Books : The Art of Comic Book Inking

Rating: - The Art of Comic Book Inking (second edition 2005)
Reviewer: An amateur penciller in the United Kingdom.

Gary Martin says two very important things about his intended audience. The first is:
"...The Art of Comic-Book Inking is mainly intended for -
People who want to become inkers
Working inkers who haven't had professional training
Pencillers who want their work to be more inker-friendly
The majority of editors working in comics today"

and the second is: "BEFORE YOU START - Learn to Draw!".

Well. Out of all that lot, I can just about claim to be able to draw 'a little'. Wanting to start inking some of my own work, I thought I'd take the risk and spend some money.

The Art of Comic Book Inking is divided into three sections.
The first 70 or so pages are concerned with the basics of inking. There are notes on equipment, inking with pen and with brush, shading, feathering and cross-hatching, contouring - that is, edging an element of the picture to help define it in some way - facial shadows, backgrounds and basic textures - fire, water, earth, wood, metal and vegetation. Short sections, sometimes, but they left me with plenty to think about.

The next 120 pages I found very interesting. With the assistance of some thirty-four other inkers, Gary Martin provides examples of how a piece of work may be approached and developed.
Based on one of eight finished pencil pieces and one incomplete layout, at least four inkers per pencil piece provide examples of their work and each inker has supplied some sort of commentary. I thought that while not every contributor gave technical detail in their write-ups - a consistency I would have welcomed - their contributions gave a wide range of information about both the trade and the skill of inking.

The last section takes up about a third of the thickness of the book but contains only eight pages; I thought its inclusion was a great touch. It is made up of removable Bristol-board copies of the eight pieces of pencil work used as examples in the previous section and have been provided so that you can try out your own inking style compared to that of the contributors.

I think this is a good purchase for those wanting an introduction to inking. It's not a step-by-step 'how-to' guide by any means, but as an introduction for those prepared to take the time and apply the examples to their own work, I'd say it's worth its price. I look forward to seeing what Gary Martin has to say in 'The Art of Comic Book Inking - volume 2'.

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Rating: - arnaldo_etrusco@hotmail.com
Fantastic! Excelent for future inkers! Gary Martin is a good teacher!