these days so the original pencils are preserved, thus if a job does go belly up, it can always be fixed by another artist. I challenge anyone to replicate with a computer what Joe Sinnott or Tom Palmer could do with a brush.
CES: I'm curious to how you guys feel on the question of traditional inking
(applying ink to the original art or vellum over the art) versus digital inking
(inking the work in a digital art file scanned into a computer)? Is one better
than the other or are they both viable and valid ways to do the same job?
DS: Digital inking is not inking.
BS: From a collector's standpoint, a digital print of an "inked" page doesn't make me jump for joy. There is a degree of effort, dare I say, love for the medium that a computer generated print out just will not capture. Is it a valid way to do the job? I guess so, but it's kinda like getting a picture of a hamburger and not being able to enjoy it.
JT: In my view there is inking (working with actual inks) and then there is Photo-manipulation (tracing a line with a pressure sensitive pen.) When you work digitally you are now in a realm of paperless technology. There is no true line work because you can only deal with what is on the monitor. Many times inker must vary from the line of an artist for one reason or another. On real paper you can do so much more. Digitally working on a comic without having been trained as an inker would be fruitless, and if you are a trained inker, why would you want to go digital? What would be the point? It takes longer to set up the file and then clean up any crap. By the time you are ready to work, I would have my page spotted and outlined. And there are the residual funds in the original inked page again.
MMcK: I'm an older pro, so I'm not fond of the change, most changes for that matter.
BA: I think I already covered that in one of my overblown answers above.
DP: Neal Adams once told me not to worry about what the page looks like in the end. It's how it prints. That's the goal. That's final product of your labors. In my opinion, creating a beautiful page that doesn't contain "mistakes" [like lots of White-Out or patches, etc] is not that important. It is, if your goal is to sell that page to a collector. That's not my goal. My goal is to create a beautiful comic book. Not a beautiful original. It's comic books not fine art. It's a commercial medium. I refuse to take it that seriously. I want the guy reading the comic book to be impressed. Not an art dealer. I ink on vellum these days. It's easier and I love the way the ink slides on the paper. It's about me - not the collector. Sorry. BTW, Geoff Darrow inks on Vellum, and I imagine he's still collectable. Does it matter if Frazetta paints on a canvas or a wooden board? No. What matters is what he's painted.
CES: Since a lot of my regular column here at Comic Related is all about helping aspiring creators break into the comic biz, how about some pointers from each of you as to what aspiring pro inkers should do to increase their chances?
BA: Study and practice. Repeat. Have patience but perseverance. If you have the talent and determination to get in you will most-likely make it in time. But grab a girlfriend or wife with a good, stable job just-in-case. And repeat step one.
DP: It's simple. Get better. Compare yourself to your artistic heroes. Don't say, "This is better than that artist and he's getting work..." No. Look at the best guy and figure out what he's doing better than you and apply that to your work.
MMcK: Become pencillers. Who needs the competition? : o)
JT: INK, INK, INK! Learn with a brush, and Crowquil. Be fast and accurate. If you want to use a tech pen it is laborious and time consuming.
CES: On this question, tell us a bit more about what the official Inkwell Awards site offers. I know I discovered it has a lot of resources right there. Give us some highlights of your favorite sections.
BS: My favorite part of the site is still the picture of Joe Sinnott with hisHall of Fame award, hands down.
BA: Too many to cover them all.... but I will anyway. On the Homepage we have a working definition with a link to Wikipedia, along with my intro and rotating inker-centric news items. There's the Inker Sites page with links to tutorials, interviews, and features. There's the Friends page and a Links page where we give props to those that have supported us in many ways and include the Nominators and Contributors. Danny has a page devoted to our Hall of Fame namesake, Joe Sinnott. An Appearances page that reports our convention & signing schedules along with related photos. We record the results on the Results page of the previous year of award winners. And we have a link to out IA forum where the public can read our updates, post job classifieds, read about our affiliates, talk shop, display their portfolio samples for critique, refer to our inker database, check out our record of press coverage, and simply talk with us as we're all in attendance there as well as other pro inkers. All those and more resources can be found at the site thanks to the time & effort of our web-host updater and resident writer Danny-boy. And this doesn't count our pages on MySpace, Facebook, eBay (for our revenue-raising auctions hosted by Bob Shaw) and the Comic Art Fans galleries where we display the donations that were auctioned, which Bob coordinates with me.
DB: Loads of good stuff in there. Personally I like the Sinnott section - I hope to create and write more of those types of pages with the view of eventually featuring all of the annual Sinnott Award winners.
BA: Now THAT I'd like to see!
JT: It is just building and we will be more attentive to it. I like the Forums area.
DPI'd like to see the Inkwell Awards get some broader recognition. That will take time. As far as resources go - I feel that offering links to premier inkers and online supply stores is a key. More interviews with relevant inkers will also help the new inkers to understand their craft better.
BA: And I love your idea in regards to the site (inker links)...I have been building an inker database at our forumhttp: //inkwellawards. proboards. com/index. cgi?since the beginning and at some point it would be great to take that list and post them on a page at the site, converting the names to the artists' site links. And we are almost ready to add inker interviews to our Inker Sites page (which has been mostly tutorials, shoptalk, comparisons, etc.).... someone posted podcast links of interviews some time back at the forum so it's in the works. I hadn't thought about online supply stores...something to think about.
CES: I know this may not be a popular topic, and may tie somewhat into the above stuff, but word I hear is that a lot of the giants in inking, and even a lot of the new guys, are finding it difficult to get steady work. Is this the decrease in demand, too many inkers with too many contracts, or all of the above?
MMcK: This HAS affected me directly and I'm no giant of the industry. I am hearing from many pro inkers that are out of work who can't find anything consistent. I think that inkers, for the most part have no other industry to advance to or businesses that need inking. We are basically IN this biz and that's all we got. As book production declines by the various publishers as well as many secondary publisher's looking to cut corners and dismiss the inking elements of their titles, tied in with some of the books going pencils to colors, it's caused a grim situation. I wasn't aware that many inkers had contracts.
DS: Oh, I have no idea. If I knew, I'd have the problem resolved.
DP: I think it's a matter of queuing into what is commercial. If you stay current you stay employed. If your goal is to work in a style that has seen its day, you need to find a publishing match to fit your tastes. But, as a style fades so does its market place. So you better do that style better than anyone you know. I think the key is Cross Training. Bring something interesting/different/new to the table. Perhaps mixing traditional and digital inking. Make yourself marketable. Think.
DB: Again, how long do we have to discuss this? Ok, so what prevents an artist from working? Ageism? Speak to the companies and they'll tell you that's a myth, look at the artists over 50 who can't land a job after being out of the market place for a few years. I can only really think of one over-50 inker who steadily works these days - Mark McKenna. Others might pick a job up here and there, but, for the most part, once they hit a certain age then it's believed that they've passed their use by date.
Prejudice? Who knows? I know of two artists who've had long and rich mainstream (read: Marvel & DC) careers dating back to the 1980s. In each case both were asked to submit samples before they'd be considered by the companies, this despite both artists working for smaller publishers and both having their work reprinted in trades by the companies in question. Work that out. A new editor comes onto a book, or into a company, and they want to bring their own people in, or they wish to discover the new Scott Williams. They don't want Scott, after all someone else has that credit and any idiot can hire him, but to uncover the new guy? Damn straight!
Ignorance? See above. I had to wonder about ignorance when I spoke to an editor in passing and mentioned Terry Austin only to have the editor ask who he was...oh dear.
Not all editors are bad though. There's a large number who have a rich knowledge of the history of comic books and artists in general, but often they can't find the work for the artists that they'd like to hire. Some of that does come down to a presumption that certain artists will always sell books and the longer an artist is out of the public eye, the less likely they are to bring in sales. Hire them, I say, and see where the dice rolls.
JT: I pick "C" All of the above.
CES: What are some concrete, practical things we as fans can do to support inking in general?
DP: The first thing that comes to mind is sketch books within comic books. Seeing the pencils alongside the inks. Fans can compare and interact, in a sense.
MMcK: BE HEARD! Let publishers know that the books don't look right without inking. Threaten to boycott buying books without inkers. I know that asking that is probably too much to consider. Who knows though? There has to be enough notice for a pub to be considerate of this issue.
DS: Write! Are there letter columns at all any more? If not, commenting on a blog that lots of people read, or is the official blog, or site of a particular publishing company is good. Telling Joe Inker you love his work is great and any artist loves to hear it. Posting it on the official site or blog for the outfit that Joe Inker has been working for gets the attention of Johnny Editor, who now sees Joe Inker as a more desirable commodity. Back in the (pre-internet) day, this was accomplished in the lettercols. The same thing happens now; it's just online instead of in print.
EP: Fans vote with their dollars. If you see a book that has been expertly inked, and you enjoy the work, buy it. Pick one up for a friend.
BS: Hit the message boards with everything you've got. If you don't want to be short-changed by companies trying to cut corners on your favorite books, let them know. Your comics deserve a full creative team with all steps covered. Be heard!
JT: Let editors know that you like what an inker brings to art and be vocal. Don't be shy if you have a Batman book with no inks and it stinks! It is not being Avant-garde! The editor is lazy or the artist is one of them RARE egotistical types we might hear about. They need to be told. I am sure I can give you a list Marvel and DC crap that came out in the last couple of years that had people scratching their heads. (Where the hell are those Marvel contracts?)
DB: Buy the books and lobby for artists to work. If you email an editor, interact with them on a forum, see them at a convention, don't be rude, just walk up and ask why an artist isn't working on a book these days. See what the response is and then push the case. It doesn't hurt. Remember, companies are moved along by sales. If the sales are good then the artists remain. If there's enough public pressure then artists will be hired, but sales are the true indicator. It's one thing for a thousand people to push for an artist to be hired, but if they are and no-one buys the books, then that's that.
Vote first with your words, and then with your pocket. Don't buy poorly produced work, but when someone you admire is working on a book buy several copies and hand them out, and then write to the editors/companies telling them how damned good it is.
CES: Any parting comments or thoughts? Anything else you want to cover in this?
JT: Thank you for a wonderful time. Now your readers will be able to open a comic and say wow that artist is cool, "so is the inker"...I think I will write Marvel right now....
BA: I agree with the others. If you enjoy the work of an ink artist on something you're reading or checking out in the store, take a sec to remember their name. You'll probably find yourself noticing theirs and other names repeated over time. And it'll help you in voting every year. This act will honor a long-standing history and the hard working and talented artists of the craft who perform and produce day in and day out and often fall under the radar. Show love to the inkers. Take one home to mom. They will absolutely appreciate it.
DB: I think I've said more than enough...heh!
CES: Thanks guys, I appreciate your time for this!
BA: Right back atcha, CES. It's been a pleasure. We'll be sure to engrave your moniker on the Friends page, pal;-)
Contact him directly at cedwardsellner@aol. com
You can find him at...
Comic Related Forums
Facebook
Deviant Art
MySpace
ComicSpace
Visionary Comics Studio
The official site of the Studio where Sellner serves as Creative Director.
Visionary's Networking Sites:
VCS' Facebook Group
VCS' MySpace Page
VCS' ComicSpace Page
blog comments powered by Disqus