16 Feb 2012

John Severin (1921-2012)

John passed away February 12 at the age of 90.  His impressive art career in comic books spanned 60 years and he was working right until the end.  He usually inked his own pencils but I will always appreciate his ink work over Herb Trimpe’s Incredible Hulk , his EC Comics work and his work with his sister Marie.  Here is his wikipedia entry of full career accomplishments and this is Mark Evanier’s blog entry on him. Rest in peace, John.

15 Feb 2012

New Artist Alley Forum! New 2012 NomCom Revealed!

ITEM: Are you an aspiring ink artist looking to have your samples reviewed/critiqued? Post them at the new Inkwell Awards Artist Alley Forum here at the website where professional artists Jay Leisten and Michael W. Kellar are available to do so! This replaces our old forum (that replaced the P.J. Magalhaes inkers.org forum), now archived, with Sarah L. Covert as the new moderator with Damon Owens stepping down after years of moderating the old venue.

Please register and sign up NOW!

ITEM: The 2012 Inkwell Awards nominations have been submitted, tallied and validated! Here are the Nomination Committee members this time around and they deserve an enthusiastic round of applause! Public ballots will go live at our website homepage on May 1-15.  The Heroes Comic Con will take place June 22-24.  The Awards Ceremony has not yet been scheduled.  We will keep you posted.

05 Feb 2012

Leap Year Contest

Did you know it is a leap year this year? Did you also know that the Inkwell Awards have some pretty special things happening? No? Well you should!

We have a new interactive forum/social network on our site and we also have a new Facebook Fan Page…

But that’s not all!

In order to celebrate the leap year comic book style! We are having a special contest. Every new member who signs up on the forum and our FB Fan Page by the 28th will have their name entered into a raffle. The winner will receive 4 #1 issues of comics, several ComicCon exclusives, and two graphic novels (and maybe some more goodies!).

Good Luck! The winner will be posted on February 29th.

30 Jan 2012

The Inkwell Awards STORE is now LIVE!

Two years in the making! Books! T-shirts! Prints! Check out our Inkwell merchandise for sale on our Store Page, including the hot off the presses JOE SINNOTT INKING CHALLENGE BOOK, now for sale! And keep checking out the page for new items and updates like shopping carts, quantity counts and payment capabilities.

09 Jan 2012

JIM SHOOTER IS THE NEWEST INKWELL AMBASSADOR!

The latest development for the non-profit inkwell Awards organization is the addition of Jim Shooter to it’s membership roster as a new ambassador. Inkwells director Bob Almond says, “With all that we have going on right now with activities like our annual Joe Sinnott Inking Challenge auctions and gallery book and Nomination process in effect for the 2012 season we weren’t planning to add any more new creators to the ambassador line-up for a bit after our recent additions of Phil Jimenez, Eric Basuldua and the legendary Joe Kubert last September. But sometimes things fall into place with the right people at the right time and you’ve got to run with it. While not involved operationally, the Ambassadors who represent us and agree with our mission can certainly lend a lot more exposure and credibility to our mission, and Jim is no exception. This is an especially exciting way for us to kick off the new year!”  Please go here for the rest of the announcement.

07 Jan 2012

The 2nd Joe Sinnott Inking Challenge resumes: LAST CHANCE!

The second wave of the latest Joe Sinnott Inking Challenge is now posted on our eBay page.  This final round collects the talents of several more notable and legendary artists for the sake of promoting and educating about the art of inking and for the needs of our operational fundraising.  The contributing artists this time include JOSEF RUBENSTEIN, KEITH CHAMPAGNE, MARC DEERING, CHARLES BARNETT III, BOB WIACEK, GERRY ACERNO, MIKE PASCALE, JOSE MARZAN, JR., and more!  Here’s your chance to bid on and own a one-of-a-kind art collaboration and help the inking non-profit advocacy.  Ends January 14!

05 Jan 2012

A Tale of Two Sites

– with apologies to Charles Dickens –

(Or “Website Inkwell: The Origin and Travel Guide”)

Almost exactly four years in the making.

When founding committee member Jim Tournas constructed our site within our first month of creation in January 2008 we were ecstatic and all eager to turn it into THE one-stop inking resource site on the web.  We had Inker-centric News, an Inker Links page to tutorials and interviews, an About page with core committee, contributors and ambassadors info listed, my blog, a Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame page and some sections that would eventually fade into limbo such as the Advertisers info page, a Press page with our announcements, a Friends page, A Conventions/Photos page and a Links page.  Another committee founding member Daniel Best who acted as webhost (along with our first contributor Tim Aslat) took over the site maintenance soon after Jimmy.  Besides doing updates and polishing up the venue to create a cohesive, consistent-looking site,  we eventually added a Results page, new HoF pages, Art Supplies links, Inker Samples, and after his passing in June 2009 a Dave Simons Scholarship page.  I even got our first comprehensive and exclusive Inkers Database launched with Danny’s help.  Like it does today, the homepage ran news, a definition of the craft of inking, social networks links on the web, supporters banner ads, and, until recently, upcoming convention events.  Some of these additions were my ideas, some were those of our associates, and some were in response to our online annual ballot poll which asked “what would you like to see more of at our website?”  (I believe the number one answer was nekkid girls <g>….number two was for more graphics).  We were expanding and the site was something to be proud of.  Until Danny eventually found it more problematic to keep up with it and updates began to get less timely.  It was time for a new maintenance contributor to take over and keep us fresh and current.  Thus ended the honeymoon period.

(more…)

25 Dec 2011

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Happy holidays from the Inkwell Awards to all of our fans, supporters, contributors, associates, donators, sponsors, and all of our valuable ink artists that we serve to promote and recognize. As we enter our 5th successful year we thank you for all of your generous support, passion and dedication. ~B~