Val Talks To Bob Almond About The Inkwell Awards

The unsung heroes of the comics industry -- the inkers -- finally have their own awards.

The Inkwell Awards is the brainchild of inker and columnist Bob Almond, and I had a chance to speak to him about how they began, how you can vote in them, and the sometimes underappreciated role of inkers in the industry.

OS: What made you come up with the idea for the Inkwell Awards?
BA: I started noticing a diminishing recognition of ink artists in general about five years ago, when they were dropped from some of the solicitation credits in Previews. There were other dropped credits that concerned me -- on the covers of trade paperbacks, on other types of reprinted comic art, etc. And later when I was writing my column 'Ink Blots' for Sketch Magazine, an effort I began to bring more info to the public about the craft of inking, I had an idea for a column topic -- what if there were comic awards just for appreciating the work of the misunderstood inkers?

OS: Why do you think inkers have received this lack of recognition in the comics industry?
BA: I think the problem with inkers is that they are, in a sense, a comic industry-created by-product. They were created to fill a quantity-based need in the medium -- to give the penciller more time to draw. Everyone knows who a penciller or a writer is. But take a person off the street and ask them what an inker does -- a lot of them don't know. And if they had to take a guess, they might think an inker is a "tracer," or someone who just fills in blacks. And of course it's more than that. Unfortunately, the "inker" title is a bit hazy to the layperson since they don't have a reference or precedent to draw upon like with the other job titles.

OS: How was the Inkwell awards put together?
BA: Well, in the beginning the project was a lot smaller in scale than what it eventually became. My editor at Sketch, Bill Nichols, convinced me to seek out more input from my peers. Before long I brought together fan-favorite ink artist Tim Townsend, who has become in a way our ambassador, to bridge the gap between the veteran inkers and the younger generation, Jimmy Tournas, the moderator of the Yahoo Inkwell mailing list, fellow inker, and our site designer, and our resident writer/columnist Daniel Best to make us all sound good, to help out along with Bill. Once the committee was organized we brain stormed and three weeks later everything fell into place and became a reality.

OS: I see that Adam Hughes & DC Editor Mike Marts are on the Inkwell Awards committee. How did they get involved?
BA: I knew Mike Marts from Marvel & Acclaim; he was one of my editors on Black Panther. We contacted Adam through Tim. As committee members they oversee things we're doing, and have roles like being the tiebreaker on a vote. But, just them being there alone adds so much to the message and process.

OS: What is the awards schedule like?
BA: The call for write-in ballots starts April 1st and it runs about two months ending May 30th. Subsequently, tabulation of the votes will begin and we hope to have the results about a month later.

OS: Tell me about the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame award.
BA: We named this award after Joe with his blessing, and we have 5 nominees, including him: Tom Palmer, Wally Wood, Dick Giordano, and Al Williamson.

OS: Who can vote in the Inkwell Awards?
BA: Both the public and the professional community, though some of the categories might be a little more "shop"-centric than others. But you can vote for only one category or all of them. And if anybody needs help with the voting, there will be links on on our site to online databases where you can find an inker by story or issue.

OS: What will the winners receive?
BA: There will be trophies in the shape of a brush head with the winners' names engraved on it -- 10 awards in all.

OS: Just to talk shop for a moment, what do you have to answer people who say that with the advent of digital inking, actual inking itself might be a dying art form.
BA: I think people who think that really don't have an appreciation for what a good inker brings to the table in a comic. I think without that quality inker, you are really missing the power, the pizzazz, of the inking linework. Certainly, the 'digital inking' option is there, usually as a cost-cutting measure, but the term is a misnomer. In digital inking you're really just using Photoshop to make the pencils stand out more. Of course, there is an actual technique of using the computer to actually "ink" on screen, but that is not what most people refer to when they say "digital inking." And this option is rarely used. The role of the traditional ink artist has somewhat diminished but I don't feel that it's dying. Hopefully our efforts can help keep that role alive.

OS: Does the Inkwell Awards accept donations?
BA: Yes, we have a Paypal button for donating, and also we sell ad space on the site to raise revenue to assist in covering our expenses. But, any money we raise above the costs of the site and awards we are giving to the Heroes Initiative. We believe that giving back to the community further exemplifies our goal.

Thanks, Bob!