Great inkers

[Panic]

I wanted to make a thread to showcase some great inking. There are obviously some very well known collaborations, but I wanted to show some of the more unusual match-ups:

Bill Sienkiewicz inking John Romita JR:


Sienkiewicz is obviously best known for his own very varied art, but he has worked inking jobs in the past for Marvel and he's great. I love what he does with JRJR's pencils here.

[Panic]

From the same issue...

Kevin Nolan inking Jackson Guice:

I think Jackson Guice is an underrated penciler, but normally he's best inking his own work; in the case, however, Kevin Nowlan knocks it out of the park. Lots of fine detail with some nice heavy shadows thrown in.

[Panic]

Kyle Baker inking Jackson Guice:

Kyle Baker really knows how to add shadows. He's particularly good at adding a little something to faces.

[Panic]

Kyle Baker finishing Bob Hall:

[gurkle]

There's one issue of Avengers (# 23) where Don Heck's pencils are inked by John Romita Sr., and the combination of maybe the two best "good girl" artists in superhero comics makes for some wonderful shots of the Scarlet Witch.

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That Baker/Hall issue of Avengers reminds me of another category: best fill-in issues. The story of the Avengers from Jarvis's perspective was good and also wrapped up an important story point from the regular run (the fate of Jarvis after the Master of Evil beat him up).

[Panic]

Don Heck is underrated I think. There is that issue of X-Men where he had to fill-in for Neal Adams (the Sunfire debut story I think), and with Tom Palmer on inks the team actually makes a very good stab at replicating Neal Adams' style. And of course Heck always could draw a pretty face.

John Romita Sr was of course fantastic at faces, and him inking Gil Kane on Spider-Man produced some great work, iirc (the Goblin/drugs issues I think).

[Mike]

George Tuska being inked by John Byrne.
Different but I liked it.
Champions #17
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[Mike_Murdock]

The first inker I noticed as making a clear difference in the pencils is Joe Sinnott inking Jack Kirby in the Fantastic Four. Kirby is a wonderfully imaginative artist, but he makes some ugly looking people. Sinnott cleaned him up just enough to make it beautiful.

[Seren]

Alvaro I Lopez inking just about anything.

[JudicatorPrime]

Terry Austin has to be one of my all time favorites.

[Panic]

Austin was very slick. When Byrne started on WCA we saw a bunch of new inkers fail to do justice to Byrne's pencils (imo), which just served to remind how good Austin was.

Dick Giordano inking Gil Kane:

Kane is one of my favourites, but his style could be a little harsh with faces, Kane not being one to use shadows where line would do. Giordano's inks really helped compensate for this minor shortcoming, and his Iron Fist work here is gorgeous.

[Kuwagaton]

Thanks so much, I've been meaning to spotlight some inkers and colorists, because they can totally make or break the art and it's not everyday that it gets a mention.

Kevin Nowlan is maybe my favorite artist in all of comics (though man, Bill S. and Kyle Baker are certainly great, and Guice is definitely underrated) but his inks are much too strong. It works in the sense that I love his art, but sometimes you can't even tell whose pencils are underneath.

My favorite artist who I think does strictly inks is Dan Green, mainly well known for work with Romita Jr. and Silvestri on X-Men related titles in the late 80s and early 90s.

[jackolover]

The first inker I noticed as making a clear difference in the pencils is Joe Sinnott inking Jack Kirby in the Fantastic Four. Kirby is a wonderfully imaginative artist, but he makes some ugly looking people. Sinnott cleaned him up just enough to make it beautiful.

That’s a great example.

The other one was George Rousos inking Kirby in early Avengers. It was so solid. I had an affection for Chic Stone inking Kirby as well, but Vince Colletta and Sinnott were the tops on Kirby.

[Panic]

Kent Williams inking John Byrne



Williams' differently weighted lines and crosshatching are really beautiful. Hulk #316 is just a great example of Byrne's art, and Williams' inks are a big part of that.

[Anduinel]

Paul Neary inking Alan Davis was always a favorite combo of mine. I never really warmed up to Farmer.