A conversation between Gabriel Hardman and Ande Parks resulted in a whole bunch of artists inking over a Gene Colan pencil sketch of Dracula. For one thing, there's the challenge on improving over the wonderful pencils of Colan, and another thing is that we get to see all these different takes on inking. It makes you think about how much difference an inker can make in our comics.
Kevin Mellon collected a bunch of them on his blog. Here is a sampling, starting with the original sketch.
Here's Brent Schoonover's take:
Here's Chris Samnee's:
Here's Gabriel Hardman's:
Here's Kevin Mellon's:
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Wow that’s a great example of how inking can change an artist’s pencils.
Also all great interpretations of a great sketch by Colan.
(Wait’s for obvious jokes about past experience with Gene Colan)
Each one has a different vibe. The more cartoony artists make the story seem a bit lighter, which isnt bad at all. The more realistic artists make it seem darker. This must be what an editor has to decide alot.
I agree with @TheNextChampion (I can’t believe I just typed that).
I’ve never seen a better example of the role that inking can play. I have a newfound respect for Banky Edwards.
Gabriel Hardman hands down. The others are good but he captures so much of the energy in the pencils while still making his mark.
Pople need to see this that are not sure how important a great inker is to a comics work.
All versions are very solid.
It’s amazing how different these are. Look at the eyes.
Brent Schoonover is my favorite, great example
These fellas are good, but theyd don’t measure up to
Vince Colletta!!!
It shows how much actual artistry inkers bring to the table. Hardman and Samnee look almost like they drew the whole thing themselves.
I also really love what Mellon did with the cross.
Now this is pretty great. This would be a pretty cool column to have once in while.
What everyone else has said. Great example of the impact an inker can have. They really should get more notice.
Each of them brought something cool to the table, but for the overall package, Hardman is #1.
Hardman for #1, but Samnee is a very close 2nd.
Tracers! …kidding. I never realized how much they control the mood of the artwork. Hardman=Awesome. Nice article.
You know if you hit the page down button fast enough you have some type of slide show going with this.
….Just a bit of random information to entertain you guys.
i would LOVE to see more these types of excercises. very awesome
super cool feature. not a fan of samnee’s at all but what can you do.
What a cool exercise! I would love to see more of this type of thing.
Tracers. JK 🙂
Fantastic idea