Speak Up: Cast Your Vote for Best Inker

Neal Adams and Clifford Meth delighted to support The Inkwell Awards.

I was pleased to be named a Special Ambassador to the Inkwell Awards this year. Now it's time to vote. Please join us.

Here's the official skinny:

The Inkwell Awards, a non-profit organization devoted to the education and promotion of the art of inking, invites everyone to vote for the industry's best of the past year. The official public ballot will be available on the Inkwell Awards' homepage from May 1 through May 15. Voting is open to everyone, from fans to professionals.

The ballot also lists the nominees for the internally chosen Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame lifetime achievement award. To avoid a popularity contest where recent names have more influence than past masters, the two winners were chosen by a separate, pre-arranged Hall of Fame Nomination Committee. Current nominees are listed as a courtesy. Past HoF award recipients can be found on the organization's web site.

New for this year is the Special Recognition Award (SRA) for an outstanding inking career of 25 or more years in American comics. This differs from the HoF award due to one or more factors such as the artist being out of the “public eye,” having limited name-recognition due to semi- or full retirement or death, limited-yet-influential output, social barriers such as gender/race, or other factors that would otherwise limit them from being nominated for a traditional HoF award. This award was also chosen internally.

“We’re always thrilled for this event, where the best of the best ink artists and their work get the recognition they deserve,” said Bob Almond, founder and director of The Inkwell Awards. “Inkers have their own fans and followers, yet often go unnoticed or glossed over by most awards events. Ours cater specifically to ink artists and allows them to be recognized and appreciated in various categories. We hope to have even more voters than last year.”

Once voting closes after May 15, the winners will be announced at the live awards ceremony at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC June 19-21 on Friday the 19th. Click here to vote.

The Joe Sinnott Inking Challenge and The Inkwell Awards

I'd meant to mention this earlier but life got in the way.

Bob Almond, director of the Inkwell Awards, recently unveiled this lovely art book, Joe Sinnott Inking Challenge and Results, which shows what really happens when an inker gets involved in the comic art process. A superb draftsman like grandmaster Joe Sinnott can lay down the most basic--or most extraordinary--pencils and then it's up to the finisher to determine the mood. That's what you'll see here as inker after inker lays down their blacks over Joe's graphite.

Purchasing a copy will help the important Inkwell Awards, which does all sorts of free important work on behalf of artists who need the advocacy. But it's also a worthy book in its own right.

You can order your copy here.

And now... An Award for Inkers

Bob McLeod was my favorite inker, but unless you're a weirdo who reads the credits on comic books, like I was/am/be you'd never know old Bob. Open up this before-and-after image, then tell me inkers are just tracers.

The Inkwell Awards, the newest comics-industry trophies, are set up to recognize the often overlooked and underappreciated art of inking comics. You can read about them here. Voting starts on April 1. For more information, contact Daniel Best at snoopy967@bigpond.com

(note: Spelling fixed... thanks for screaming at me, gents).