I assume that most comic book fans have seen the Kevin Smith movie Chasing Amy. Basically it’s about Ben Affleck chasing after a girl. What makes it relevant to comic book fans is Ben Affleck’s character is a comic book artist. Jason Lee’s character, his co-creator, is the inker for the book.
There is one scene where Ben Affleck’s character says (about Jason Lee’s character) “Sorry about him, he’s, uh, he’s dealing with being an inker. ” The other character replies “Oh… you trace.”
As you can see from that, it is an asumption that an inker traces someone else’s work. I never put much thought into it until this week. Brent Chittenden told me about Bob McLeod’s Facebook page. Almost daily he posts pictures of some of his artwork that he’s inked, drawn or a combination of both. I checked out Bob’s art pages and was blown away.
He has one photo album called “When the inker really made a difference”. After checking out the album, it is amazing how much an inker can add to an artist’s work.
The funny thing is the artist would be credited for most of the work, but as you can see from the pictures, most of the amazing work was because of Bob McLeod’s hard work and talent.
After checking this out, it really makes me rethink the job of the inker on a comic book. Sometimes the ink can ruin a page, but sometimes it makes the art much better.
I subscribed to Bob’s Facebook feed so I can check out his art regularly. I suggest you do the same.
(click the pictures to see larger version)
