Showing posts with label jim tournas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jim tournas. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

2009 Inkwell Awards Roundtable Interview

In what has now become an annual event, the 2009 Inkwell Awards round table is posted and ready to be read. Like last years interview a number of diverse people involved with the awards were interviewed - this year sees Bob Almond, Bob Shaw, Dave Simons, Jimmy Tournas, Dan Panosian, Ernie Pelletier, and Mark McKenna, and some idiot named Daniel Best. Yeesh!

Without wanting to sound too vainglorious, the interview itself is actually quite interesting to read. It was conducted over a period of about ten days, edited together by yours truly and is now out there for the world to judge. Be kind.

Next up will be the voting for the awards themselves!!

Friday, May 02, 2008

Inkwell Awards Roundtable Interview



I'm not one for blowing my own trumpet, but this interview might be of interest to people. All of the main participants of The Inkwell Awards were contacted for a roundtable interview, which we all did, via email with some interesting results. Hopefully it might also help clear up some mystery surrounding the awards, so go and have a read. You'll find gems of wisdom from Tim Townsend, Bob Almond, Jimmy T, Mike Marts, Bill Nichols and myself.

Two things that I'd like to share, in case you can't be bothered having a read proper (and shame on you if you don't read it).

This answer sums up, perfectly, why we're having these awards. And trust me, Mike knows what he's talking about here:
THE PULSE: I think some of our readers might not know the difference between what a finisher does and what an inker does. What sets them apart?
MIKE MARTS: If an inker is asked to come on a project as “finisher” that generally means that the penciller only did “layouts” or “breakdowns” on the assignment, in other words - not complete pencils. In these cases the inker is actually doing a part of the penciller’s job - completely rendering out loose pencils - and so a finisher usually gets more credit and greater compensation that a standard inker would. Finishes come about mostly due to time constraints with getting a particular issue to production, though sometimes certain inkers (like Tom Palmer or Klaus Jansen) are specifically brought on board because their finishes have a distinct look that editors and readers enjoy.
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I was kinda happy with at least one response of mine though, and it appeared that the other guys, God love them all because I do, also were happy with it. Again allow me to share:
THE PULSE: In our industry it seems as if an inker usually gets the blame for when art looks bad, but hardly ever gets the praise for when art looks perfect. Why do you think that is? DANIEL BEST: Happy to answer that one as a non-artist. It's simple - as readers and fans we rarely see any pencils, so if the art is bad then it must be the fault of the last man to touch the pages - the inker.

Growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s I read books and comic books like whales eat plankton, and after a while I knew my artists and what their work looked like. I knew that Jack Kirby looked great when Joe Sinnott or Mike Royer inked his work, but he often looked ordinary when Vinnie Colletta inked him. So that must have been the inker. I never twigged that perhaps Kirby might have supplied full pencils to the likes of Sinnott and Royer and the merest of breakdowns to Colletta. Why? Because despite what anyone else might want the world to believe, when you begin reading this stuff as a kid you're not an expert on artists and techniques. That comes with time.

One of the biggest shocks I got as a reader was discovering magazines like Comics Interview and Comics Journal where they'd print interviews in which artists would discuss the merits of inking and pencilling and display pages of raw pencils. I'd sit there, look at the pencils and wonder, "How the hell did anyone make sense of that?" That's when I started to realise that if an artist had been inked by say, Terry Austin, Dick Giordano, Tom Palmer, Joe Sinnott, Jim Mooney, Frank Springer, Bob McLeod or any number of inkers and it looked great then it was probably a combination of both the penciler and inker. If it looked average then it was probably due to either a penciller or inker having an off day or just hacking it out. If it looked horrid - and let's be honest, there's some rank jobs out there - then it was might have been due to a penciler supplying the merest of breakdowns, even preliminaries in some cases, and expecting the inker to fix it. It wasn't long before I stopped looking at the penciler and began to look at the combination.

As a youngun I learnt very quickly that John Byrne looked great inked by Terry Austin and merely interesting when inked by Walt Simonson (and I adore Walt's work). I learnt that Frank Brunner’s work looked great when he inked himself but amazing when he was inked by Alan Weiss or Dick Giordano. The same applied for Marshall Rogers – he looked amazing inked by Terry Austin, but when he inked himself, or another artist inked his work, a certain magic was missing.

This industry loves pencilers. They're superstars. They make the big bucks. They're hyped that way by both the companies and the press, both professional and fan alike. However a great penciler can look stunning with the right inker - look at Paul Neary over Bryan Hitch, for example (indeed, Neary over almost anyone) and then look at Hitch when he inks his own work. It’s good, but not as good. A good inker can be just as vital to the creative process as a penciler, if not more so. There's very few pencilers who can pencil an entire book with enough talent to make it look good uninked.
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Jaysus I can rant when I climb that soapbox!

Voting is still in full swing for the Inkwell Awards, so after you've had a peek at the interview, and left a comment, then scoot over to the site general and cast your vote!

Friday, February 15, 2008

Presenting...THE INKWELL AWARDS

What you're seeing here is The Best Inker award that'll be presented as part of the 2008 Inkwell Awards. People are gonna kill to get one of these. I assure you. They will. But they're going to have to have certain qualities before they get near one. They'll need to have earned a lot. They'll need to have earned. They'd need to have worked damn hard. It won't be easy but the reward will be great.

Why?

Because this is an award that is open to one aspect of the creation of comic books. And it's one of the most under appreciated and as such overlooked part of the creative process - inking.

Stop laughing. Or I'll get slightly angry. Really I will.

You think of some of the great artists of all time. Jack Kirby. John Byrne. Marshall Rogers. Jim Starlin. Mike McKone. Mike Zeck. Norm Breyfogle. Alan Davis. Frank Robbins. Gene Colan. Carmine Infantino. All great artists. However as good as they were, and are, with a bad inker they could look, well ordinary. With a good inker they could look great. With a great inker they looked stunning and did their best work. Don't believe me? Consider this:
Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott, Mike Royer or Wally Wood
Gene Colan and Tom Palmer
John Buscema and Tom Palmer
John Byrne and Terry Austin
Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin
Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson
Mike Zeck and John Beatty
Mike McKone and Mark McKenna
Norm Breyfogle and Steve Mitchell
Alan Davis and Paul Neary
Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary
Bob Budiansky and Dave Simons
Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom
Frank Robbins and Frank Springer...get the picture? And that's not mentioning any number of other great artistic teams. Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. Jack Kirby and Joe Simon. Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson - who were so seamless they'd sign books 'Swanderson'. And then there's the guys who were so good that just their name could make people buy a book. Bob McLeod, Joe Rubenstein, Frank Giacoia, Dick Girodano, Dan Adkins, Syd Shores, Klaus Janson, John Dell and too many to mention fit into that category. So don't be saying that inkers are tracers. And that means you Kevin Smith. If it were that easy then everyone would be doing it. Hell - I can trace over someone's pencils with a pen but I'll tell you right now, it'll look crap. I know this for a fact because I've done it, just for fun. A few years back I printed out some Erik Larsen Spider-Man pencils and 'inked' them. Apparantly the pencils were 'ink proof', that is they could be merely darkened and considered inked. My results were so bad even the pen stopped working.

Thus my career as an inker was as dead as Rick Astley's singing career, and just as rank.

Just what is this award? Who are these people and creatures photographed here? Glad you asked. The Inkwell Awards is the brainchild of this man - Bob Almond. Now to fully understand what an inker does then look no further than what Bob did with Sal Velluto on the brilliant Black Panther run a few years back. Sure Sal's pencils looked good, but Sals pencils inked by Bob shone like nothing you're likely to see in a hurry. Why? Because Bob knows his craft and he is dedicated to it. He wants people to understand what an inker does and what an inker means to the wider community. He wants to raise awareness, so he came with the idea and planted the seeds of an award into a few heads.

See this fine specimen of a man? That's Tim Townsend. He's an inker and also part of the committee that's been working hard to come up with these awards. Call him a tracer and I hope he gives you a few to take home to your mother. Tim is one of the best you're likely to see. How good is he? The man will never be unemployed, that's for sure. Talk to any artist in this day and age and mention Tim's name and see them all stand up. Tell a penciler that Tim will be the inker on their book and see their faces crack open from the smiles. There are artists who'd happily strangle a puppy to have their pencils enhanced by Tim's inks.

That's respect. One other thing Tim is known for is his passion for the craft of inking. When I first interviewed him we spoke about what an inker brings to the table. Part of what he said follows, "Anyone who honestly thinks that inking is tracing is either not interested in comics to begin with or just wouldn't be intelligent enough to understand the explanation. Honestly, if it was that easy why wouldn't everyone be doing it? Why would some be considered better than others? Why would some be held in such high esteem by so many? It’s really a crime the way inking as an art form is generally dismissed by the public. Do we really need WIZARD to say inking is worthy in order to turn our attention towards it? If the droves of fans really understood that every single line they're looking at in their favourite (Inked) books were placed there by an inker and could see what the pencils looked like before hand, I think the THUD from their collective jaws hitting the floor would be loud enough to.......well.....it would be really loud.

"In a band the bass player is probably the least glamorous gig' one can have. Who gives a crap about bass players (except other bass players)? Well take that bass out of the music and what are you left with? Get my drift? Inking is far more than playing bass. We're responsible for more than just one aspect of the art. I love bass players BTW." Now if you think he's blowing air here imagine Led Zeppelin without John Paul Jones. Queen without John Deacon. The Who without John Entwistle. U2 without Adam Clayton. The Police without Sting. Pearl Jam without Jeff Ament. Sure it might sound alright, but seriously the music would fall down without the glue that holds it together. Inks are the glue that holds a comic together. The inks fill the dead space, they bring the art forward.

See this dude? He's not an inker. This is Adam Hughes. He's one of the foremost pencilers in the world right now. Tell an editor that Adam Hughes wants to draw a book and watch them drown a budgie with the amount of drool that comes out. Adam Hughes is a penciler almost without peer. He's a rare creature, artists love him and the fans adore him. Tell him inkers are just tracers and he's likely to use that gun on you. He's also part of the committee.

See this cat? He belongs to another committe member, Jim Tournas, or Jimmy T to those in the know. Jim is a damn good guy. I've watched as he's grown into a fine artist over the years and I've been both happy and proud to have done so. One of my favourite pieces of original art is a Batman/Joker illustration that he and Jesus Antonio created. Jimmy also shares a strong passion for the craft of inking to the point where he runs the only mailing list devoted to inkers, the Inkwell. He's another one of those guys who I'd defend until I ran out of breath and then some. Without him I doubt the awards would be happening either. Jimmy has spent countless hours designing and refining the official web-site for the awards and has done a brilliant job. Like all of us Jimmy has given over his time, energies and expertise without payment. You see these awards are self-funded, the site, through advertising, will raise the money required to buy the physical awards and the rest of the cash will be handed over to The Hero Initiative. No-one is in this for the cash, people are donating their time and skills to help celebrate the Art Of Inking.


There's been a host of others involved with this along the way: Dan Panosian, who designed the banner that we're using. Inkers John Beatty, Mark McKenna and Serge LaPointe have all thrown in ideas and suggestions. Ernest Pelletier who's made sure that we've not done anything wrong, legally. The editors, Bill Nichols and Mike Marts who've lend their own special kind of clout. As you can see this isn't an award handed out by a few fans working from their mother's basements - this is a serious award, thought up by serious people with the assistance and weight that those names, and many others, bring to the table. In fact there's been times when I've wondered how the devil I got onto the committee.

Now, down the nitty and also gritty. How will the awards work? For that answer I'd like to quote part of Bob Almond's introductory letter on the site proper. "Please take a moment to look over the categories as well as the creator database links on the nominees page as a reference," says Bob. "Open to both the public and the industry, please feel free to vote for every category or only those you feel informed enough about (some are more 'shop-centric' for the creators). Categories not specifying a 'retro' or 'modern-age' designation is open to any eligible inker.

"Voting will run until May 30,2008. Results will be tabulated and posted here, my own website, as well as my column, if not elsewhere at a later date, and subsequently, award trophies distributed. Committee inker members are exempt from voting for themselves or other members but are otherwise valid nominees. As a general rule of thumb, please choose ink artists that have inked more work in their career than penciled. But nominees will not necessarily be held exclusively to this standard. The committee will ultimately judge eligibility of all nominees."

In short people will vote on who should win the awards. The categories are:
Favorite inker:
A) Retro (golden, silver & bronze age artists)
B) Modern (1990s to present)

Favorite finisher/embellisher
(Known for doing finished inkwork over the layouts or breakdowns of a pencil artist)
A) Retro
B) Modern

Most-adaptable inker
(Showing exceptional ink style versatility)

Most Prolific Inker

Props award
(Inker deserving of more attention from any age; mainstream or small press/indie)

The call of duty award
(Special consideration for an inker for donating their time and effort to the public and/or the comic community)

MVP
(The go-to, troubleshooter Inker that can save/boost almost any job)

And the most exciting of them all, The JOE SINNOTT Award. You read that right. The Inkwell Awards equivalent of a Lifetime Achievement award is named after one of the industries true legends, Joe Sinnott. The idea was floated and run past Joe, via his son Mark, and the answer came back a resounding positive. So you can add his name to the list as well as a person who is working to make this a reality. And a reality it is.

If you're an original art dealer, have a comic shop or the like and want to leap onto this then you have a chance. Go here, chose your plan, pay and get your banner on the site. I assure you of this, this award will get a lot of ink, both on-line and in print. Here's your chance to get in on the ground floor, so to speak, before all the advertising spots are filled. Even without the site being live spots have been booked, paid for and are ready to go. Don't miss the opportunity.

Go and visit the site. Have a poke about and read up on things. You'll like it. And then think about who you want to win and get ready to cast your votes! Otherwise I might just tell Adam Hughes where you live.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Tightlip Entertainment: A Judgement

More fun and games from Rick Olney and Tightlip. Straight after Tony Isabella issued his latest warning he recived a message from Olney which he made public and which read, in part, "You will be served with a legal injunction papers when you get to Syracuse in October, Mr. Isabella. I'm finally feeling up to fixing your little red wagon for you." What a charmer eh? As usual it's yet another empty threat. If Rick feels up to it he can sue me as well.

In the meantime the image you're seeing is worth a million words. It's a scan of the first page of the judgement that Jimmy T won against Olney. So much Olney playing the hard done by guy. Have a quick read and you decide. This is what happens when Olney gets into court - he loses. Big time.

As always go and look at the Unscrewed site and again, fair warning.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Tightlip Entertainment: Lessons Learnt The Hard Way

This email came across my desk only yesterday. Jimmy T, a damn good friend of mine, sent it to a mailing list that I frequent and then kindly gave me permission to post it here. It's what I consider to be essential reading for anyone who wants to break into the field of comic books. Beware, sharks troll those waters.

Before we start understand this - Jimmy is one of the all-time good guys. He's done some work for me in the past and I've always offered to pay him, and he's always refused. I don't expect that to continue and I'd be more than happy to pay him for anything he's done - but, as I said, he's a good guy and someone I'm happy to call my friend. Add to that he's an exceptionally talented artist in his own right (the art in this post was all inked by Jimmy). I've seen him grow into the artist he is over the past few years and it's been a thrill to see someone just starting out slowly but surely establish himself as a professional inker by furthering his talent via hard work and by listening. What happened to Jimmy and Cesar Feliciano at the hands of this particular shark should not happen in this day and age - and there shouldn't be a need for a site like Unscrewed, yet there is and it does. You'll find links scattered throughout Jimmy's account and I urge you to click them and read up as much as you can. Of particular note, click this link to an open letter that Tony Isabella has been distributing and see if you're able to sign it. Also, feel free to pass any of the links, or information, in this post anywhere you want - the more people that see it the better.

Sadly getting done over happens to almost everyone - no matter what we read, hear or see before we ease in. You'd think with all the stories I know of about people in these industries then I'd certainly know better, yet I got done over by a publisher recently and it's still costing me, both professionally and personally. These people exist only to do damage and then walk away from the train wrecks that they leave behind. It takes people as brave as Jimmy and advocates like Tony Isabella to expose such people - at risk to their own careers - and it shouldn't (Tony has gone on record as saying this about Olney: "In my 35 years in the comics industry, he's one of the worst and most vile and most untrustworthy people I've come across." Now Tony has met almost everyone, including some of the real pieces of work in the comic book industry, so for him to make that claim, well you do the math). Yet these things shouldn't happen either. Publishers like Rick Olney (no links for this arsehole) are a pox on the comic book industry, hell, they're a pox on any industry, and the sooner they get out of things the better.

I doubt that anyone will stand to defend him (but hey - if you are one of the ones that want to defend him then feel free to get in touch - this blog always has a right of reply, unless you're clearly an idiot who wants to rant and rave), and as recently as this week I've heard he's still at it, this time ripping off Barry Pearl's brilliant book on Marvel by claiming it as his own and then acting belligerent when called out on it. It's odd but Olney's actions make those people that we've read about in the books about comic book history look like saints - at least they'd throw people a bit of cash every so often. But, as I wrote Barry, history, and people, tend to have a way of catching up with arseholes like Olney, usually in carparks. So read the following and learn from it.

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THIS is a true story not a RANT! Ignore it if you are already one that has been taken, because it is long, and has suggestions for those doing small press and indy work. Especially working for people that are publishing comics without a lot of references.

I figured I would post this so others won't do what I did.

I was asked to ink a story over a fellow artists pencils, for a book called Monster Squad, by Rick Olney of Tightlip Entertainment, out of Mowhawk, NY (off route 84). We were told we would get paid every ten pages, plus bonuses and percentages. We had some people on board that a lot of you know or heard of.

It looked like a good thing because the penciler is a friend, so we agreed. Contracts signed, and we went to work, but that's when things got strange. Everything was delays and scripts were not finished as well as characters developed, but promises of making it up to us were made, and he supposedly was a fellow Marine, which we take seriously, Semper Fi and all that.

Anyway I noticed as we started the first three covers that he was getting promo clocks, and messages were flying about sculptures which he made photos available to us in our private forum.

Good! Right! If he has the money for that stuff, we should be OK. Well now I see the fellow who made the clocks ask for a check, and Rick starts running him down on the forum. The fellow responded politely that he needed the money for the clocks at least as he had paid for them. Rick again started to verbally abuse him.

Then a creator asked about checks for work done and was promptly treated the same way. This went on for a while but he would e-mail us saying that they were being paid and to keep going and what wonderful work we did. He then was going to pay everyone to go down to Pittsburgh for the show and we would all meet. Well when show date came he denied it but told me in an e-mail he would reimburse me but not to spread it around. I declined.

By this time my penciler (you all know him) and I talked it over as we had 10 pages done and invoiced him. The response was that covers did not count as pages and they would be paid for at the completion of each book. I told him I don't think so, and he said just finish three more pages and I will get you a check out post haste.

Cesar (whoops!) and I discussed it and said, well we are committed this far lets see what happens. In the meantime the Freedom Three comic was being done at the same time, and we all shared a forum together. And they were being berated everytime someone mentioned payment. Excuses flew left and right like a crack head talking to a counselor.

Rick ranted and started to sound delusional. Still we were polite and stayed quiet until our invoices were sent. We were told checks would be forthcoming (that was over a year ago).

After my third invoice I received an E-mail from Rick stating I was talking about him in a forum, which I'd never heard of, with some people I also had never heard of, and as we had a non-disclosure agreement I was now in big trouble. So I basically told him I had never signed a non disclosure agreement, just the contract, and I was coming to see him face to face in so many words, any time, any place get my dough...in fact his rant infuriated me so much I almost took the ride to take the pay out of his hide that day but one of my brothers cooled me down.

Remember by this point I looked up the link and now saw how many people this weasel had screwed and the list was still growing.

He then apologized and asked If we would rather do another book for him (he appeared to have the IQ of a lugnut by this point with his rambling). I declined. So here we are a year strung out and I am so pissed I want to draw and quarter this maggot (pardon me to those of sensitive tastes).

Up comes http://www.unscrewedcomic.com/ and I see he is in to artists and creators etc., for over $60,000.00 and I lost over $2,000.00 in promised payments.

And he still was having Chuck Dixon going to write for him in his e-mails to me!!!! I do not know if Chuck got paid yet but he threatens everyone with lawsuits and had some people nervous. To those nervous people I encourage you to slap a lawsuit on his fatass and I will take the ride to collect it if you like. Believe me he is a putz.

So now the present.. TA DA.. I beat him in court today and will file in New York to see if I can enforce judgement as I have been a Constable for over 30 years and can do it in my sleep. Otherwise I will sell it to someone their to make his life miserable. It stopped being about the money early on and became principle.

So heed this warning if Rick Olney asks you to do anything for him. And if you know him and see me and him at the same show point him out so I can say "Hi".

MORAL: If you work for an independent or small press make sure to include in all agreements or contracts at least a variation of:

1 - If payment is not made within the specified agreement period, then all agreements and contractual obligations with *company et all* are hereby null an void. Further the publisher will be liable for agreed upon percentages of projected sales, bonuses and interest in any litigation that may result from such non-payment.

2 - Original artwork will be returned to Inker unless the artist makes a deal for less pay, and it is agreed upon that they split. This is because some inkers depend on the revenues of inked page sales to make up for the small pay they get.

3 - An advance of one page is made as security and payment should be made upon completion of each page thereafter. This could be two pages to ten pages depending on what the publisher can afford for his project. If the publisher cannot pay you, why is he producing a comic?

4 - If the publisher feels you are not right after the first few pages he can cancel you with an agreed upon dismissal fee (you may have given up another book for him). This only if he or she puts a dismissal clause that you are not up to snuff, otherwise, disregard.

If a publisher does not like this, then don't do it. You're going to get peanuts from most indy's and small press anyway so why chase for it. There are some that do pay decent. I want to qualify that, so I don't get e-mails.

Green Lantern rebirth payed $450.00 per page to pencil. Some small press are giving guys that have decent talent, $10.00 to $100.00 per page. With print runs of 50 to 2000 copies they are not going to make any money percentage wise. So with so little money at stake for talent to try to break in, I think it is disgusting that these predators screw them like that.

I am payed well for what I do so I don't need inking for a living. I do this for the love of the craft. I do not seek a job with anyone, unless Archie asked me because Bob Smith is cool and I want to be like him.

Anyway you get the picture. So people like Cesar who deserves a break with a major company, does not get screwed like that wasting over a year, that could have been better served by penciling for cool inkers like you guys...and young ladies ( yeah I see some of your cool inks too).

Sorry if this was long but I had to reaffirm this. OK back to the boards, and I won't ever bore you with this again. I just thought it was worth mentioning. And a tip of the hat to Tony Isabella for his help as well.

---Jimmy T